The Supreme Court forces Atresmedia to stop broadcasting 'Pasapalabra's El Rosco and creates a new television upheaval

Pedro Pérez Bozal

The Supreme Court once again sets the pace for the Spanish television industry with a ruling that has caused a real earthquake in the audiovisual sector: ... Atresmedia must stop broadcasting the star test of 'Pasapalabra', El Rosco, as the Justice considers that the network does not have the intellectual property rights over that specific format.

The decision is a massive blow for Antena 3, since El Rosco is not just a simple section of the program, but an engine that turns 'Pasapalabra' into one of the most profitable and strategic television products of the entire national grid.

Informalia reported yesterday that last year Mediaset reached an agreement with the Dutch production company MC&F Broadcasting Production and Distribution, now recognized by the Justice as the owner of the rights to El Rosco, to exploit the test in case the ruling confirmed this Wednesday occurred.

From Atresmedia they assure that the contest will continue to be broadcast "normally with El Rosco as the final test", since they have not received notification of the ruling, and that there will be "a few weeks" until its execution.

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The contest hosted by Roberto Leal has consolidated over the last few years as the most watched entertainment space on Spanish television and one of the main pillars of Antena 3's audience leadership.

Every afternoon, millions of viewers stay tuned for the outcome of the program and especially for the final test. El Rosco has become a true collective routine for a good part of the Spanish public and usually generates the so-called "golden minute" of the television day, which is the moment with the most viewers of the day.

The strategic importance of the format also transcends its own time slot. The audience pull of 'Pasapalabra' is crucial for the comfortable leadership of the nightly news edition presented by Vicente Vallés.

Alternatives such as a deep reformulation of the format or a financial agreement with the owning company of the format are not ruled out

The arrival of 'Pasapalabra' to Antena 3 in May 2020 also marked a historic turning point in the audience war between the major private networks. The contest, which had previously been one of Telecinco's gems, ended up becoming one of the keys that allowed Atresmedia to consistently overtake Mediaset from autumn 2021 onwards.

Since then, the format has maintained extraordinary figures. Last month, according to data from Fifty5Blue, 'Pasapalabra' recorded an 18.7% share of screen and 1.6 million average viewers, once again positioning itself as the absolute leader in television entertainment. The program exceeded La 1 by more than seven points and Telecinco by more than nine, and also achieved 3.1 million unique daily viewers.

Already in 2025, the courts set a compensation of more than 45 million euros against Mediaset for exploiting the format without rights

Sources from the audiovisual sector explain that Atresmedia will study, together with the owner of the contest except for the final test, the British ITV, the reformulation of 'Pasapalabra' with a new final test.

The Supreme Court's ruling

The Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court confirmed this Wednesday the ruling of the Provincial Court of Barcelona that resolved the litigation between MC&F and Atresmedia —with the intervention of ITV Studios, which owns the rights to the contest but not its final test— for the television exploitation of the final test of 'Pasapalabra'.

The high court completely dismissed the appeals filed by both Atresmedia and ITV Studios and confirmed all aspects of the previous sentence, which recognized that El Rosco constitutes a work protected by intellectual property whose ownership corresponds to MC&F.

The most successful format of Spanish television

Few programs have reached in Spain the level of loyalty and daily following achieved by 'Pasapalabra'. The contest has achieved something very difficult in contemporary television: transforming daily consumption into an almost ritual habit for millions of viewers.

Part of its success lies in the fact that the viewer does not maintain a purely contemplative attitude, but participates mentally from home, tries to answer the questions, anticipates words, and emotionally competes alongside the contestants. This involvement turns the format into a much more intense collective experience than other entertainment products.

Furthermore, television contests retain a powerful aspirational component. The public connects with anonymous citizens who, suddenly, can win large amounts of money thanks to their knowledge, memory, or mental speed. In the case of 'Pasapalabra', this identification is multiplied because many contestants remain on screen for weeks or months and generate emotional bonds with the audience.

More than a decade of litigation

The judicial war over 'Pasapalabra' has been shaking Spanish television for more than ten years. The origin of the conflict dates back to 2009, when Telecinco signed a contract with ITV Global Entertainment to exploit the original British format.

However, legal problems soon began. Mediaset sued ITV claiming that the British company did not really own all the rights to the program, especially over El Rosco, whose authorship was precisely claimed by the Dutch company MC&F.

On October 1, 2019, the Supreme Court forced Mediaset to immediately stop broadcasting 'Pasapalabra'. The loss of the contest was a devastating blow for Telecinco, which saw one of its most profitable and emblematic products disappear.

Shortly after, Atresmedia acquired the rights and relaunched the format on Antena 3 with Roberto Leal. The move was decisive in altering the balance of power between the major private networks and consolidated Antena 3's leadership.

But the legal problems never completely disappeared. In 2025, Justice also set a compensation of more than 45 million euros against Mediaset for having exploited the format without rights.

Now, the Supreme Court strikes the audiovisual sector again with a decision that directly threatens the heart of the most successful contest on Spanish television.

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• Television
• Antena 3
• Pasapalabra