The General Court of the European Union has dismissed an appeal against the European Commission’s decision to force Spain and its autonomous communities to hand back subsidies given during the deployment of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT).
The case, brought by Spain and transmission company Cellnex, dates back to 2013 when Brussels ruled that funding given to operators between 2005 and 2008 to deploy DTT in sparsely populated areas of Spain amounted to illegal State aid and should be recovered.
The Spanish central government and regional authorities had financed the deployment of DTT to remote areas of Spain amounting to 2.5% of the population, despite having no plans to market the service.
Because the deployment was not technology neutral – satellite was deemed to be a suitable alternative – the financing was considered to be illegal state aid.
A 2017 investigation covered the DTT deployment in remote areas of the Basque Country, Catalonia and Navarre, but did not cover the implementation in Galicia, so Brussels decided to re-investigate the situation for the whole country.
A ruling in 2021 confirmed the decision, leaving a bill of €260 million, representing the amount with which the operators had been financed.
Spain and Celinex apealled, arguing the Commission had infringed the State aid regulation and had not respected the rights of the parties during the procedure.
The General Court rejected the arguments and dismissed the appeals.
A further appeal is possible to The Court of Justice of the European Union.
