CNMC: Spanish TV spend increased in 2014, but Canal+ fell short

Spain’s audiovisual service providers invested €212.6 million in Spanish and European film and TV series creation in 2014, but History Channel and DTS – the former Canal+ now owned by Telefónica – failed to meet their obligations, according to figures released by competition regulator the CNMC.

While History Channel undershot its obligation only by a tiny margin thanks to higher spending in previous years, which compensated for a 2014 shortfall, DTS was in deficit to the tune of €7.4 million.  Telefónica, which has since acquired DTS and committed to a major programme of investment in drama series, spent €4 million in 2014, exceeding its obligation comfortably.

Spain obliges TV operators to invest 5% of their revenues in financing European films and TV series, while public companies must invest 6%.

The €212.6 million total for 2014 represents a 12.8% increase over the previous year, despite the fact that providers’ overall revenues fell by 10% due to a decline in the advertising market.

Public broadcaster RTVE and commercial broadcasters Mediaset and  Atresmedia were the biggest contributors, spending €48.7 million, €55.8 million and €41.1 million respectively.

Other big spenders included NBCUniversal, which spent €27.2 million, Disney, which spent €7.6 million.

The major destination of funding in 2014 was original Spanish-language TV series, which received €79.8 million in funding collectively.