Televisió de Catalunya

Televisió de Catalunya

Type	Broadcast television
Country	Spain, Andorra and also in France and Italy (Sardinia)
Availability	Catalonia Balearic Islands Andorra, Northern Catalonia (France), La Franja and Alghero (Sardinia, Italy) Internationally by satellite.
Founded	1983
Slogan	La teva (Yours)
Owner	Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals
Key people	Jaume Peral, Director
Launch date	September 1983
Official website	www.ccma.cat/tv3/

Televisió de Catalunya (Catalan pronunciation: [tələβiziˈo ðə kətəˈluɲə], known by the acronym TVC) is the public broadcasting network of Catalonia, one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain.

It is part of the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals, a public corporation created by the Generalitat de Catalunya by a Founding Act in 1983. Slightly more than half of its revenue (52%) comes from public funding through the Generalitat de Catalunya, while the remaining 48% is raised through advertising, sponsorship and merchandise and original productions' sales.^[1] It is officially composed by six channels: TV3, TV3 HD, 33/Super3, 3/24, Esport3 and TV3CAT.

While the main language of all these channels is Catalan, Spanish is usually neither sub-titled nor dubbed, as it is generally accepted that all Catalan speakers are by default also Spanish speakers. Some programmes such as Polònia and APM use Spanish extensively, largely for effect. In the Aran Valley, there are programs in Aranese.

TVC headquarters are located in Sant Joan Despí, near Barcelona.

History[]

Scale model of Televisió de Catalunya's headquarters in the Catalunya en Miniatura.

TV3 started its trial broadcasts on 11 September 1983 (the National Day of Catalonia) but its regular broadcasts started a few months later, on 16 January 1984.^[2] TV3 was the first television channel to broadcast only in Catalan. In 1985, TV3 expanded its coverage to Andorra, Northern Catalonia and the Valencian Community. One year later, TV3 inaugurated its new headquarters, a 4.5-hectare facility in Sant Joan Despí, near Barcelona.^[2]

Since 1987, TV3 has broadcast a second audio channel on almost all foreign-language series and movies with the original programme audio,^[2] first using the Zweikanalton system and currently using NICAM. Local series and movies are usually broadcast in NICAM stereo, although sometimes an audio narration track for blind and visually impaired viewers is provided as well.

In 1988, TV3 started a decentralisation process, first broadcasting programmes in the Aranese language for the Aran Valley and, one year later, opening branch offices in Tarragona, Girona and Lleida and creating the Telenoticies Comarques, a regional news programme broadcast simultaneously in four different editions, one for each of the four Catalan provinces.

During the 1992 Summer Olympics, TV3 and TVE created the Olympic Channel, a joint network to provide coverage for the Olympic Games using Canal 33's frequency.^[2]

In 2002, Televisió de Catalunya started broadcasting in the Digital terrestrial television system. It has quickly embraced technologies like the internet and mobile phones, as well as internal technological innovations.^{[citation needed]}

Coverage[]

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (November 2010)

Televisió de Catalunya's terrestrial channels are available in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands thanks to an agreement between the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Balearic Islands government. Unofficially, it can also be received in the Valencian Community (now forbidden since December 2010), Andorra, Northern Catalonia and La Franja.

TV3CAT is broadcast via satellites Astra (in Europe) and Hispasat (in Europe and the Americas).^[3] The TVCi signal is also carried by satellite platform and cable operators: Ono, Movistar TV, Euskaltel, Digital+, Freebox, Digi TV, Kabel BW, , and .

TV3CAT is also available worldwide via its online TV service "3alacarta".^[4]

Channels[]

TV3[]

TV3 is TVC's first and main channel. A generalist channel, it broadcasts news and entertainment programmes, as well as fiction series and movies, and important sports events, including La Liga football matches.

3/24[]

3/24 is TVC's 24-hour news channel, launched in 2003.

Super3[]

Super3 is a children's and teenagers' channel, that broadcasts from 6:00 to 21:30. It broadcasts both entertainment and educational programmes, for a wide range of ages. Early morning programmes are usually directed to younger children, while the afternoon is directed more towards teenagers. It started on 18 October 2009, replacing K3.

Initially, it broadcast from 7:00 to 21:30 and the rest of the day was broadcasting Canal 300. In September 2010, 300 was replaced by 3XL and Super3 changed its broadcasting hours (from 6:00 to 21:30).

33[]

TVC's second channel, 33 is a cultural channel. Its programming consists of cultural programmes, documentaries and debates. Until 2011 and the creation of the sport channel Esport 3, it also broadcast sport events and programmes.

Originally called just Canal 33, in 2003 it underwent a restructuring that split it into two channels that shared the same frequency: 33 and K3.^[2] While this is still true for analogical broadcasting, since December 2006, 33 has a channel of its own in digital terrestrial television.

Esport 3[]

Esport 3 is TVC's sports channel. It started its emission tests in October 2010 and started its regular emissions in early 2011. It broadcasts sports events (except the most important ones and La Liga football matches, that are broadcast by the main channel TV3) and sports programmes (Temps d'aventura).

TV3CAT[]

TV3CAT (known as TVCi until June 2009) is TVC's satellite channel, launched in 1995. It broadcasts a selection of TV3 and 33 programmes, as well as fiction series and movies.

TV3 HD[]

TV3 HD is an experimental high-definition digital terrestrial channel launched in 2007 using the H.264 standard.

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Televisió de Catalunya.

• Official website (in Catalan)