The hidden side of JP López on TVE: He exploits 60s cinema but calls it 'sexist'

RTVE has announced that it will contextualize the era of the "Cine de barrio" movies. It does so after its president José Pablo López aborted the renewal of the film container. This way it gains audience on Saturday afternoons for La 1.  Meanwhile, it brings joy to the man who owns almost 100% of the Spanish films from the 60s and 70s, Enrique Cerezo.

The executive from Málaga and former seminarian is a close friend of Cerezo since they met at Trece TV (López as director and Cerezo as shareholder and provider). The president of RTVE has decided not to continue with the renewal that 'Cine de barrio' started in 2020 after Alaska's signing.

The broadcast of movies like "Todos los hombres sois iguales" didn't have the audience of films like "La ciudad no es para mí." And not all the movies from the 80s and 90s are owned by Cerezo, who has the monopoly on films starring Paco Martínez Soria, Manolo Escobar, Marisol, or Lina Morgan.

RTVE explains that the program will incorporate at the beginning of its movies, when their content requires it, a phrase informing about the era and context in which they were filmed. The phrase will be the following."The circumstances contained in this movie are framed in a specific era. They must be understood in the social context of that era."

RTVE says it addresses in this way a recommendation from the RTVE Audience Ombudsman, Rosa María Molló. It does so in response to different audience requests about some titles broadcasted in 'Cine de barrio,' related to sexist and chauvinistic attitudes.

José Pablo López forgets that at Trece and Telemadrid he programd many Spanish films from past eras. He returns to subscribe to Cerezo. La 2 has broadcasted in recent months a western movie marathon belonging to its catalog.

In recent times José Pablo López is at the center of controversy due to the arrival of the former 'Sálvame' members. His decision to sign Javier Ruiz and Jesús Cintora to strengthen La 1 and La 2.

Cerezo and public televisions

The main income streams for Cerezo are soccer and televisions. The company of the Atlético de Madrid president, Video Mercury Films is one of the main film providers. It not only serves TVE ('Cine de barrio' and 'Historia de nuestro cine'). Also Atresmedia (with which it exploits the Atrescine channel in America), Movistar (it is the main provider of the DCine Español channel) or Trece (to which it supplies westerns and in whose shareholding it figures with a minority stake).

The producer also squeezes his worn-out films through his regional channel 8Madrid. This was born after the DTT license contest promoted in 2005 by the Government of Esperanza Aguirre. The contest had to be repeated because the Supreme Court demonstrated it had been arbitrary.

In cinema, his big deals are famous. In 1996 the aznarismo landed in RTVE and the following year the public Corporation authorized a payment of more than 3,000 million pesetas (18 million euros) to broadcast 700 films by Cerezo.

The delegated intervention of the Treasury recognized that RTVE breached "the internal regulations" in most of the operations to purchase 1,155 films from producers José Frade and Enrique Cerezo "without the prior approval of the TVE Economic Committee."  That body validated those purchases a posteriori, revealed El País.

In 2016, again with the PP at the helm of RTVE, its Board of Directors approved an agreement to broadcast more than 100 films by Cerezo in exchange for 1.3 million euros. It did so with the only favorable votes of councilors appointed by the 'populares'.

This contract was revealed because the Central Court of Contentious-Administrative number 7 of Madrid dismissed the appeal filed by the Spanish Radio and Television Corporation against the resolution of the Transparency and Good Governance Council, which asked it to make the figures of the agreement public despite the refusal of its leadership.