Bill to incentivize development of TV content for local consumption gains unanimous approval in PR House.

Speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez

By THE STAR STAFF

The island House of Representatives has unanimously approved (46-0) a measure introduced by Speaker Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez that promotes the development of the local film industry, particularly series, reality shows, game shows, comedy programs and programs aimed at children, thus eliminating the requirement that they have to be scheduled or distributed outside the island to receive any economic incentive from the government.

“It has been recognized that the way to attract, increase, and maintain television production in a location is to provide incentives that help recoup the high costs of these productions and encourage greater investment in the local economy,” states the preamble of the measure, which was approved last week. “However, the current Puerto Rico Incentives Code requires that, in order to consider episodic series, television programs, and other television projects as film projects, they must be intended for commercial distribution or exhibition to the general public outside of Puerto Rico, thus limiting projects whose distribution is restricted to the Puerto Rican market.”

House Bill 443 amends Section 2091.01 of Act 60-2019, known as the “Puerto Rico Incentives Code,” to eliminate the requirement of advertising, distribution or commercial exhibition to the general public outside of Puerto Rico for film projects comprising episodic series, miniseries, and television programs of a similar nature, including pilots and those produced for digital distribution, and for television projects, including but not limited to reality television programs, known in English as “reality shows,” interview programs, news programs, game shows, entertainment programs, comedy programs, variety programs, and children’s programs.

“The production of local television content is a critical component of Puerto Rico’s film industry because it generates long-term jobs that benefit qualified residents of the island and creates a permanent infrastructure that uses indirect local resources from a variety of industries, including but not limited to transportation, equipment and location rental, food, hotels, among others,” Méndez said.  

“Today, it is a reality in the global market that multinational companies are investing in Puerto Rico to create more profitable and far-reaching mechanisms,” he added. “This Legislative Assembly’s commitment has been, and will continue to be, to promote the production of local television programming.”