Movistar Plus adds mandatory ads when accessing TV channels
March 6, 2026
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Movistar Plus, the Spanish pay-TV platform, has commenced rolling out mandatory advertising before access to several television channels, extending a system that now requires viewers to watch an advert before entering the live broadcast of networks from the Atresmedia group.
The measure forms part of a broader strategy by the platform to increase the presence of advertising within its television ecosystem. After initially introducing the system on channels operated by the Spanish public broadcaster RTVE, the model has now been extended to Atresmedia channels including Antena 3, laSexta, Neox, Nova, Mega and Atreseries.
Under the system, when a subscriber selects one of these channels for the first time during a decoder session, the device automatically plays a non-skippable advertising video lasting nearly 30 seconds before displaying the live signal. Once the advert finishes, a brief Movistar Plus+ ident appears before the channel’s broadcast begins.
The advert is shown full-screen, without the decoder’s control interface, and is clearly labelled “Publicidad” to indicate commercial content. Viewers must watch the clip in full before accessing the linear channel.
Movistar Plus has placed limits on the system’s frequency. According to the platform, a maximum of one advert will be displayed every 30 minutes, with each customer receiving no more than five pre-roll adverts per day. This total includes adverts shown when switching on the decoder, launching on-demand content, or tuning into a live channel.
The approach resembles the pre-roll advertising commonly used by streaming platforms, where adverts play before a programme begins. However, Movistar Plus has integrated the system directly into the navigation of traditional linear channels, meaning viewers can encounter advertising simply by changing channels for the first time in a session.
The expansion to Atresmedia channels follows the earlier implementation on RTVE’s networks — La 1, La 2, Canal 24 Horas and Teledeporte — which already operate under the same pre-access advertising model on the platform.
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