The Audiovisual Communication Law in Spain: A Critical Review from the Basque Case
摘要
The revision of the European Directive on Audiovisual Media Services in 2018 seek to update the legal framework including an additional section on the regulation for the promotion and distribution of European works, both in linear and on-demand services. Among other issues, titles of European origin must represent at least 30% of on-demand service providers’ catalogues such as NetflixNetflix or Amazon. However, no attention was given to the protection of content in minority languages. The member states had to incorporate said measure into national legislation in September 2020. In Spain, the new Audiovisual Communication Law was approved almost four years later and has not been exempt of controversy. The new law does not guarantee a dignified presence of the state’s co-official minority languages in the sector and an opportunity for equality has been lost. This chapter provides a critical review on the recent legal change in Spain and explains various problems presented by the new law for the country’s audiovisual production in minority languages in general, and the Basque case in particular.