A critical approach to the post-analogue television in Spain

The transition to digital technologies has been a historical concern for many world economies, seen as a unique opportunity to revitalize the electronic industry of consumption, and a way to ensure a long-term economic growth and to promote the social inclusion (García Leiva 2006a). In Spain, television has been the main character within that play, because the economic leadership in the media trade and its social influence (Hallin and Mancini 2004). Within that scenario, the configuration of the digital broadcasting has been a main concern for the governments since the late 1990s. Nevertheless, in their strategies the corporate perspective has eventually shown a deeper impact than the intention of using the technology to close cultural breaches (Iosifidis 2005 and 2007, Hardy 2008). Nowadays the legislation and the market investments insist on portable devices and a la carte consumption, however the watching-patterns are not mutating at the same speed: 80 per cent of the programs are viewed on the traditional screen and citizenship only watch 3 minutes on demand out of 237. As main objectives, in this paper we study if this gap between policies and reality has driven to a massive failure in a system already hurt by the economic and media crisis, has reduced pluralism (once the it is controlled by Mediaset, Atresmedia and Movistar+), and the relevance of the public service. And to do so, it is essential to clearly explain the timeline in the Spanish DTTV´s history and the elements involved in the reform started in 2004 with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and the Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE). As core method, we have reviewed the European and the Spanish audiovisual policies and compared them with different reports that periodically describe how sustainable the industry is, in terms of economic solvency, audiences or cultural leverage. Following these footprints, we have tried to distinguish patterns where ideologies, business and public interests are assembled together; allowing us not only to describe the current landscape, but to sketch the potential future. Within the reports mentioned above we find texts from journals (Noticias de la Comunicación), consultancies (Kantar Media, AIMC-EGM or Barlovento Comunicación) as well as documents elaborated by institutional organizations (Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones, Cominsión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia and SEPI), or media groups: Mediaset, Atresmedia and the CRTVE. The legal and communicational explorations have been supported by an extensive academic research throughout the works listed in the bibliographic corpus. 1. THE QUIERO TELEVISIÓN UNDERTAKING In April 2015, the terrestrial version of the Digital Television began in Spain its second grand journey with the first release of the Digital Dividend, five years after being switched on. However, there is a story before the official history which moves us back to 1999 and the Quiero Televisión project. Página 4 Peña Old answers for new questions The legal inception of the Spanish Digital Terrestrial Television (DTTV) began in 1997 with the Law 66/1997, of 30 December, on Fiscal, Administrative and Social Measures and the National Technical Plan on the Digital Terrestrial Television, which divided the national spectrum in five multiplex-channels. Spain awarded the first licence to Quiero TV (named