Television of Catalonia

Television of Catalonia (TVC; officially and in Catalan: Televisió de Catalunya) is the division of the Catalan Audiovisual Media Corporation (CCMA), which in turn depends on the Department of the Presidency of the Generalitat of Catalonia, which manages public television at the Catalan regional level.

It currently has five different channels: TV3, El 33, 3/24, Esport3 and SX3, as well as the channel TV3CAT (formerly TV3 Internacional) aimed at viewers residing outside of Catalonia and the high definition channel TV3HD. All of them are broadcast from the studios located in Sant Joan Despí (Barcelona). In addition to these television channels, the Catalan Audiovisual Media Corporation (CCMA) also manages the Catalunya Ràdio chain and its three stations (Catalunya Informació, Catalunya Música and iCat).

History

Maqueta en Cataluña en Miniatura de la sede de Televisión de Cataluña.

The Parliament of Catalonia approved on May 18, 1983 the law for the creation of regional Catalan television, whose main objective was to promote the linguistic normalization of Catalan in Catalonia.

Five months later, the then Catalan Radio and Television Corporation created its subsidiary company Televisión de Cataluña S.A. However, the broadcasts of the regional television, baptized as TV3, had already started a month earlier, on September 11 of that year, coinciding with the celebration of the National Day of Catalonia, with the live broadcast of the football match between Fútbol Club Barcelona and Osasuna from the Camp Nou. The regular broadcasts of TV3 began on January 16, 1984.

From the outset, TV3 was aimed at a mass audience, with programming that combines successful American series, such as Dallas or Magnum, P.I., retransmissions football programs -after reaching agreements with FC Barcelona and RCD Español, the entertainment programs produced in-house and information services with permanent correspondents in the main cities of the world.

In 1985 it expanded its coverage to other border or neighboring Catalan-speaking territories, such as Andorra, Roussillon and the Valencian Community. A year later, he definitively moved to his current studies, in San Juan Despí.

On September 11, 1988, coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the birth of TV3, a second TVC channel began its broadcasts, named Canal 33. The first broadcasts, carried out experimentally for the Barcelona area, were marked due to the controversy, since they were not authorized by the General Directorate of Telecommunications of the Government. After several negotiations, the broadcasts of Channel 33 were able to start regularly on April 23, 1989, coinciding with Saint George's Day.

Also at this time TVC began a process of decentralization. In 1988 local broadcasts began in the Aran Valley -made for the first time in Aranese- and in 1989 delegations were opened in the rest of the province capitals -Gerona, Lleida and Tarragona-, launching editions of the news with territorial disconnections (Telenotícies Comarques).

In February 1991, Televisión de Catalunya premiered on TV3 one of its most emblematic programs, Club Super3, which would become the largest children's association in Europe, with more than a million members.

In 1992, during the Barcelona Olympic Games, TVC and TVE reached a historic agreement to jointly produce Canal Olímpic, a channel entirely dedicated to covering the Olympic event. The broadcasts were made through the usual frequency of Channel 33.

In 1994, TV3 premiered Poblenou, the first great fictional success produced by Televisión de Catalunya. The serial became the most watched space in the history of TV3 -apart from football broadcasts- and reached audiences of 1.4 million viewers. This success opened a path of soap operas produced by TVC, such as Secrets de família, Nissaga de Poder, Estació d'enllaç, El cor de la ciutat or Ventdelplà.

Between September 10 and 11, 1995, Televisión de Catalunya carried out the first experimental broadcast via satellite, being the first regional television that broke, in this way, the geographical limitations imposed by the Third Channel Law. The test emissions were repeated on November 19 and December 16. Finally, two years later, the TVCi channel was born, which allows viewing of Catalan television programming in the rest of the European continent through the Astra satellite. In the rest of Spain, the satellite channel was called TVC Sat and was offered through the Vía Digital platform.

TVC's participation in digital platforms also meant the launch of two new thematic channels, both dedicated to meteorology: Meteo, which was part of the Canal Satélite Digital package, and Teletiempo, co-produced with Mediapark and broadcast on Vía Digital. The latter ceased its broadcasts in 1999.

In 1997, TV3 ended the year as audience leader -in Catalonia- for the first time in its history, with an average screen share of 22%, also being the most watched regional channel in Spain. That same year, Channel 33 reached 7.1%, the highest figure in its history. TV3 would repeat as audience leader in Catalonia in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003.

On September 11, 2003, twenty years after the birth of TV3, the 3/24 broadcasts began. This 24-hour information channel was created for the future DTT offer, although initially it broadcasts in analog and digital simulcast.

In March 2007, the Generalitat Valenciana ordered the cessation of its broadcasts in the Valencian Community as it lacked a license in this autonomous community. Despite this order, TVC channels continued to broadcast in Valencian territory (except in the southernmost part, where the cessation of broadcasts was effective) until February 2011, the date on which TVC broadcasts ended. in the Valencian Community, after 25 years of uninterrupted emissions.

In September 2010, Canal 300 disappeared, giving way to the youth channel 3XL. In addition, a channel dedicated exclusively to sports called Esport3 arrived.

Studies

TVC's headquarters are located in the town of San Juan Despí, in the province of Barcelona. The facilities are divided into three buildings. The CEI (news broadcasting center) houses the writing of news and sports programs and has two sets, one for Telenotícies and another multi-use one where programs from the Sports Department are broadcast. On the other hand, from the CPA (audiovisual production center) the entertainment programs are made and broadcast, the mobile units and vehicles are located in the CSE (Centre de Serveis i Energies). The chain also has a production center in the neighboring town of Hospitalet de Llobregat and in the Center Imagina in Esplugas de Llobregat, in whose studios fiction productions such as the series La Riera are filmed.

Channels

Televisión de Catalunya has several channels that broadcast entirely in Catalan (except when Spanish-speaking guests participate in news programs or interview programs, for example) and with some programs in Aranese in disconnections for the Aran Valley. In order of creation, they are the following:

TV3

TV3 began its broadcasts in 1983, being the first and oldest television channel in Catalonia.

The 33rd

The second television channel in Catalonia began broadcasting in 1989 as Channel 33, until in 2001 it adopted its current name. It broadcasts programming focused on cultural, informative and sports content.

3/24

3/24 is a thematic 24-hour information channel, created in 2003.

Esport3

Esport3 is a thematic channel dedicated exclusively to sports, launched in February 2011 (although it began broadcasting in tests a few months before).

SX3

SX3 is a thematic channel whose contents are aimed at children and young people. Its programming is divided into two large container spaces: S3 (children) and X3 (youth). Both spaces already existed previously as container spaces on TV3 and Canal 33, and in 2009 they "become independent" occupying between them an independent channel with their own dial and filling between them the 24 hours of its programming. Thus, from 6:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. the programming is broadcast under the name Canal Club Super 3 (name taken from a popular children's container program broadcast continuously since 1991, with different variations) and from 9:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. called Canal 3XL (idem, but from the 3XL container program, previously broadcast as 3XL.net and 3XL.cat since the year 2000). Between 2001 and 2009, the programming of the Super 3 and 3XL containers was broadcast jointly under the K3 brand within the frequency of El 33, occupying a part of the programming of that channel.

TV3CAT

TV3CAT is an international channel, which began its broadcasts in 1999, initially to broadcast via satellite to Europe and America under the name TV3 Internacional. It currently broadcasts online, on DTT in the Balearic Islands and since 2014 it has broadcast on Movistar Plus+ on dial 153. Its programming is a selection of content from the different TVC channels.

TV3HD

TV3HD is a high definition channel of TVC. After beginning to broadcast in tests with differentiated programming, in February 2011 it began its regular broadcasts, broadcasting in simulcast, TV3, but in HD, including provincial disconnections.

List of TVC directors