L'Hospitalet submits the 2027-2028 media program contract for public consultation

The City Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat has opened for public consultation the program contract that establishes the objectives, funding, and control of the municipal media for the 2027-2028 period, with a municipal contribution reaching 3.67 million euros in the first financial year. The procedure was initiated by Resolution 13855/2026, dated October 19, and the announcement is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Barcelona on October 26, 2026 (CVE 202610158499), with a period of 20 business days to submit allegations. The edict is signed by the mayor-president, David Quirós Brito, dated October 23, 2026.

The document, consisting of 65 pages, is the planning instrument for the direct management of the public audiovisual communication service provided by La Farga Gestió d’Equipaments Municipals, SA (La Farga GEM, SA), a fully municipal company established in 1987. The proposal was approved by the Executive and Programming Council of the communication services in a session on September 14, 2026, and received a favorable report from the Board of Directors of La Farga GEM, SA on September 29, 2026, in compliance with articles 8 and 20 of the municipal regulation approved in 2014 (BOPB 11.07.2014).

The legal framework is Law 22/2005, of December 29, on audiovisual communication in Catalonia, which requires local entities to sign a program contract with the managing entity. The immediate precedent is the 2023-2025 program contract, approved by the Plenary on May 24, 2023, and extended for 2026 through the transitional action program approved on April 28, 2026.

Funding of 3.6 million annually

Clause 5 estimates the funding needs of the service in the following amounts:

• Operations: €3,421,744.87 in 2027 and €3,476,220.44 in 2028.
• Investments: €249,000 in 2027 and €95,000 in 2028.
• Total: €3,670,745 in 2027 and €3,571,220 in 2028.

However, Annex III reduces the municipal contribution for operations for 2027 to €3,413,244.87 (total of €3,662,245), a difference of €8,500 compared to the fifth clause. The projected own income remains stable at €190,000 annually: €120,000 from advertising, €65,000 from content for La Xarxa, and €5,000 from other operating income.

An exclusively online radio station and seven new jobs

The flagship project of the biennium is a radio station without an FM frequency, with live and on-demand broadcasting through the L’Hdigital portal, with a studio in the Francesc Casbas building. The initial investment is €109,100 in 2027, and the associated personnel cost rises to €213,732.56 in 2027 (half a financial year) and €403,200.03 in 2028.

• Planned hiring: 5 multimedia journalists and 2 multipurpose multimedia technicians.
• Current consolidated workforce: 35 jobs as of May 31, 2026, with personnel expenses of €2,666,801.20 in 2027.
• Specific funding for the new radio station: €263,916.87 in 2027 and €514,712.08 in 2028.
• Circulation of the Diari de L’Hospitalet: from 113,000 to 116,000 copies due to population growth.

Monitoring, extensions, and mandatory report

The program contract creates a joint technical monitoring commission of six members, three for the City Council and three for La Farga, which will meet at least once a year and may propose revisions if economic magnitudes vary. The term runs from January 1, 2027, to December 31, 2028, with the possibility of an extension for a maximum of four years.

Prior to approval, the text must be submitted for public information and obtain the mandatory report from the Audiovisual Council of Catalonia; the final decision corresponds to the Municipal Plenary. The planned signatories are Jesús Husillos Gutiérrez, Deputy Mayor of the Area of Security and Internal Governance, and Jose Antonio Alcaide Martín, president of La Farga GEM, SA.

The relevance of the news is twofold: it sets the spending ceiling for public media in Catalonia’s second-largest city for two years and conditions the commitment to a new digital medium, the online radio, which will arrive late relative to the planned schedule and will require expanding the workforce. The allegations period now open is the only citizen window to question the figures before the Plenary validates them.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Barcelona, issue of October 26, 2026, Local Administration, pp. 1-65 (official reference: CVE 202610158499).