Objectives
Before starting the analysis, the following hypothesis were formulated:
H1. Spanish television channels do not properly rate and label programmes broadcast on “protected hours”.
H2. Television channels do not use all the available platforms to spread awareness about the rating information of their programmes.
H3. TV contents rating and labelling criteria are not properly used by TV broadcasters.
H4. People responsible for rating and labelling TV contents struggle to interpret the guiding criteria of the Self-regulation Code.
H5. There are shortcomings both in the labelling procedures adopted by TV networks and in the designation of the people responsible for adapting the criteria of the Code to the contents broadcast by the TV channels.
H6. The rating of programmes is not homogeneous between TV networks and varies depending on their genre and coverage.
Based on these hypotheses we established four main research objectives. The first objective is to verify the implementation of the programme rating system, as established by the General Law on Audiovisual Communication and the Self-regulation Code on Television Contents and Childhood. This also involved examining the labelling criteria, pictographs and platforms used to transmit this information to users. Similarly, the objective was to determine whether the labelling references and criteria used by TV channels were exclusively those recommended by the Self-regulation Code or were also those suggested by other institutions, such as the audiovisual councils, the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA) or the rating systems of other countries, in the case of international audiovisual productions. The second objective was to collect the point of view of TV professionals on the problems faced to interpret and implement the rating criteria included in the Code, which have been the cause of the sanctions imposed by the Spanish government on TV channels in the field of children’s protection. Related to the previous, the third objective was to identify the person in charge of rating and labelling programming in the TV channels under analysis and the way this procedure is carried out. The final objective was to identify the programme rating procedures used by audiovisual production companies and TV service providers (via broadband or fibre optic), since TV networks are increasingly distribution and dissemination channels for programmes produced outside their business structures: in the first case, because they supply content to TV networks and, in the second, because they act as repeaters of the signal offered by DTT broadcasters.
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