The Government of Spain wants Netflix, HBO and other streaming services to pay to finance national productions. This tax serves to prevent monopolies and make public television competent.
With the emergence of streaming services, Netflix and HBO as the most popular, the way of watching television is different from years ago. That is why the Ministry of Economy of Spain wants to apply an additional tax to them, like the one paid by private television stations for broadcasting in Spanish territory for having removed RTVE advertising.
Streaming as a new television, with an adapted tax to finance RTVE
The Ministry of Economy and Finance, due to the implementation of a European Commission directive, has confirmed to El Confidencial the plans for paid streaming services to pay a tax like the one that televisions already pay. These taxes would finance the public channel Televisión Española. The reason for the tax is to avoid a monopoly on the part of private entities and with this, public products are released.
So, with our subscription to HBO, Amazon Prime Video, Sky, Netflix, Filmin and more, a part would be paid so that RTVE can get ahead and make productions of a higher caliber than the ones it has now. They would practically put these services as television channels that broadcast in Spanish territory, which they already do, even if it is on demand and over the Internet. Or how cinemas are asked to project a percentage of European production and that these television channels dedicate part of the income to producing films.
Many will not be amused and will defend private companies for the idea that they pay an additional tax, and that they go to programs like Sunday mass. But let's remember that it is also done so that TVE can offer a series like El Ministerio del tiempo, riskier than the usual series; the musical program Cachitos de Hierro y Cromo, and to maintain the long catalog of their own series, some mythical such as Curro Jiménez. Several of the affected operators have contacted their legal team to put pressure on the Court of Justice of the European Union and that this measure does not go ahead, which would make them pay around 1% of their annual income from their income in Spain.
Source: The Confidential
