Developments in linguistic legislation concerning audiovisual media in Spain

This article examines the developments in legislation regulating audiovisual media in Spain, from its beginnings— under Franco’s dictatorship—to the present day. We consider regional and State powers as well as the regulations currently governing this sector, within the context of language issues and the use of State languages. We also review the situation of the different linguistic communities within Spain in an effort to draw a communicative and linguistic map, identify existing problems and draw conclusions.