There are no radio or TV licence fees. The public and private companies obtain their revenue advertising (except RNE). Public broadcasting companies receive funds from the State as they do not receive enough income from advertising to finance themselves. Canal+ is a pay TV with some advertising but with many subscribers. Canal Satellite Digital also has large numbers of subscribers.
Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) operates the two public national television channels (TVE-1, and La 2), TVE Internacional (broadcasting by satellite to Western Europe and Latin America), several digital television channels by satellite, a teletext system, and Radio Nacional de España (RNE) which has some 459 radio stations: about 105 of them are AM stations working in a network and about 354 of them on FM, working in four networks. RNE also owns Radio Exterior de España, a short wave station in Spanish and the third in the world, after BBC and Radio Vaticano.
The regional channels are also managed by public companies and depend on the regional (CCAA) parliaments for top up finance. Basque (ETB) and Catalan (TV3) channels in 1983, have been followed by Galicia (TVG), Andalucía (Canal Sur), Valencia (Canal 9), Madrid (Telemadrid), and ones due for Canarias and Asturias.
Tele 5 ownership is: 40 per cent by Mediaset (Grupo Fininvest); 25 per cent by Telefuturo (Grupo Kirch); 25 per cent by the Spanish media Group, Correo; and 10 per cent by Editorial Planeta.
Antena 3 has ownership: Telefónica (46.92 per cent), Banco Central Hispano (12.8 per cent), Banco de Santander, (10.4 per cent), New York Bank (11.8 per cent), Recoletos Editorial group (10 per cent), and others (8.06 per cent).
Canal + has as its main shareholders the French concerns Canal+ and Sogecable (owned by Prisa, the Spanish media group publisher). Each of them has a 25 per cent of the total capital. Other shareholders are: the Spanish banks, BBVA and Grupo March (15.79 per cent each); Eventos, (7.89 per cent); and the Spanish banks, Caja Madrid and Bankinter, (5.26 per cent each).
In 1999 the most important television channels were: TVE-1 (24.9 per cent), Antena 3 (22.2 per cent), Tele5 (20.6 per cent), public regional channels (17.2 per cent), La 2 (8.3 per cent), Canal+ (2.2 per cent). There is big competition between the three leading channels and they change positions regularly.