The National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC), with sanctioning authority over audiovisual activity in Spain, has fined RTVE 307,300.80 euros for broadcasting unidentified advertising outside the permitted hours. The resolution issued by the Regulatory Supervision Chamber in early July and released this Monday sanctions two morning broadcasts of the programs MasterChef and MasterChef Celebrity for advertising wine during that time slot and carrying out commercial promotions without identifying them as advertising. The document explains that the initial amount of the two fines for violating the General Audiovisual Communication Law (LGCA) amounted to 512,168 euros, although the Spanish public media corporation has settled the payment after applying a 40% reduction.
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The events date back to 2024 and involved two morning broadcasts on May 5 and November 10 of the program in question aired on La1 of Televisión Española. In September of the following year, the initiation of a sanctioning procedure was agreed upon, “considering that there may have been a violation of the provisions of articles 123 and 136 of the LGCA.” In its statements, RTVE argued that those broadcasts were not the “primary ones of such programs, as both are specifically intended for nighttime programming.” Likewise, the corporation considered that “the mentions of MasterChef wine are made in a gastronomic context of the highest level.” It added that “the message of moderate wine consumption is implicit in the very form and context of the wine presentation” within the program. RTVE also stated that “given the extensive tradition of presenting elements or products derived from the program, such as wine, the restaurant, cookbooks, or the MasterChef video game, viewers already clearly identify all these advertising mentions.”
“A nice little green, at least”
The viewing report from May 5, 2024, between 10:49 and 13:54 hours mentions a moment when the then co-host, Samantha Vallejo-Nájera — now no longer on the program — proposed “a toast” with “a Rioja Crianza, MasterChef wine.” Among other self-promotional messages, co-host Pepe Rodríguez announces at another moment the “healthy bible of MasterChef.” The third co-host Jordi Cruz intervenes later: “If you want to live the MasterChef experience, now you can do it with MasterChef, the official video game.” Regarding the viewing report from November 10, 2024, between 10:42 and 13:54 hours, a passage toward midday recreates the conversation between Jordi Cruz and singer Pitingo: “It can’t be that you’re here eating some good barnacles and don’t have your little glass, there, those good MasterChef barnacles have to be eaten with a MasterChef wine, a nice little green, at least, eh, that way you enjoy it properly.” In another passage, Vallejo-Nájera proposes “a toast with the white MasterChef wine.”
The resolution recalls that article 123 of the LGCA prohibits advertisements for alcoholic beverages that do not include a message of moderate and low-risk consumption, as well as the promotion of those with an “alcohol content equal to or less than twenty degrees, except when broadcast between 8:30 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. and outside that schedule when such audiovisual commercial communications are an indivisible part of the acquisition of rights and the production of the signal to be broadcast.” On the other hand, article 136 of the same law requires that “audiovisual commercial communication whose broadcast characteristics may confuse the viewer about its advertising nature shall include a permanent and legible overlay with the indication ‘advertising’.”
The CNMC Regulatory Chamber considers the violation of both articles proven by passages like those mentioned, and cites in its resolution that RTVE “has expressly acknowledged its responsibility for the proven facts.” The two imposed fines totaled 512,168 euros, broken down into a sanction of 243,334 euros and another of 268,834 euros for violations of articles 123 and 136 of the LGCA, respectively. The corporation’s acknowledgment of responsibility led to the termination of the procedure, as well as a 20% reduction of the sanction added to another 20% for voluntary payment, which amounted to the final 307,300.80 euros.
