Plans to introduce a levy on the major streaming companies to help fund public broadcaster RTVE have been put on hold until 2023.
Officially the Spanish government needs to have the full financials for the year 2022 to be available before the tax can be brought in. However, there remains a dispute with the Catalan authorities over a proposal to remove a requirement for 6% of films to be produced in the Catalan language.
In the meantime, international video platforms, Netflix, HBO and Amazon will not need to pay the tax, while the traditional players, including pay-TV operators, will need to.
Under the proposals, pay-TV operators would pay 5% of their annual revenue originating in Spain to finance European Cinema, a further 1.5% would go to RTVE.
The tax is already controversial because of the exemption of telecoms companies from 0.9% of the fee, reflecting the annual amount paid since 2009 simply for being in the telco business. Telefónica, Orange and Vodafone have already been to court in a bid to get the controversial tax removed by having it declared unconstitutional.
Of the major players, only Netflix actually declares any income from Spain, Amazon reports in Luxembourg and
