SEPI Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales

The Council of Ministers resolved today to authorize a Royal Law Decree amending the administrative regime of Corporación RTVE which had been in force since the passing of Act dated on June 5th, 2006.

The situation which Corporación RTVE is experiencing since July 2011 requires to carry out, without any further delay, those modifications which not only entail financial savings for the entity, but also those which make possible the quick set up of the body in charge of managing RTVE and implementing the measures which its financial situation demand.

The vacancy in the Chairmanship of Corporación RTVE, together with the unavoidable need of adopting a number of decisions which are fundamental for the Corporación demand to carry out the amendment of the administrative regime of the Corporación foreseen in Act dated on July 5th, 2006 through a Royal Law Decree. Otherwise, there is a serious risk that a breach of the public service function which has been trusted to the Corporación RTVE might take place.

The Royal Law Decree includes the following amendments to the state-owned Radio and Television Act passed on 2006:

A. Reduction in the number of Members of the Board of Directors. The current number of Members of the BoD is too high, and this is why, taking into account the austerity and rationalization criteria, and in order to guarantee the Corporation’s efficacy and efficiency, the number of Members of the Board is reduced from the current 12 to 9.

B. Amendment in the appointment method. The method for appointing the Members of the Board of Directors of Corporación RTVE is amended.In the election of the Members of the BoD, in case that the two thirds majority in the Chamber of Deputies were not achieved which is needed now for appointing them, the vote will be repeated, once 24 hours have elapsed since the first voting. In this case, each Chamber will appoint the Members which it is entitled to appoint on the basis of an absolute majority vote.In the same way, for appointing the Chairperson, if the majority of the two thirds of the members of the Chamber of Deputies were not achieved, the vote will be repeated after a 24-hour time. In this case, it will be required to obtain the absolute majority in the Chamber of Deputies.The amendment applied reinstates the mechanism envisaged in Act passed on 2006, which already foresaw an absolute majority system in order to avoid a blockade in the appointment of the Corporation’s first Board. Equally, the amendment maintains the need that there exists a political agreement on the appointment of the Members of Corporación RTVE, agreement which characterized the passing of the above mentioned 2006 Act.

C. Elimination of the fixed remunerations for the Members of the BoD of Corporación RTVE, with the only exception of the Chairperson. Within the framework of the austerity and efficiency principles which currently inspire the reorganization of the Administration, the fixed remunerations which up to now received the Members of the Board of the Corporación are eliminated, with the sole exception of that for the Chairperson; these will be replaced by compensations for attendance to the BoD meetings, as happens now in other public-sector entities. As a result of the modification of the remuneration system, with the sole exception of the Corporation’s Chairperson, the need that the Members of the Board have a full-time dedication to their Board’s tasks is also eliminated.

Free access for media to the sport stadiums

On the other hand, as a result of the Royal Law Decree, article 19.4 of the General Law for the Audiovisual Communication passed on 2010 has been modified, in order to guarantee to radio broadcasters free access to the sport stadiums, so that they can broadcast live sport events without being required to make any payment.

Thus, the dispute regarding the radio broadcasters’ access to the sport stadiums is ended, guaranteeing in this way the exercise of the fundamental right to communicate information.

However, as the exercise of this right by the radio broadcasters means the use of certain facilities in the sport stadiums in which the event takes place, the radio broadcasters must pay to the right holders the expenses which are incurred as a result of the maintenance of the facilities and the other services which are required for guaranteeing the right to communicate information.The parties will jointly set the amount for making use of those facilities. In case that the parties were not able to reach an agreement on the amount, it will be the competent audiovisual authority, which currently is the Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones (The Telecommunications Market Commission) and, later, the future Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (National Commission for Markets and Competition) the responsible of solving the dispute.