Control of Content

Minors

In relation to protection of minors, we have responsibility for monitoring compliance with the obligations imposed in order to safeguard the rights of minors.

Right of minors

Minors have the right not to have their image or voice used in audiovisual communication services without their own consent or the consent of their legal guardian, in accordance with the regulations in force.

In all cases, broadcasting of the name, image, or other information that allows a minor to be identified is prohibited within the context of criminal acts or any content where their guardianship or family relationships are disputed.

Protected content and hours

All audiovisual products must have an age rating.

Broadcasting of audiovisual contents that could seriously harm the physical, mental, or moral development of minors is prohibited, in particular programmes that include pornographic scenes or gratuitous violence.

For open-access television, a protected general time slot is established between 6.00 am and 10.00 pm, during which contents that could be harmful for the physical, mental, or moral development of minors must not be broadcast, or in other words, any content rated as not recommended for minors under 18 years of age. Such content may be broadcast outside of this general protection time slot, as long as it is preceded by an audio and visual warning message.

Also in relation to open-access television, three time slots considered as enhanced protection are established, during which contents rated as not recommended for children under 12 years of age must not be transmitted:

  • From Monday through Friday: from 8.00 am to 9.00 am and 5.00 pm to 8.00 pm
  • Saturdays, Sundays, and national holidays: from 9.00 am to 12.00 pm

Programmes dedicated to games of chance or gambling may only be broadcast between 1.00 am and 5.00 am. 

Programmes with content related to fortune-telling and the paranormal may only be broadcast between 10.00 pm and 7.00 am.

When the audiovisual communication service takes place through a catalogue of programmes, the providers of these must produce separate catalogues for contents that could seriously harm the physical, mental, or moral development of minors.

Advertising communications

During the time slot for protection of minors, providers of audiovisual communication services may not insert advertising that promotes the cult of the body or rejection of self-image, such as products related to weight loss, surgical procedures, or aesthetic treatments, or that promote social rejection for physical condition, or success based upon factors of weight or appearance.

Advertising communications must not cause harm to the moral or physical well-being of minors.

The Resolutions related to requirements or violations on the subject of protection of minors are found in the areas on sanctioning Requests or Resolutions.

Latest resolutions

All resolutions on cases of content control for advertising in the audiovisual area

Advertising

In relation to advertising, we exercise control over compliance with the obligations, prohibitions, and limits when exercising the right to produce audiovisual commercial communications, according to the provisions established in Law 7/2010 of 31 March, the General Law on Audiovisual Communication.

These controls exercised over advertising are:

  • We monitor the existence of illegal or prohibited advertising, with special attention given to hidden advertising.
  • We oversee appropriate inclusion of sponsors and product placement.
  • We monitor the maximum limits for self-promotion broadcasting (5 minutes per clock hour) and advertising and televised shopping content (12 minutes per clock hour), taking into account the exemptions established by the Law for this latter calculation.
  • We oversee the number of advertising breaks allowed for specific programmes, such as films made for television, full-length films, documentaries, programming for children, and sporting events.
  • We monitor application of the principle of separation between advertising and programming, and we ensure that advertising messages respect the integrity of the programmes into which they are inserted.
  • We decide upon cases of the non-advertising status of public service announcements or those representing charities, upon request from interested parties (exempt from advertising calculations).

The Resolutions related to requirements or violations on the subject of advertising are found in the areas on sanctioning Requests or Resolutions.

Latest resolutions

Últimas 10 resoluciones de expedientes de publicidad en el ámbito audiovisual
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Todas las resoluciones de expedientes de control de contenidos de publicidad en el ámbito audiovisual

Accesibility

The regulations guarantee the right of all persons with a visual or auditory disability to have universal access to audiovisual communications, according to the technological possibilities available. This may take place by various means: subtitling, sign language interpretation, and audio descriptions of contents. All of this is done in order to guarantee service quality and satisfaction for the targeted population.

Spain's General Law on Audiovisual Communications therefore establishes minimum percentages of subtitled programmes and a number of weekly hours of sign language interpretation and audio description.

These obligations apply to audiovisual communication services on open-access television with nationwide or regional coverage.

At the CNMC, we monitor compliance with these obligations at the national level.

PRIVATE OPEN-ACCESS CHANNELS

  • Subtitling: 75%
  • Audio description: 2 hours weekly
  • Sign language: 2 hours weekly

PUBLIC SERVICE CHANNELS

  • SubtitLling 90%
  • Audio description: 10 hours weekly
  • Sign language: 10 hours weekly