 Logo used since 2008 | |
 Prado del Rey (headquarters) | |
| Radiotelevisión Española | |
| Company type | Sociedad Anónima,State media |
| Industry | Mass media |
| Genre | Public service broadcasting |
| Founded | 11 October 1973; 51 years ago (1973-10-11) (as Centralised Public Service) 1 January 2007; 18 years ago (2007-01-01) (as Corporation) |
| Headquarters | Prado del Rey,, Spain |
Key people | José Pablo López (chair) |
| Services | |
| Revenue |  €1.193 billion[1] (2022) |
| €17.2 million[2] (2022) | |
| Owner | SEPI (100%) |
Number of employees | 6,657 (2022)[3] |
| Divisions | |
| Website | rtve.es |
TheCorporación de Radio y Televisión Española, Sociedad Anónima, S. M. E.[4] (Spanish:[koɾpoɾaˈθjondeˈraðjojteleβiˈsjonespaˈɲola];lit. transl. Spanish Broadcasting Corporation plcSOE) known asRadiotelevisión Española (acronymRTVE, branded in logo inall lowercase), is the state-owned public corporation that assumed in 2007 the indirect management of theSpanish public radio and television service known as Ente Público Radiotelevisión Española.
It provides multi-station television (Televisión Española) and radio services (Radio Nacional de España), as well as online and streaming services (RTVE Play). Since the entry into force of theLey de Financiación de RTVE in 2009, RTVE is primarily funded by a combination of subsidies from theGeneral State Budget and a fee levied on the private agents'gross revenue (3.0% for private free-to-air channels, a 1.5% for private subscription channels and a 0.9% for telecom companies).
RTVE is a full member of theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU). The corporation's central headquarters,Prado del Rey, are located inPozuelo de Alarcón.[5]
Spanish state-wide public broadcasting services have undergone numerousrestructurings and reorganisations throughout its history, and haveassumed several identities. Their history may be traced back to the first radio broadcasts ofRadio Nacional de España (RNE) fromSalamanca, developed as a propaganda tool for theRebel faction during theSpanish Civil War. RNE was founded on 19 January 1937 and was subservient to the State Delegation for Press and Propaganda led byVicente Gay Forner.[6]
Throughout theFrancoist dictatorship, the national radio service depended successively on theFET y de las JONS'sVice-Secretariat for Popular Education (VSEP), on theMinistry of National Education [es] (since 1945) and on theMinistry of Information and Tourism, since the creation of the latter in 1951.[7] In July 1945, in the wake of the transfer of responsibilities over Press and Propaganda to the Ministry of National Education, radio broadcasting became a standalone directorate general: theDirección General de Radiodifusión ('Directorate General for Radio Broadcasting').[8]
After some time on trial, the firstTelevisión Española (TVE) signal was broadcast on 28 October 1956 from the Paseo de la Habana in Madrid, reaching the roughly 600 television receivers existing in the city at the time.[9] On 11 October 1973, the two networks for respectively radio and television broadcasting, RNE and TVE, were consolidated into theServicio Público Centralizado Radiotelevisión Española ('RTVE Centralised Public Service'). Up until the 1980s, with the creation of regional broadcastersETB andTV3, TVE held the monopoly on television broadcasting in the country.[10]
Further consolidations followed in 1977, at which time RTVE became anorganismo autónomo [es]. In 1979, TVE and RNE were joined byRadiocadena Española [es] (RCE), an old radio service that, unlike RNE, could broadcast commercials. Under the purview of the 1980Statute of the Radio and Television [es], the public broadcasting services were configured as a legal public entity (ente público) with its own jurisdiction,[11] theEnte Público Radiotelevisión Española [es].The former cinemanewsreels serviceNO-DO was merged into RTVE to be dismantled in 1981. Since then, the NO-DO archives are property of RTVE and its conservation is in their hands andFilmoteca Española's. In 1989, RCE was dismantled and its radio service was merged into RNE.
In accordance with the Law of State Radio and Television of 5 June 2006,[12] and in the face of an enormous deficit, the RTVE Public Body and the companies TVE, S.A. and RNE, S.A. were dissolved, and on 1 January 2007, Corporación RTVE came into existence.[13] RTVE was thus constituted as a fully autonomoussociedad mercantil estatal, assuming the corporate form of asociedad anónima fully participated by the State.[14] For the first time, the chair of the public broadcasting services was appointed by theCortes Generales (the legislative) rather than by theGovernment of Spain (the executive), as it had been previously the case with the directors-general of theente público and theservicio público de radiodifusión.[15]
As part of the 2007 restructuring, a controversial plan was implemented to reduce the workforce by 4,855 through attrition andretirement incentives.
In 2012 political tensions associated with the austerity policies enacted by the ruling right-leaningPeople's Party (PP) resulted in departures of personnel, which were interpreted by interviewed journalists as an effort to purge critical political comment from RTVE's content. In 2012 the PP began staffing RTVE with party veterans.[16] Considerable controversy was caused whenAna Pastor was fired.[16]
On 11 June 2013, RTVE was one of the few known European broadcasters to condemn and criticize the closure of Greece's state broadcasterERT.
In December 2018, RTVE launched a web with Filmoteca Española, which is available via Internet with more than 4000 videos of Spanish films and documentaries.[17]
Amid the inability to reach a parliamentary agreement for the renovation of the administration board of RTVE,Rosa María Mateo was appointed as Provisional Sole Administrator in July 2018.[18] In February 2021, the renovation was unblocked andJosé Manuel Pérez Tornero was shortlisted as the future chairman of the corporation.[19] Thus, the new board was constituted on 26 March 2021.[20]
In October 2021, the corporation's decision to deny a travel of a group of RTVE journalists to Tindouf to attend an event organised by thePolisario Front and thus be presumably able to interviewBrahim Ghali stirred controversy and led to the renunciation of both TVE and RNE heads of the international informative services.[21]
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RTVE's television service comes under its Televisión Española (TVE) division. Although almost all the programming of its channels is in Spanish and is the same for all of Spain, TVE has territorial centers in everyautonomous community and produces and broadcasts some local programming inregional variations in each of them in the correspondingco-official language such as the broadcast ofCatalan-language segments forCatalonia produced in itsproduction center [es] inSant Cugat del Vallès.
The domestic offer provided by TVE through thedigital terrestrial television comprises two generalist channels (La 1 andLa 2) and three thematic channels:Teledeporte (sports programming),24 Horas (news), andClan (children's programming). All available only inhigh-definition in1080i, except for La 1 that is also available inultra-high-definition in4K resolution.
Regardinginternational broadcasting, TVE providesTVE Internacional, 24 Horas Internacional,Star HD [es],[22] and Clan Internacional.[23]
RTVE's radio stations come under its Radio Nacional de España (RNE) division. RNE has also territorial centers in every autonomous community and produces and broadcasts some local programming in regional variations in each of them.
The domestic offer provided by RNE includes the following radio stations:Radio Nacional (generalist radio station),Radio Clásica (classical music),Radio 3 (cultural and alternative programming aimed at young people),Ràdio 4 (Catalan-language station broadcast in Catalonia and Andorra), andRadio 5 (24-hour radio news station).
Radio Exterior (REE) is the RNE's international broadcasting service on short wave, with an audience of eighty million listeners (surpassed only by theBBC andVatican Radio).[citation needed] This station is also transmitted via DAB for Spain and by satellite. Besides Spanish, REE also transmits programming inFrench,Arabic,Ladino,Portuguese,Russian andEnglish.[24]
RTVE's online portal is located at 'rtve.es'. The website is managed by RTVE's Interactive Media department (Interactivos RTVE [es]). It hosts the corporation'sover-the-top media service,RTVE Play, which replaced the old 'RTVE a la carta' in June 2021, adding additional features.[25][26] RTVE streams content in the Americas on the 'RTVE Play+' pay subscription service.[27]
Besides the catalogue from the RTVE Archive,[28] it allows users to listen and watch live feeds of the network's radio and television stations, as well as original programming fromPlayz, a hub of streaming content aimed towards a young audience. The RTVE.es portal also features blogs and news stories.
RTVE is also responsible for theRTVE Instituto [es] and theRTVE Symphony Orchestra and Choir. RTVE (as RNE) was admitted to full active membership of theEuropean Broadcasting Union in 1955. TVE joined the Eurovision Network in 1960. The corporation has contributed to the production of more than 300 films, many of which have received awards at internationalfilm festivals around the world. From 1979 to 1987, a second radio network known as Radiocadena Española was also a part of RTVE.[29] RCE stations, unlike RNE, showed advertising. RCE was merged into RNE between 1987 and 1989.[30]NO-DO was also merged into RTVE in 1980. Since NO-DO's closure in 1982, RTVE and Filmoteca Española are responsible for maintaining NO-DO's archives.[31]
Pursuant to the 2006 Law of State Radio and Television,[12] management of the national public service is entrusted toCorporación RTVE.[32] The Board (Consejo de Administración) of the RTVE is the main body of RTVE, and appoints the executive officers of RTVE and its companies, approves its organisation, and approves most major activities.[33][34] The Board is composed of twelve members; eight members are chosen byCongress and four by theSenate, each by two-thirds majority and each for a non-renewable mandate of six years, and two members appointed by Congress must be proposed by the two main trade unions at RTVE.[33]
TheChair has operational control of day-to-day operations, in order to execute the decisions and guidance of the Board.[34][32] The Chair is appointed by, and may be dismissed by, Congress.[32] Before the 2006 Act, this position was filled by the role of the Director General, which had ade facto total control of RTVE.[35] In practice, the Director General had been chosen by the Government for their political profile.[36]
Corporación RTVE is described as a "state mercantile society" (sociedad mercantil estatal) with special autonomy and independence from the government and the general state administration, and it performs its functions through Televisión Española (TVE) and Radio Nacional de España (RNE).
Most staff are civil servants.[32] The News Council is an internal supervisory body composed of RTVE journalists with the aim of safeguarding RTVE's independence.[32]
The current RTVE board, constituted on 2 December 2024, ischaired byJosé Pablo López.[37]
Since the entry into force of theLey de Financiación de RTVE in 2009, RTVE is primarily funded by a combination of subsidies from theGeneral State Budget and a fee levied on the private agents'gross revenue (3.0% for private free-to-air channels, a 1.5% for private subscription channels and a 0.9% for telecom companies).[38]
As of 2021, a preliminary draft for theLey General de Comunicación Audiovisual reportedly foresees the extension of the 1.5% fee on gross revenues to international streaming platforms offering services in Spain (such asNetflix,HBO,Disney+,Amazon Prime Video orYouTube) and the drop of the 0.9% fee for telecom companies. However, the latter will continue contributing in terms of the fee levied for the occupation of the spectrum.[39] RTVE will also be able to monetize limited forms of advertising, such assponsorships and advertising in its international channels.[39]
| Management | | |
|---|---|---|
| Televisión Española |
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| Radio Nacional de España | ||
| Interactives | ||
| Other | ||
| Defunct | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
