Free-to-air television in Spain is preparing for a key movement: The Government has launched the competition to award a new national DTT license. Starting from October 20 and until November 20, any interested operator may submit their candidacy through the electronic headquarters of the Ministry for Digital Transformation. Once the deadline closes, the Executive will have one year to decide who gets the coveted space.
This new license will occupy the free space in the MPE5 digital multiplea spectrum reserved for channels with state coverage. But it is not just another channel: the new operator must broadcast in DVB-T2the high efficiency standard that will mark the technical future of television. The technological revolution is no longer an option: it is an obligation.
The interesting thing is what moves in parallel. The reorganization of the RGE2 spectrum and the incorporation of new channels in Ultra High Definition (UHD) they could reconfigure the entire board. What was once a fixed structure now begins to look more like a moving puzzle. The pieces don’t just change places: They also change resolution, speech and purpose.
Fifteen years of renewable concession, national coverage and new technical requirements: that’s what’s at stake. But something more intangible is also at play: the ability to influence an audience that, although fragmented, continues to find in DTT a free refuge from the chaos of streaming.
The process promises to be long — the decision will not come before the fall of 2026 — but The implications will be immediate.. Beyond the small print of the BOE, This tender is an opportunity to rethink the role of public and private television in an ecosystem saturated with voices but lacking true plurality.
Meanwhile, the sector is preparing for a race in which only one can win, but in which all current operators will have to adapt to the new digital map. On the horizon we see a clearer, more demanding and, perhaps, more polarized DTT. Open television is about to take a big step. The question is: Who will know how to take advantage of it?