On August 2, 2016, the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC), the nation-wide communication regulatory authority in Spain, published its first ever report on the fulfilment by public service broadcaster Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (CRTVE) of its public service duties and on its funding. The 2006 National Public Radio and Television Act stated that an independent authority was to assess the effectiveness of public service broadcasters in meeting the requirements set out by law. Such an entity was however nonexistent before the creation of CNMC in 2013, rendering any form of supervision impossible until then.
The newly published report - which corresponds to CRTVE's activity in 2014 - states that the public service broadcaster has fulfilled its mandate (as defined in the 2006 Act) towards the public. Nevertheless, it also points out the fact that CRTVE would need to revise its financing mechanism in order to ensure future budgetary stability.
Law 8/2009 of August 28, which is currently in force, states that CRTVE cannot be financed with funds generated from advertising, teleshopping, merchandising and pay-per-view services. Instead, they receive public funding generated by a series of taxes on free-to-air broadcasters (3%), pay-TV broadcasters (1.5%), electronic communication operators (0.9%) and the levy on radio spectrum use (80% up to a maximum amount of €330 million).
According to the report, CRTVE should improve the following points in the forthcoming years: