Radiotelevisión del Principado de Asturias (RTPA) is the public broadcaster of the Principality of Asturias, airing both television and radio programs.
Media assets
Television: TPA7, TPA8, TPA9 HD
Radio: RPA
State Media Matrix Typology: Independent State-Funded and State-Managed (ISFM)
Ownership and governance
RTPA was created through the Law No. 8 of 2014 as a public limited company whose capital stock is wholly owned by the Principality of Asturias.
The Board of Directors, the highest governance body in RTPA, has nine members, including the Director, who are elected by the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias, the region’s parliament.
Source of funding and budget
RTPA is financed through a mixed model consisting of both state financing and commercially generated revenues. In 2020, RTPA received a state budget allocation of €20m from the regional government. The state funding accounted for nearly the whole RTPA budget. In 2022, the RTPA received a state subsidy of €22.7m, according to an annual report issued by the broadcaster.
Editorial independence
There is no evidence of systematic editorial control by the government of RATP.
The editorial independence of RATP is established through the law that created the company.
The law that created RATP also introduced mechanisms for independent assessment and oversight. They are the News Council, an internal body consisting of RATP professionals whose role is to ensure the editorial independence of the broadcaster’s journalists, and the Communication Council, a body of 11 members appointed by the parliament in Asturias whose role is to inform RTPA’s management about complaints from the public and to make recommendations aimed at improving the RTPA’s programming.
September 2023