Corporacion Aragonesa de Radio y Television (CARTV)
The Aragon Radio and Television Corporation (CARTV) is the public broadcasting company that serves the Aragon region, comprising Radio Aragon and Aragon Television.
Media assets
Television: Aragón TV (HD), Aragón TV INT
Radio: Aragón Radio, Aragón Radio 2
State Media Matrix Typology
Ownership and governance
CARTV was established through Law No. 8 of 1987. Its legal status is that of a state-owned corporation administratively subordinated to the Government of Aragon.
The governance structure of the Corporación Aragonesa de Radio y Televisión (CARTV) underwent a significant reform in late 2023. Until then, the Director General and members of the Board of Directors could only be appointed with a two-thirds majority in the regional parliament, a safeguard intended to guarantee broad political consensus. However, in November 2023 the governing coalition of the People’s Party (PP), Vox, and the Aragonese Party (PAR) pushed through an amendment to the CARTV law.
Under the revised rules, if the qualified majority is not achieved in the first vote, candidates can be approved by a simple majority in a second vote held within 24 hours. The reform also reduced the role of the Advisory Council, whose representative now participates in the Board of Directors with voice but no vote.
These changes cleared the way for the appointment of Raquel Fuertes as Director General in November 2023. Her nomination was approved solely with the votes of the governing coalition in the second round of voting, marking a departure from the tradition of cross-party consensus.
The Board of Directors, composed of 15 members elected by parliament and one representative from the Advisory Council, remains the corporation’s highest governing body, though its balance has shifted in favour of the ruling majority.
Source of funding and budget
CARTV is primarily funded through state subsidies from the Government of Aragon. For context, in 2021 and 2022, CARTV received a subsidy of approximately €50 million annually, with a slight increase to €50.8 million in 2023.
Reflecting the new administration’s priorities, the Government of Aragon and CARTV signed a new multi-year program contract in late 2023. The agreement provides for a substantial budget increase: from the current €50.8 million, funding will rise to €54 million in 2025 and €55.5 million in 2026, the highest allocation in the broadcaster’s history. According to the government, the goal of this increase is to modernize the corporation and expand its audiovisual production capacity, ensuring that CARTV can pursue long-term strategic plans with stable financial backing.
A significant portion of these funds continues to be channeled to the private media conglomerate Henneo-Heraldo de Aragón, which produces a large volume of content for CARTV’s broadcasters. It has been estimated that this group absorbs as much as 78% of CARTV’s budget, a structural dependency that remains a central feature of the corporation’s financial operations.
Editorial independence
While there was no evidence of systematic government editorial control over CARTV in the past, the legislative changes of late 2023 have fundamentally altered this landscape. The move by the PP-Vox-PAR government was strongly criticized by journalist unions and opposition parties as a mechanism to exert greater political control over the public broadcaster.
In light of these developments, in 2024 CARTV was reclassified in our State Media Matrix from the Independent State-Funded and State-Managed Media (ISFM) category to the State-Controlled Media (SC) category.
The program contract regularly renewed between the Government of Aragon and CARTV formally guarantees the broadcaster’s editorial independence. The latest agreement explicitly includes this safeguard. Nevertheless, as noted above, political pressures increasingly undermine its practical implementation.
The Advisory Board serves as the institutional channel for civil society participation in CARTV. It is composed of 16 members appointed by the regional parliament from among nominees proposed by NGOs, private companies, academic institutions, and CARTV staff. The Board’s mandate is to provide feedback and recommendations to CARTV’s management with the aim of strengthening the broadcaster’s programming. Following the 2023 reform, however, the Advisory Board’s representative on CARTV’s main Board of Directors now participates with voice but no vote, a change that has significantly curtailed its influence in governance.
August 2025