Intermediary roles in the transposition of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive into domestic legislation: Evidence from Spain

Abstract

This article discusses the role played by regulatory intermediaries including non-state actors, professional associations and transnational networked agencies during the transposition of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive into Spanish national legislation. It aims to fill in the gap in prior research by extending the application of the Regulator–Intermediary–Target (RIT) theoretical framework to the field of audiovisual media regulation. The analysis focuses on the transposition stages of the Directive after the date of entering into force on 19 December 2018, up to 19 September 2020. Data are taken from publicly available national sources and European databases. Results show that the RIT framework helps to single out the main initiatives undertaken by relevant Spanish authorities and institutional players, their methods and responses to policy challenges. Mapping out regulatory intermediaries and network of relationships established among multiple actors facilitates our understanding on the complex forms of audiovisual governance and implementation of European law.