I know that last assertion could be greeted by howls of protest from those who will say that so many millions of Spanish television viewers cannot be wrong. I’m aware that the Spanish are among the most avid of television viewers anywhere in the world. And I’m open to the criticism that it’s a pretty elitist assertion that so many millions of viewers are less than “reasonably intelligent”. But I stand by my view.

Since the beginning of the 1990’s, private TV networks have been allowed to challenge the former monopoly enjoyed by the state broadcasting organisation Radio Televisión Española, (RTVE). Deregulation has led to a mushrooming of networks and local stations – and seems to have brought to pass all the dire warnings that accompanied discussions about deregulation of the airwaves in the UK; namely that de-restriction would lead to an inevitable “dumbing down” of all programme content by networks offering the most banal of productions. The Spanish TV industry appears to have proved that point. From the simply mind-numbing novellas or soaps, to the dumbly titillating game shows such as Strip Poker, to the downright pornographic.

In the aforementioned Strip Poker show, for example, the suitably inane-looking host plays the game with some busty contestant. Whilst the host manages to stay tightly buttoned up to the collar, week in and week out, hand after hand; his less fortunate guest of course manages to lose all of her clothes – and stays at the card-table in that state of undress, to continue to play!

Day-time television, of course, is at least as awful as day-time television anywhere else in the world – a succession of banal game-shows and Oprah Winfrey type interviews. It’s more difficult to take Spanish television to task for airing such rubbish, since the rest of the planet also seems to be hooked on it.

Yet, proving my original view that Spanish television has everything the televisual experience could possibly offer, there is another side – public broadcasting by RTVE (its two channels are still the most-watched television in Spain). From the moment that television first began to operate as a regular service in 1956, it was considered a state public service and was subjected – in the same way as all other media at the time – to strict control by the Franco regime. In 1965, a second television channel was added as TVE 2.

The present structure of the public television system dates from 1980, the date of the promulgation of the Radio and Television Statute, which established a number of government agencies for control of the medium on behalf of Parliament. An Administrative Council was created at that time, directly designated by the Congress and the Senate as well as the Parliamentary Control Commission for RTVE.

RTVE’s primary channel – TVE 1 – is directed to a general public audience and offers uninterrupted programming from early morning to late night and has the largest audience, despite the intense competition registered since private television appeared. TVE 2 has probably more flexible programming, which focuses special attention on sports broadcasts and live broadcast of important cultural events. Its television coverage and its audience have grown considerably over the last few decade or so (reaching some 6 million viewers by the mid-1990s). Both channels are financed by advertising and their income also allows them to defray the costs of public state radio.

The public channels, however, continue to betray their government-sponsored history. Although they have made conscious efforts to throw off the ultra-conservative yolk of Francoism, they remain very obviously the “orthodox” in viewing styles and attitudes. Thus, the programmes tend to take themselves very seriously and are, generally speaking, unlikely to appeal to those turning to the television for entertainment or relaxation. RTVE, in other words, remains at the opposite end of the televisual spectrum from the private networks.

Vying for air-time between the staid but informative RTVE and the unashamedly banal private network offerings are an increasing number of local television stations. The different regional channels are coordinated through the Federation of Autonomic Radio and Television Entities (FORTA) which eases the costs by sharing the purchase of international programmes, co-produces programmes for its member stations and is active in acquiring the rights to retransmit games from the Spanish Football League.

If you’ve already sampled the delights of the regional stations, you won’t need me to tell you that “professionalism” is not a word that springs readily to mind. In fact, many of these broadcasts look and sound as though they were recorded on home video equipment, from the producer’s own living room. Perhaps many of them are. Certainly there’s a rough-and-ready feel to many of the programmes, which can be extremely repetitive on very local news items, and a number of public access programmes.