Communiqué from ALL ASSOCIATIONS AND FEDERATIONS OF INDEPENDENT PRODUCERS IN SPAIN after the vote on the General Law of Audiovisual Communication in Congress

Today the threat that hung over the independent production sector has been consummated with the approval by the Congress of Deputies of the General Law of Audiovisual Communication. This law reconfirms that the content produced in this country will be mostly in the hands of the two audiovisual media groups, which have had the capacity to influence the government and a part of the opposition, necessary to approve it.

From the news to the series, from the movies to the magazines, on its 14 television channels or streaming platforms, on public television and in digital media, there will be no window or content that does not depend on them, no There will be a government or opposition that dares to confront them.

A law that was born behind the back of the sector for which it claims to be working, and that, however, has massively signed a manifesto calling for the stoppage of this measure that will put an end to the cultural diversity of our country and an audiovisual content industry. diverse and plural.
(we attach a statement and list of signatories so far).

And a law that does not please anyone because it was also born without the consensus of the government itself, taking into account the abstentions of both its partners, Unidas Podemos, and the PP, the main opposition group, and the “noes” of some of the groups that They maintain the balance of the legislature.

The plural creation of content from independent production companies is a reflection of the diversity of opinion, geographical location, creed, gender, language and way of thinking. Business development from a fabric diverse in size and capacity, in which talent and work are what make the difference, is replaced by a model in which very few with a lot of power decide what many see, no less than four hours a day. The great opportunity for development of this sector, achieving growth from diverse and plural business initiative, is replaced by a model dependent on large corporations, which decide what we see and apparently what laws we have, because they are capable of influencing in how we vote.

Today, the television Duopoly has managed to get, for the first time, the government of the socialist party and the first opposition party, the popular party, to simultaneously serve its interests to perpetuate the privileges of these corporations against the interests of all. those who want to be able to choose what television and movies they watch, and also against those of the citizens who have voted for them.

In short, a law that creates serious imbalances instead of alleviating them, tipping the balance on a select few, compared to a majority of workers and small business owners who risk everything in each project.

We move away from the European model of separating broadcasters from independent producers, and we prevent Spanish production companies from growing internationally. It is a sad day for those of us who believe that choosing what we see is also democracy.

We thank those parties that have supported our demands and voted against this law and those that have tried to change it without success.

We hope that this situation will be corrected in the Senate and in other legislative bodies pending completion. We are open to dialogue, because we are not just talking about industry and jobs, we are talking about what model of society we want, about the extent to which our governments and institutions are conditioned by television operators whose license to influence has been granted to them by the state itself.

We propose legislation for an audiovisual sector, which represents us all and allows us to grow an industry of the future.