Streamers in Spain forced to carry content in regional languages via new law

La Casa de Papel

The Spanish government has proposed a new law which will force streaming platforms operating in the country to show content in regional languages.

The law, expected to be approved in 2022, will mean that at least 6% of any streaming platform’s catalogue must be available in Catalan, Galician or Basque. It is currently unclear whether this must be original content produced in the regional languages, or whether dubbed audio would suffice. 

This 6% quota would fall within a pan-European streaming agreement that requires 30% of platforms’ content to be produced in Europe. Of that 30%, 9% must be in Spanish.

The draft law is set to be approved by the Spanish cabinet in the coming weeks, before being approved in parliament next year. It would then come into effect in 2023, a government source told Reuters.

The government has pushed this new rule through as part of a deal with Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya’s (ERC), which will ensure the Catalan separatist party supports Spain’s leftist coalition government’s 2022 budget bill.