The Evolution of the Concept of Public Service and the Transition in Spanish Television

"The paper examines the presence of the public interest in contemporary Spanish television medium. For many years there was a solidly-held belief that there are important public assets (principally educational, cultural and democratic) which could only be provided by public television. In recent years in Spain, after the Transition process, and with democracy having been consolidated, a new period of maturity in television, in which society itself demands and expects that television in general, both public and private, guarantees a series of values and public assets. In the first part, the author explains what are the origins of television in Spain: from what is the nature of public service and legislation that supports it (where are established the public interest criteria that must always prevail in the public television medium, and private television later) to the development and consolidation of the television system in Spain with the arrival of regional television, private television channels and pay television platforms. In the second part of the paper, the situation of the programme listings of general public and private television channels which operate in Spain is analyzed through the case study of the first week of March 2009. The study of prime time enables to know which are the most important genres of television programming in Spain and what television preserve the public interest. Finally which audience and what kinds of programs and genres connect with the interest of the citizens are discussed. The main objective is to study how the concept of public interest has changed in programming and how this is developing currently." [Information des Anbieters]