Information programmes escape ads in Spain

Information TV programmes such as news, documentaries and research programs will now be free from sponsorship, the Spanish government as decreed. The country’s General Law on Audiovisual Communication requires restrictions on commercial advertising and existing legislation says that networks "have the right to make their programs sponsored except for the information contents." In the regulation, the Spanish Ministry of Industry noted that the ban "means that the current news program of the equivalent of a news or newsletter, including research programs or news reports on current political or economic not be sponsored”. In addition, the regulation, which clarifies some of the aspects covered by the Act to "provide greater legal certainty" to the broadcasters. It states that sponsorships are leimited to 12 minutes of advertising per hour and also set a limit of 10 seconds per ad. As for self-promotion, the General Law on Audiovisual Communication excluded from the computation of 12 minutes of advertising per hour to a maximum of ads related to the programs themselves or ancillary products directly derived from these programs and sets a limit of 5 minutes time for these ads. The regulation also addresses the issue of advertising during sports broadcasts with The General Law on Audiovisual Communication isolating advertising to when the event has stopped with the regulation clarifying these definitions with respect to each individual sport. Advertising is also allowed by overprints that do not occupy more than one fifth of the screen and, through split screens, which allowed a greater or lesser extent of the split screen dedicated to advertising in terms of maintaining or no audio from the broadcast.