The Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the TSJA of Granada declared, through four judgments delivered between October and November, the nullity of the public call for tenders for the competitive award of licenses for the provision of audiovisual communication services of a channel private television. commercial and local nature in Andalusia. These decisions, at the cost of alleged appeals to the Supreme Court, leave in suspense no less than 101 licenses which were granted for a period of 15 years on April 27, 2022 to the Board of Directors of the Board of Directors.
At that time, the Junta de Andalucía approved the third local TNT competition, in which a total of 112 licenses were proposed in 45 districts. Among the top license winners are Publicaciones del Sur, with 20; Communication and Services 101, with 12; Procono, with 5; Pedro Pérez, with 5; Antonio A. Ruiz-Berdejo, with 5, and Listengo, with 4. Other licenses that stood out were those of Sevilla FC and the Real Betis Balompié Foundation. Geographically, 14 licenses are granted in the province of Almería, 15 in Cádiz, 16 in Córdoba, 13 in Granada, 8 in Huelva, 8 in Jaén, 15 in Malaga and finally 12 in Seville.
The four convictions, against which there is still an appeal, declare the nullity of this appeal against which five contentious-administrative appeals were filed by the television channels which did not obtain the call for tenders. One of these resources has been archived, as indicated by the Council in April 2022, although four more have now been estimated. If the convictions are ratified by the Supreme Court, in addition to having to convene another competition, it is assumed that the damaged television channels, in operation for several years, will also appeal and demand from the Council the restitution of the millionaire sums. invested (in materials, cameras, sets, technological equipment, etc.) for the following 15 years, as planned in the specifications, potentially generating a significant legal entanglement between the initial winners and those resulting from the new call for tenders.
This third competition was published in BOJA extraordinary number 37, of April 27, 2021, and the specifications which governed it were approved at the same time. The Andalusian Government has thus respected the deadline set by Law 1/2021 of January 22, as highlighted at the time by the Authority, by which a transitional period was articulated to guarantee the provision of the Digital Terrestrial Television service managed locally by individuals. There are 98 private companies affected by these decisions, according to sources.
Radio planning
The decisions establish that there is no evidence that Andalusia requested the State to modify the reservation of the public radio and television service. The judges mainly analyzed whether the reserve had diminished and been excluded from the relevant radio planning by the state. In other words, if the fact that the available radio spectrum has decreased prevented launching a public call for tenders like the one opened by the Council, which is now canceled, leaving in the air all the investments of the companies in addition to hundreds of jobs they create. now in the air too.
The Ministry of the Presidency, which reported the convictions in an information note distributed last Friday, resolved this contest and boasted of having done so for the first time within the legally established deadline, after being processed entirely electronically. During processing, 487 requests to participate were received from 54 different bidders. At the time of the appeal, only 11 licenses had been released. Some of them, such as the Andalusian municipalities of Baena, Peñarroya-Pueblonuevo, Priego de Córdoba and Iznalloz, had already remained empty during previous calls.
Nuria López, regional television director of Procono SA (one of the entities concerned) and vice-president of the National Association of Telecommunications and Local Television Operators of Spain (Acutel), admits to this newspaper that he acts as a “setback” but that the case still has a “judicial course”. “We understand that the reserve of radio programming has not decreased because we have not stopped broadcasting and we will continue to work and broadcast because there is no final decision”, underlines- he announcing that his entity will appeal. “For whatever reason, there are those who have no interest in giving stability to the sector,” he laments in what represents the third public tender in the same area which ended up being canceled for the moment.
In April 2006, the Governing Council approved the first call for tenders for the award of concessions for the operation of the local public digital terrestrial television service in Andalusia for private management, in which 163 concessions were awarded to individuals physical and moral throughout the territory. Andalusia. The resolution was contested and grants awarded in more than thirty of the 62 districts were canceled.
TNT’s second local competition took place in August 2016, with 111 licenses offered in 44 districts. This call was also contested, this time by various companies. A total of 89 licenses were granted, but the resolution ended up being overturned by the TSJA, forcing the Council to convene a new competition whose bases, to the detriment of the challenges before the Supreme Court, have now been annulled.
