Televisió de Catalunya
Encyclopedia
Televisió de Catalunya is Catalonia
's public broadcasting
network, officially composed by eight channels
: TV3
, 33, Super3
, 3/24
, 3XL
, Esport 3, TV3 HD
and TV3CAT. K3 was replaced by Super3 in 2009 and 300 was replaced by 3XL in 2010. It is part of the Corporació Catalana de Ràdio i Televisió
, 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.
While the main language of all these channels is Catalan
, Spanish is usually neither sub-titled nor dubbed. In the Aran Valley, there are programs in Aranese
.
TVC headquarters are located in Sant Joan Despí
, near Barcelona
.
started its trial broadcasts on September 11, 1983 (the National Day of Catalonia
), but its regular broadcasts started a few months later, on January 16 1984. 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
.
Since 1987, TV3 has broadcast a second audio channel on almost all foreign-language series and movies with the original programme audio, 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.
In 2002, Televisió de Catalunya started broadcasting in the Digital terrestrial television
system. It has quickly embraced technologies like the internet and cell-phones, as well as internal technological innovations.
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
, Andorra
, Northern Catalonia
and La Franja
.
TVCi is broadcast via satellite
s Astra
(in Europe) and Hispasat
(in Europe and the Americas). The TVCi signal is also carried by satellite platform and cable operators: Ono
, Imagenio
, Euskaltel
, Digital+, Freebox
, DigiTV, Kabel BW, Evrotur, Sofiacable and Cable Mágico.
TVCi is also available worldwide via its online TV service "3alacarta".
football matches.
, sports events (except the most important ones and La Liga
football matches, that are broadcast by the main channel TV3), sports programmes (Temps d'aventura
) and debates. In 2011, it is going to become a cultural channel, because its sports programmes are going to Esport 3, the new TVC's sport channel.
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.
While this is still true for analogical broadcasting, since December 2006, 33 has a channel of its own in digital terrestrial television
.
Initially, it broadcasted from 7:00 to 21:30 and the rest of the day was broadcasting Canal 300. On September 2010, 300 was replaced by 3XL and Super3 changed its broadcasting hours (from 6:00 to 21:30).
digital terrestrial channel launched in 2007 using the H.264 standard.
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
's public broadcasting
Public broadcasting
Public broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.Public broadcasting may be...
network, officially composed by eight channels
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
: TV3
TV3 (Catalonia)
TV3 is the primary television channel of Catalan public broadcaster Televisió de Catalunya, a subsidiary of the CCMA. TV3 broadcasts programs only in Catalan, with an optional dual track in the original language for some foreign-language series and movies...
, 33, Super3
Canal Super3
Super3 is a Spanish public television channel owned by Televisió de Catalunya in Catalan language. It started broadcasting on 18 October 2009. Programming will be for children and teenagers based on the programme Club Super3, that started on 11 February 1991 on TV3 and has been seen on Canal 33...
, 3/24
3/24
3/24 is a 24 hour news channel operated by Televisió de Catalunya in Catalonia. It is part of the five channel DVB-T multiplex of TVC. Currently, it broadcasts in digital terrestrial and cable television...
, 3XL
3XL
3XL is a Catalan television channel operated by Televisió de Catalunya. It was founded and started broadcasted in 2010 replacing the former Canal 300...
, Esport 3, TV3 HD
TV3 HD
TV3 HD is a high-definition broadcast of Catalonia's first public television channel, TV3. It is owned by Televisió de Catalunya , a subsidiary of the CCRTV....
and TV3CAT. K3 was replaced by Super3 in 2009 and 300 was replaced by 3XL in 2010. It is part of the Corporació Catalana de Ràdio i Televisió
Corporació Catalana de Ràdio i Televisió
The Catalan Corporation of Media is the public radio and television company in Catalonia owned by Generalitat de Catalunya.The CCRTV is a public corporation created by the Generalitat de Catalunya by a Founding Act that passed the Parliament of Catalonia on May 18, 1983. It answers to the...
, a public corporation created by the Generalitat de Catalunya
Generalitat de Catalunya
The Generalitat of Catalonia is the institution under which the autonomous community of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Government of Catalonia....
by a Founding Act in 1983. Slightly more than half of its revenue (52%) comes from public funding through the Generalitat de Catalunya
Generalitat de Catalunya
The Generalitat of Catalonia is the institution under which the autonomous community of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Government of Catalonia....
, while the remaining 48% is raised through advertising, sponsorship and merchandise and original productions' sales.
While the main language of all these channels is Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
, Spanish is usually neither sub-titled nor dubbed. In the Aran Valley, there are programs in Aranese
Aranese language
Aranese is a standardized form of the Pyrenean Gascon variety of the Occitan language spoken in the Val d'Aran, in north western Catalonia on the border between Spain and France, where it is one of the three official languages besides Catalan and Spanish...
.
TVC headquarters are located in Sant Joan Despí
Sant Joan Despí
Sant Joan Despí is a city and municipality located in the Baix Llobregat area . It is situated on the left bank of the Llobregat river...
, near Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
.
History
TV3TV3 (Catalonia)
TV3 is the primary television channel of Catalan public broadcaster Televisió de Catalunya, a subsidiary of the CCMA. TV3 broadcasts programs only in Catalan, with an optional dual track in the original language for some foreign-language series and movies...
started its trial broadcasts on September 11, 1983 (the National Day of Catalonia
National Day of Catalonia
On September 11, Catalonia commemorates the 1714 Siege of Barcelona defeat during the War of the Spanish Succession. As correction for their support to the claim of Habsburg Archduke Charles to the throne of Spain, institutions and rights of the territories of the Crown of Aragon were abolished by...
), but its regular broadcasts started a few months later, on January 16 1984. TV3 was the first television channel to broadcast only in Catalan. In 1985, TV3 expanded its coverage to Andorra
Andorra
Andorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of...
, Northern Catalonia
Northern Catalonia
Northern Catalonia is a term that is sometimes used, particularly in Catalan writings, to refer to the territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659...
and the Valencian Community
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...
. One year later, TV3 inaugurated its new headquarters, a 4.5-hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
facility in Sant Joan Despí
Sant Joan Despí
Sant Joan Despí is a city and municipality located in the Baix Llobregat area . It is situated on the left bank of the Llobregat river...
, near Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
.
Since 1987, TV3 has broadcast a second audio channel on almost all foreign-language series and movies with the original programme audio, first using the Zweikanalton
Zweikanalton
Zweikanalton is a television sound transmission system used in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and other countries that use or used PAL-B or PAL-G...
system and currently using NICAM
NICAM
Near Instantaneous Companded Audio Multiplex is an early form of lossy compression for digital audio. It was originally developed in the early 1970s for point-to-point links within broadcasting networks...
. Local series and movies are usually broadcast in NICAM stereo
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...
, although sometimes an audio narration track
Audio description
Audio description refers to an additional narration track for blind and visually impaired consumers of visual media...
for blind and visually impaired viewers is provided as well.
In 1988, TV3 started a decentralisation process, first broadcasting programmes in the Aranese language
Aranese language
Aranese is a standardized form of the Pyrenean Gascon variety of the Occitan language spoken in the Val d'Aran, in north western Catalonia on the border between Spain and France, where it is one of the three official languages besides Catalan and Spanish...
for the Aran Valley and, one year later, opening branch offices in Tarragona
Tarragona
Tarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain, by the Mediterranean. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès. In the medieval and modern times it was the capital of the Vegueria of Tarragona...
, Girona
Girona
Girona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell, with an official population of 96,236 in January 2009. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès...
and Lleida
Lleida
Lleida is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida, as well as the largest city in the province and it had 137,387 inhabitants , including the contiguous municipalities of Raimat and Sucs. The metro area has about 250,000 inhabitants...
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
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...
, TV3
TV3 (Catalonia)
TV3 is the primary television channel of Catalan public broadcaster Televisió de Catalunya, a subsidiary of the CCMA. TV3 broadcasts programs only in Catalan, with an optional dual track in the original language for some foreign-language series and movies...
and TVE created the Olympic Channel, a joint network to provide coverage for the Olympic Games using Canal 33's frequency.
In 2002, Televisió de Catalunya started broadcasting in the Digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...
system. It has quickly embraced technologies like the internet and cell-phones, as well as internal technological innovations.
Coverage
Televisió de Catalunya's terrestrial channels are available in CataloniaCatalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
and the Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
thanks to an agreement between the Generalitat de Catalunya
Generalitat de Catalunya
The Generalitat of Catalonia is the institution under which the autonomous community of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Government of Catalonia....
and the Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
government. Unofficially, it can also be received in the Valencian Community
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...
, Andorra
Andorra
Andorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of...
, Northern Catalonia
Northern Catalonia
Northern Catalonia is a term that is sometimes used, particularly in Catalan writings, to refer to the territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659...
and La Franja
La Franja
La Franja is a term that refers to the Catalan-speaking territories of Aragon bordering Catalonia, in Spain. It literally means "the strip" and can also more properly be called Franja d'Aragó or Franja de Ponent in Catalan ....
.
TVCi is broadcast via satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
s Astra
Astra 19.2°E
Astra 19.2°E is the name for the group of communications satellites co-located at the 19.2°East orbital position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg....
(in Europe) and Hispasat
Hispasat
Hispasat is a group of Spanish communication satellites . They were developed by the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial and the European Space Agency...
(in Europe and the Americas). The TVCi signal is also carried by satellite platform and cable operators: Ono
ONO (Spain)
ONO is a Spanish broadband communication and entertainment company, delivering integrated telephone, television and Internet services to its residential customers. In this segment, it has 3.7 million services contracted and over six million users....
, Imagenio
Imagenio
Movistar Imagenio is an IPTV television service provided in Spain operated by Telefonica. The service was started as a commercial pilot test in the city of Alicante on 2002 and later extended to some major cities like Madrid and Barcelona on April 2004....
, Euskaltel
Euskaltel
Euskaltel, S.A. is a telecommunications company based in the Spanish autonomous community Basque Country, with its headquarters in Derio . Its name literally translates into English as "Basque-Tel"...
, Digital+, Freebox
Freebox
The Freebox is an ADSL modem that the French internet service provider named Free provides to its ADSL subscribers.Its main use is as a high-end wireless modem , but it also allows Free to offer added services using ADSL as support, like HD television , video recording with timeshifting...
, DigiTV, Kabel BW, Evrotur, Sofiacable and Cable Mágico.
TVCi is also available worldwide via its online TV service "3alacarta".
TV3
TV3 is TVC's first and main channel. A generalist channel, it broadcasts news and entertainment programems, as well as fiction series and movies and important sports events, including La LigaLa Liga
The Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...
football matches.
33
TVC's second channel, 33 is a cultural and sports channel. Its programming consists of cultural programmes, documentariesDocumentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, sports events (except the most important ones and La Liga
La Liga
The Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...
football matches, that are broadcast by the main channel TV3), sports programmes (Temps d'aventura
Temps d'aventura
Temps d'aventura is a programme in Catalan made by Televisió de Catalunya - the Catalan public television corporation - dedicated to open-air sports or adventure sports or outdoor activities...
) and debates. In 2011, it is going to become a cultural channel, because its sports programmes are going to Esport 3, the new TVC's sport channel.
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.
While this is still true for analogical broadcasting, since December 2006, 33 has a channel of its own in digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...
.
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 of october 2009, replacing K3.Initially, it broadcasted from 7:00 to 21:30 and the rest of the day was broadcasting Canal 300. On September 2010, 300 was replaced by 3XL and Super3 changed its broadcasting hours (from 6:00 to 21:30).
3XL
3XL is TVC's channel for young people (from 16 to 28 years), that broadcasts from 21:30 to 6:00. It shares frequency with Super3. It started on September 2010, replacing 300.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-definitionHigh-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
digital terrestrial channel launched in 2007 using the H.264 standard.