The Federal Authority for Audiovisual Communication Services (Spanish: ''Autoridad Federal de Servicios de Comunicación Audiovisual''; AFSCA) was an agency of the

government of Argentina The government of Argentina, within the framework of a federal system, is a presidential system, presidential Representative democracy, representative democratic republic. The president of Argentina is both head of state and head of government. ...

with the power to regulate television and radio services. It began activities on December 10, 2009, two months after the passage of the Law 26,522 of Audiovisual Communications Services (Ley de Medios), and replaced the Federal Broadcasting Committee (Comité Federal de Radiodifusión, COMFER). ASFCA was merged into the

Ente Nacional de Comunicaciones The Ente () was the world's first full-sized rocket-powered aircraft. It was designed by Alexander Lippisch as a sailplane and first flown under power on June 11, 1928, piloted by Fritz Stamer as part of the Opel-RAK rocket program led by Frit ...

on December, 29th, 2015 by Presidential Decree 267. Its former director was

Martín Sabbatella Martín Sabbatella (born 14 April 1970) is an Argentine politician and leader of the New Encounter party. From 1999 to 2009, he was ''intendente'' (mayor) of Morón, a ''Partidos of Buenos Aires, partido'' in the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan ...

Composition

The AFSCA was led by a seven-member board, consisting of the following: *1 president and 1 director named by the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

. *3 directors nominated by parliamentary committee, each representing one of the top three parliamentary blocs. *2 directors nominated by the Federal Council for Audiovisual Communication; one of these had to be an academic in the fields of information sciences, communications or journalism from a national university.

History

The first predecessor to AFSCA was CONART, the National Radio and Television Commission, which came into being in 1957 under the government of

Pedro Eugenio Aramburu Pedro Eugenio Aramburu Silveti (May 21, 1903 – June 1, 1970) was an Argentine Army general and the ''de facto'' President of Argentina from 1955 to 1958. He was a major figure behind the ''Revolución Libertadora'', the military coup against J ...

Federal Broadcasting Committee

The Federal Broadcasting Committee (Comité Federal de Radiodifusión, COMFER) was formed with the National Telecommunications Law (Law 19,798), passed in 1972 during the ''de facto'' presidency of

Alejandro Agustín Lanusse Alejandro Agustín Lanusse Gelly (28 August 1918 – 26 August 1996) was the ''de facto'' president of the Argentine Republic between 26 March 1971 and 25 May 1973, during the military dictatorship of the country called the " Argentine Revoluti ...

. When the National Broadcasting Law (Law 22,285) was passed in 1980 during the military government of

Jorge Rafael Videla Jorge Rafael Videla ( ; ; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine military officer and the ''de facto'' President of Argentina from 1976 to 1981, during the National Reorganization Process. His rule, which was during the time of Operati ...

, COMFER retained its status as regulator. From 1980 until 2009, COMFER was run by various managers and directors, each of them named by the president. Law 22,285 specified a governing board consisting of representatives from the army, navy and air force, the secretaries of public information and communications, and representatives of the trade associations for radio and television.

AFSCA

AFSCA was formed in 2009 after the passage of Law 26,522. It had the power to award television licenses, regulate programming and sanction violators with fines. On September 17, 2012, President

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (; born 19 February 1953), often referred to by her initials CFK, is an Argentine lawyer and former politician who served as the 56th president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015, and later as the 37th Vice ...

tapped

, a former member of the Chamber of Deputies and one-time

intendant An intendant (; ; ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In the War of the Spanish Success ...

Morón, Buenos Aires Morón () is a city in the Argentine province of Buenos Aires, capital of the Morón ''partido'', located in the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, at . Located 20 km (13 mi) west of Downtown Buenos Aires, Morón i ...

, to head up the agency. Sabbatella took the post on October 1. In December 2015, new president

Mauricio Macri Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previously ...

placed AFSCA under the direction of the Ministry of Communications and combined it with AFTIC, the Federal Authority for Information and Communications Technologies, as the

(National Communications Entity, ENACOM). The combined agency was initially run by Miguel De Godoy, former secretary for media in Buenos Aires.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control 2009 establishments in Argentina 2016 disestablishments in Argentina Government agencies established in 2009 Government agencies disestablished in 2016 Government agencies of Argentina Television in Argentina Communications authorities Mass media regulation Mass media complaints authorities Consumer organisations in Argentina Regulation in Argentina