Spanish Government plans to close down 3000 'pirate' radio stations

Spanish Government plans to close down 3000 'pirate' radio stations
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By h.b. - Jan 11, 2010 - 10:07 AM
A new body, the State Radio Communications Agency, is being set up to carry out the job

EFE archive

After years of complaints the Government has given an undertaking to do away with the estimated 3,000 ‘pirate’ radio stations in operation across the country. In some areas the number of illegal stations is triple that of the legal, and those who operate with a licence say that the advertising market is harshly affected.

Now central Government has said it is to draw up a map of Spanish radio which will allow a cleaning up of the FM band and the quick and firm closure of those broadcasters who lack the correct permissions.

A new State Radio Communications Agency is to be set up before June 1, and then given the task of controlling the radio spectrum. It’s creation is part of the new LGGA legislation, the new General Law for Audiovisual Communication, which was approved in Congress last week and which moves on to the Senate in February.

The AERC, Spanish Association of Commercial Radio, is made up of the operators, SER, Onda Cero, Cope, Punto Radio and others, and they have already presented a list of broadcasters they consider to be outside the law. Their list showed 482 on the Canaries, 387 in Andalucía, 338 in the Valencia region, 183 in Cataluña, 144 in Madrid and 143 in the Basque Country. In addition there are many so-called Municipal Radios which are breaking the law as they are run by companies and not by the local Town Hall.

The illegal operators however complain that no new concessions for licences have been made available.

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