Javier Ruiz leaves RTVE: where he is going and how public television changes after his departure

The broadcast license for the new state free-to-air channel, whose commercial name will be La Séptima, has already been awarded and the main administrative phase is closed. The enabling title is held by the consortium SIETE (Servicios Integrados de Entretenimiento Televisivo SL), which has a technical period to prepare the start of broadcasts. According to the Government, the channel will be able to begin broadcasting from November 5, 2026 and, in any case, must already be on air before the end of that month. To effectively start, the provider must comply with the requirements of Law 13/2022, General Audiovisual Communication Law, and Royal Decree 1138/2023, in particular registration in the state Registry and prior notification of the start of activity, in addition to the obligations derived from the TDT license itself.

License status and start-up schedule

The process begins with the public tender for a new state TDT license, approved by the Council of Ministers in October 2025 and detailed by the newspaper Demócrata in this information, in line with what has been reported by sector media such as Audiovisual451.

The tender was resolved on May 26, 2026. The Ministry for Digital Transformation confirmed in an official note that the new TDT license was awarded to Servicios Integrados Entretenimiento Televisivo SL, after competing with Mediaset, according to the Executive's note about the award and the sector report by Audiovisual451. Demócrata covers it from a political and business perspective in this piece about SIETE, which highlights that the license has an initial duration of 15 renewable years.

In parallel, specialized sources such as Panorama Audiovisual detail that the new operator has a period of six months for technical and operational adaptation before starting regular free-to-air broadcasts.

The most recent key step is the resolution on the redistribution of TDT channels and UHD deployment. In the press release from the Ministry for Digital Transformation dated July 31, 2026, November 5 is set as the date from which ultra-high-definition broadcasts begin, and it is expressly stated that from that day the new TDT channel, La Séptima, awarded to SIETE, can be tuned in, according to the official note about redistribution and UHD. Demócrata specifies in its economic report that the new channel's schedule can start on November 5 and that programming must be available to the public “always before November 27.”

On the editorial project level, José Miguel Contreras has confirmed that the channel will be marketed as La Séptima and that negotiations are underway with Javier Ruiz to direct it, as reported by Demócrata in this information about the future management. No further official details about the schedule or editorial line are available in the consulted documents.

Applicable legal framework

1. General Audiovisual Communication Law (Law 13/2022)

The normative basis is the Law 13/2022, of July 7, General Audiovisual Communication Law, available in the BOE at this link. Some relevant points for a state free-to-air channel like La Séptima are:

• Prior license for state TDT: the provision of audiovisual communication television service via terrestrial hertzian waves requires holding a license granted through a tender (articles of title IV). At the state level, the competent body to grant it is the Council of Ministers, as has been done in this case.
• Granting of public radioelectric domain: the license entails the granting of exclusive use of the spectrum, coordinated with Law 9/2014 General Telecommunications Law.
• Concentration limits: the provider and its partners must respect the participation and license number limits established to avoid dominant positions (articles on significant participations and pluralism).
• Registration and transparency: state providers must register in the state Registry of audiovisual communication service providers (art. 39 et seq.), with information about shareholders, brand, broadcast scope, and financing model.

2. State registry and prior notification (Royal Decree 1138/2023)

The Royal Decree 1138/2023, of December 19, develops this registry and the prior notification procedure for the start of activity, and can be consulted in the BOE here. For La Séptima, it implies, in summary:

• Mandatory registration in the state Registry as a state-level television provider, providing company data (legal form, administration, shareholders with significant participations) and service data (brand La Séptima, state scope, TDT technology, financing model, etc.), according to articles 12 and 13 of the royal decree.
• Responsible declarations: certifying that neither the provider nor its partners are subject to the prohibitions of article 19 of Law 13/2022 (e.g., certain convictions, incompatibilities, or serious violations), and that the shareholding concentration limits of article 35 are respected.
• Reliable and prior notification of start of activity: even having a license, before starting to broadcast La Séptima, this electronic notification must be submitted to the State Secretariat for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures. From the moment of submission, activity may begin, without prejudice to the Administration's powers of verification and sanction.

3. Other procedural elements

The license tender has been guided by criteria already applied in previous tenders (such as the 2015 one, regulated in the resolution published in the BOE about the six TDT licenses), adapted to the new National Technical Plan for TDT and the implementation of DVB-T2 technology, explained in detail in the sector field and in the Ministry's note about channel redistribution.

In summary: La Séptima already has a state TDT license, is linked to the SIETE consortium, and has a regulatory window to start broadcasting between November 5 and 27, 2026. Until then, the key is to complete the technical adaptation of the assigned multiplex and complete the registration and prior notification procedures required by Law 13/2022 and Royal Decree 1138/2023, as well as comply with general obligations of child protection, advertising limits, pluralism, and other audiovisual communication standards in Spain.

In current Spanish audiovisual legislation, there is no specific regulation of the position of “editorial director” or “content director” of a private channel, nor are their functions listed one by one. What the regulation does is govern the editorial responsibility and attribute it to the provider of the audiovisual communication service, which is usually the company holding the license or service. From this legal responsibility derive the material competencies of whoever exercises editorial direction within the company, but the specific design of the position is left to corporate law, internal organization, and, where applicable, regional regulations.

Main legal framework: Law 13/2022

The key norm is the Law 13/2022, General Audiovisual Communication Law, which regulates audiovisual communication services at the state level and sets the bases for regional and local levels.

The law does not mention the figure of the “editorial director,” but it does define very precisely:

• Editorial responsibility: the “exercise of effective control over the selection of programs and their organization, whether in a programming schedule or a program catalog.”
• Editorial decision: the decision periodically made to exercise that editorial responsibility and which is linked to the daily management of the service.
• Provider of the audiovisual communication service: the natural or legal person who has editorial responsibility over the selection of programs and content, and determines how that content is organized.

For televisions, the law adds that the audiovisual communication television service is a service of general interest provided in exercise of editorial responsibility, according to the principles of title I and under the coverage of freedom of expression, information, and freedom of enterprise. It also clarifies that this editorial responsibility does not exclude possible legal responsibility for content or opinions disseminated by third parties on the service.

Material competencies derived from editorial responsibility

In a private channel, the editorial or content director is usually the person (or body) who, in practice, assumes for the company the daily exercise of that editorial responsibility. From this derive, from a legal-material point of view, at least these major functions:

• Selection and organization of programming: deciding which programs are broadcast and how they are ordered in the schedule or on-demand catalog, in line with the definition of editorial responsibility.
• Daily management of editorial decisions: adoption of periodic content decisions that the law identifies as “editorial decisions,” linked to the daily operation of the channel.
• Guarantee of compliance with general principles: programming must respect the principles of title I of Law 13/2022 (child protection, fight against disinformation, rejection of discriminatory content, respect for intellectual property, promotion of linguistic and cultural diversity, etc.).
• Supervision of user and child protection: although the law details obligations on the “provider,” in practice the editorial area must filter and classify content, apply time restrictions, and establish warnings that minimize sanction risks.
• Coherence with the license and territorial scope: in regional services, Law 13/2022 foresees that editorial decisions are made in the autonomous community where the service is mainly directed, which conditions the editorial organization of the channel.

Law's neutrality regarding internal structure

Law 13/2022 regulates the provider, not its organizational chart. It does not require the existence of an “editorial director” nor a specific content body in private televisions, unlike what it contemplates more developed for the public service, where administrative bodies, executive directions, and advisory bodies in editorial direction that inform that direction are mentioned.

Consequently, in private channels the competencies of the editorial director are constructed by combining:

• The legal editorial responsibility that falls on the provider (Law 13/2022).
• The internal distribution of functions decided by the company (bylaws, board of directors, senior management).
• Specific regional audiovisual communication regulations, when they exist, which may develop certain content or structural requirements in more detail.

Previous regulations and regulatory development

The previous Law 7/2010, General Audiovisual Communication Law, and its regulatory development (for example, Royal Decree 1624/2011 on television commercial communication) also did not regulate the figure of the editorial director individually. Law 13/2022 repeals and largely replaces that regulation, maintaining the same scheme: the obligated subject is the provider, with editorial responsibility over programming and advertising.

In summary, Spanish audiovisual law sets the framework of obligations and responsibilities over content, but leaves it to each private television channel how to internally organize an editorial or content director and what specific powers to attribute, as long as it guarantees compliance with the legal obligations linked to editorial responsibility.

Available information portrays Jesús Cintora as a journalist seasoned in radio and television, with experience in current affairs and political talk shows in various media groups before his recent return to RTVE. However, the consulted sources do not provide his date or place of birth, a detailed academic curriculum, or a complete chronology of positions and dates. It can be roughly reconstructed that before his most recent stage in public television, he had already worked for years at Cadena SER, on televisions such as 13TV, in formats linked to Ana Rosa Quintana, on laSexta, and in a first stage at TVE with the program “Las cosas claras.”

Early years and radio stage

In an extensive interview published by eldiario.es, Cintora briefly summarizes his previous trajectory. He explains that he has worked “in local radio” and “many years at Cadena SER,” indicating that his professional base is in radio journalism and general information newsrooms, following the school of great informative programs and political analysis, although no specific positions or exact dates in those stations are specified. According to his account, his working style is inspired by Iñaki Gabilondo's maxim of “subject, verb, predicate” and a “clear, concise, and natural” language, learned in that radio stage, where he trained in daily current affairs treatment and political commentary, as detailed in the verTele interview.

Jump to television and plurality of collaborations

Cintora himself later lists a very diverse trajectory in television and print press. He notes that he has been on talk shows on 13TV, participated “with Ana Rosa Quintana,” and collaborated with the newspaper El Mundo “in Pedro J.'s times,” as well as having worked on laSexta and TVE, according to the same eldiario.es interview. He emphasizes that he has passed through “diverse media” and that he has been “removed from programs in different government stages,” reinforcing the idea of a profile accustomed to polarized environments and politicized debate formats.

From that previous television stage, it is known from other informative pieces that Cintora came to host daytime and prime-time magazines, although the consulted sources do not break down titles and years except in one case: his stage as presenter of “Las cosas claras”, a political information and debate program on La 1. An analysis of RTVE's afternoon reorganization recalls that this program aired “from November 16, 2020, to July 22, 2021” and that its cancellation marked the end of that first stage of Cintora on public television, as explained in the piece about RTVE's programming plans on verTele.

First stage at TVE: “Las cosas claras”

“Las cosas claras” was Cintora's first major project on La 1 of TVE, a current affairs and political magazine in the afternoon slot. Although exact audience figures are not detailed in the sources, it is indicated that it did not meet RTVE's expectations and that, despite this, the journalist himself considers the decision to cancel it was “an atrocity” and an “outrage.” In the eldiario.es interview, he insists that the program was withdrawn when it had already reached its “cruising speed” in tone and operation, and presents that exit as one of the “serious professional ups and downs” of his career.

After that cancellation, Cintora devoted himself — according to his own account — to personal projects such as a studio and podcast, a YouTube channel with hundreds of thousands of followers, and articles in digital press. That stage between the exit from “Las cosas claras” and his later return to RTVE with “Malas lenguas” is part of the experience he later claims as multiformat in radio, television, digital platforms, and press.

Return to RTVE with “Malas lenguas” and public projection

Before any link to the morning show “Mañaneros 360” — which in recent Demócrata reports is associated with journalist Javier Ruiz and not with Cintora — his most visible return to RTVE occurs with “Malas lenguas”, an afternoon magazine on La 2 focused on debunking rumors with humor and analysis. The format is presented by the public channel as a space of “public service” and “journalistic rigor, verification, and entertainment,” according to the presentation collected in this chronicle and in the sector press release of Audiovisual451.

From that platform, Cintora returns to the center of political-media debate. Demócrata has especially followed a recent episode of the program in which journalist Marta Gómez Montero left the set in tears accusing him of having “humiliated” her, and the subsequent defense of the presenter by RTVE's management, covered in the reports of Demócrata and in the political piece where the corporation's president appears in Congress, also published in Demócrata. These types of controversies are already part of his recent public trajectory, although they do not provide additional data about his previous curriculum.

Limitations of available information

In summary, the consulted sources allow us to affirm that, before his presence in current debates about RTVE and any relation to “Mañaneros 360,” Jesús Cintora accumulated experience in:

• Local radio and years of work at Cadena SER.
• Television talk shows on channels such as 13TV and formats linked to Ana Rosa Quintana.
• Collaboration in print press, notably in El Mundo.
• Programs on laSexta and a first stage at TVE with the political magazine “Las cosas claras” (2020‑2021).

No finer biographical information is available in the sources (studies, first jobs with dates, place and year of birth, awards or books), nor an official narrative of “before Mañaneros 360” specifically linked to him. Therefore, any additional detail about his curriculum beyond what is collected here would be outside what the sources allow to document rigorously.