The Council of Ministers has approved the proposed new Ley General Audiovisual – Audiovisual Law – which includes the prohibition of pornographic material at any time of day or night and regulation of telephone gambling.
Under the new law, pornographic material may only be made available through conditional access and parental control, effectively removing this type of material from the TV screen altogether.
All other content deemed harmful to minors may not be shown between 06:00 and 22:00 and, outside these hours, must be preceded by a content warning signal, both audio and visual.
Gambling and betting programmes may only be broadcast between 01:00 and 05:00, although this excludes television competitions using the 905 telephone lines.
In response to requests by users associations, all films, series and competitions must have an ‘age rating’. The State Board of Media will be responsible for surveillance, control and punishment in relation to violations.
The law also seeks to regulate advertising, requirements being that the ads do not cause moral or physical detriment to minors, are egalitarian in nature and do not use traditional male or female stereotypes.
There are also new rules and regulations relating to sports events and determines the exclusivity of the rights to events such as football. It seeks to protect the right to information of all citizens as a priority and sets limits to the exclusivity in terms of interest criteria that ensures the open broadcasting of a series of events primarily related to sporting events with a large viewing audience.