Television in Colombia
Encyclopedia
Television in Colombia or Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

n television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

  is a media of Colombia. It is characterized for broadcasting telenovela
Telenovela
A telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...

s, series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

, game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

s and TV news
News broadcasting
News broadcasting is the broadcasting of various news events and other information via television, radio or internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or television studio newsroom, or by a broadcast network...

. Until 1998 it was a state monopoly (though there was a short-lived local private channel in the 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...

). There are two privately owned TV networks and three state-owned TV networks with national coverage, as well as six regional TV networks and dozens of local TV stations. There are numerous cable TV companies operating in Colombia under each Colombian department
Departments of Colombia
Colombia is an unitary republic formed by thirty-two departments and a Capital District . Each department has a Governor and a Department Assembly , elected by popular vote for a four-year period. The governor cannot be re-elected in consecutive periods...

 statutes. These cable companies also develop their own channels, in addition to a variety of international channels. Television in Colombia has always relied on technological advancements from developed countries importing almost all the equipment.

History

Television in Colombia was inaugurated on 13 June 1954 during the government of General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla was a Colombian politician, military officer, General of the Army and President of Colombia between 1953 and 1957.- Biographic data :...

, who became impressed with the new invention during a visit to Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 as a military attaché
Military attaché
A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission . This post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer who retains the commission while serving in an embassy...

. Rojas imported the Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...

 and Dumont
DuMont Laboratories
DuMont Laboratories was an American television equipment manufacturer. The company was founded in 1931, by inventor Allen B. DuMont. Among the company's developments were long-lasting cathode ray tubes that would be used for television. Another product out of the lab was a DuMont invention, the...

 equipment and hired Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

n technicians to set up a TV station
Canal Uno
Canal Uno is the first Colombian national television channel. It started 13 June 1954 on Channel 8 in Bogotá. It is state-owned, operated by Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia, and privately-run, with programming companies known as programadoras bidding for time slots with the Colombian...

 on time for the commemoration of Rojas's first year in office. A test broadcast was made 1 May 1954 covering Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

 and Manizales
Manizales
Manizales is a city and municipality in central Colombia, capital of Department of Caldas and part of the region of Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis, near the Nevado del Ruiz volcano....

.

Initially television in Colombia was public, with emphasis on education and cultural topics until the government developed a system of concessions, in which the State was in charge of the television infrastructure and gave programming slots in the channels for private companies known as programadoras, similar to the syndication system that is still used in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

: networks and TV channels broadcast TV programs that were not produced by them. In 1963 Inravisión, the public broadcaster
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...

, was created. Before that, it was in charge by the Televisora Nacional, part of the Radiodifusora Nacional de Colombia. In 1969 the government then tried to privatize the sector with Teletigre
Teletigre
Teletigre, also known as TV-9 Bogotá, was Colombia's first private television channel, owned by journalist and politician Consuelo Salgar de Montejo, who won a state bid against Caracol TV, RTI Colombia, and Producciones Punch....

, a local channel for Bogotá, but the channel did not last long after financial problems. Teletigre would return to state hands and become Tele 9 Corazón
Tele 9 Corazón
Tele 9 Corazón was a Colombian local state-run television channel, whose signal only reached Bogotá and was broadcast on Channel 9...

 and, in 1972 Segunda Cadena, with national coverage.

On 11 December 1979, regular color television
Color television
Color television is part of the history of television, the technology of television and practices associated with television's transmission of moving images in color video....

 broadcasts started in Colombia using the NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...

 standard. Colour television had already been introduced in October 1973, when programadora Cenpro TV made a colour broadcast during an education seminar with Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese-made equipment. The inauguration and the first match of the 1974 FIFA World Cup
1974 FIFA World Cup
The 1974 FIFA World Cup, the tenth staging of the World Cup, was held in West Germany from 13 June to 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the current trophy, the FIFA World Cup Trophy, created by the Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga, was awarded...

 were broadcast live in colour, but they could be seen in colour only in big screens in Bogotá and Cali.

In the 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...

 and 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...

, the Colombian national television had three national networks: Cadena Uno
Canal Uno
Canal Uno is the first Colombian national television channel. It started 13 June 1954 on Channel 8 in Bogotá. It is state-owned, operated by Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia, and privately-run, with programming companies known as programadoras bidding for time slots with the Colombian...

, Cadena Dos
Canal A
Canal A was a Colombian state-owned privately run national television channel. It was launched March 27, 1972 as Segunda Cadena, since it was the second television channel in Colombia, and replacing Tele 9 Corazón...

 and Cadena Tres
Señal Colombia
Señal Colombia is a Colombian national television channel established and funded by the government, launched in 1970 as Canal 11. It uses its current name since 1995....

. The first two worked under the concessions system while the Cadena Tres (later renamed to Señal Colombia
Señal Colombia
Señal Colombia is a Colombian national television channel established and funded by the government, launched in 1970 as Canal 11. It uses its current name since 1995....

) remained under complete government control and focused on cultural and educational programming.

During the early 1980s a regional TV network set up illegally in Valledupar
Valledupar
Valledupar is a city and municipality in northeastern Colombia. It is the capital of Cesar Department and was founded in 1550 by the Spanish conquistador Hernando de Santana. Its name, Valle de Upar , was established in honor of the Amerindian cacique who ruled the valley; Cacique Upar...

 went to become Telecaribe
Telecaribe
Telecaribe is a regional television network for the Caribbean region of Colombia.-History:The station was set up in the early 1980s in Valledupar, Colombia and was created by a local entrepreneur named Jose Jorge Dangond...

 and moved to Barranquilla. Another regional networks for other regions of Colombia, such as Teleantioquia and Telepacífico
Telepacífico
Telepacífico is a Colombian regional public television network, created in 1986 as the city of Cali celebrated its 450th anniversary. It started broadcasting in 1988, with 24 weekly programming hours...

 were created, by the then Minister of Communications Noemí Sanín
Noemí Sanín
Marta Noemí del Espíritu Santo Sanín Posada is a Colombian lawyer and politician, twice Ambassador of Colombia to the United Kingdom, as well as Ambassador to Spain and Venezuela...

. In the 1990s Teveandina
Canal 13 (Colombia)
Canal 13 is a Colombian regional television channel, focused on young audiences. Its signal covers Cundinamarca, Boyacá, Tolima, Huila, Casanare, Meta, Vichada, Arauca, Caquetá, Guaviare, Vaupés, Amazonas, and Putumayo. It broadcasts from Bogotá....

, Telecafé, and Teleislas would be created.

The 1991 bid (for the 1992-1998 period) triggered competitiveness as a previous step for privatization. Cadena Dos became Canal A
Canal A
Canal A was a Colombian state-owned privately run national television channel. It was launched March 27, 1972 as Segunda Cadena, since it was the second television channel in Colombia, and replacing Tele 9 Corazón...

, and the programming companies, 24 at the time, received from this point slots in one channel to compete among each other for ratings. Cadena Uno would be rebranded Canal Uno
Canal Uno
Canal Uno is the first Colombian national television channel. It started 13 June 1954 on Channel 8 in Bogotá. It is state-owned, operated by Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia, and privately-run, with programming companies known as programadoras bidding for time slots with the Colombian...

 in January 1998.

The Colombian Constitution of 1991
Colombian Constitution of 1991
The Political Constitution of Colombia, better known as the Constitution of 1991, is the current governing document of the Republic of Colombia. Promulgated on July 4 of 1991 , it replaced the Constitution of 1886...

 created the National Television Commission (CNTV), an autonomous entity in charge of policies for public television and regulation of television contents. The CNTV started working in 1995.

In 1998, the government gave away licences to set up privately owned television networks. These licences were granted to Cadena radial colombiana (Caracol TV)
Caracol TV
Caracol Televisión is a Colombian private national television network, owned by Julio Mario Santo Domingo.- History :Caracol Televisión started in 1954 when Organización de Radiodifusora Caracol offered to afford national television costs, then state-run, through commercial spots...

 and Radio Cadena Nacional (RCN TV)
RCN TV
RCN Televisión , is a Colombian private television network. It started as a production company in 1967...

, which had started as radio networks and were in the hands of the main economic groups of Colombia. Both private stations began functioning as TV networks on 10 July 1998.

The recession of the Colombian economy during the late 1990s weakened the state-run networks and in early 2004 the only production company in the Canal A
Canal A
Canal A was a Colombian state-owned privately run national television channel. It was launched March 27, 1972 as Segunda Cadena, since it was the second television channel in Colombia, and replacing Tele 9 Corazón...

 was transferred to Canal Uno
Canal Uno
Canal Uno is the first Colombian national television channel. It started 13 June 1954 on Channel 8 in Bogotá. It is state-owned, operated by Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia, and privately-run, with programming companies known as programadoras bidding for time slots with the Colombian...

. The production companies or programadoras had continued working independently as programmers for the same channel and never grouped to establish a better programming against the newly organized privately owned networks. Canal A then was turned into the Canal Institucional
Canal Institucional
Canal Institucional is a Colombian state-run national television channel launched 2 February 2004.It broadcasts programmes produced by state institutions in order to promote and publicize their activities to the public...

and became under total control of the government. Late 2004, Inravisión would be liquidated
Liquidation
In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...

 and Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia
Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia
Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia is a colombian state-owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Information Technology...

 was created.

In 2009 a licence for a third national private television network will be granted by the Colombian government. Spanish groups PRISA
PRISA
Promotora de Informaciones, S.A is a Spanish media conglomerate. The PRISA group was founded in 1972 by Jesús de Polanco.-Newspapers:* El País, daily newspaper* Diario AS sports newspaper* Cinco Días economic newspaper-Magazines:...

 and Planeta, and Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

n tycoon Gustavo Cisneros
Gustavo Cisneros
Gustavo A. Cisneros Rendiles is a Venezuelan media mogul of Cuban descent. He is among the world's richest men according to Forbes magazine, which estimated his fortune at $4.2 billion in 2010 The New York Times calls Cisneros, "one of Latin America’s most powerful figures" and says he and his...

 are bidding, each of them allied with Colombian shareholders, for the licence.

Digital television

On August 28, 2008, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

 adopted the European 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...

 standard, DVB-T using mpeg4 h264 and a channel bandwidth of 6MHz.
Señal Colombia
Señal Colombia
Señal Colombia is a Colombian national television channel established and funded by the government, launched in 1970 as Canal 11. It uses its current name since 1995....

 —Colombia's state-owned channel— has made digital terrestrial television broadcast tests since 2006, in northwest Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

 and downtown Cartagena
Cartagena, Colombia
Cartagena de Indias , is a large Caribbean beach resort city on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region and capital of Bolívar Department...

, transmitting into the three DTV
Digital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...

 formats (ATSC
ATSC
ATSC standards are a set of standards developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee for digital television transmission over terrestrial, cable, and satellite networks....

, DVB-T, and ISDB-T). Also the Chinese
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 standard DMB-T/H
DMB-T/H
DTMB is the TV standard for mobile and fixed terminals used in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong and Macau. Although at first this standard was called DMB-T/H , the official name is DTMB.DTT broadcasting systems...

, was considered, but couldn't be tested.

HDTV-ready television sets (DVB-T
DVB-T
DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...

) have been available in Colombia since 2003, but as of December 2010 cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

 companies have not broadcast HD content to their subscribers. Satellite television
Satellite television
Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...

 DirecTV Colombia offer HD channels.

On December 28, 2010, Caracol TV
Caracol TV
Caracol Televisión is a Colombian private national television network, owned by Julio Mario Santo Domingo.- History :Caracol Televisión started in 1954 when Organización de Radiodifusora Caracol offered to afford national television costs, then state-run, through commercial spots...

 and RCN TV
RCN TV
RCN Televisión , is a Colombian private television network. It started as a production company in 1967...

 officially started digital broadcasts for Bogotá, Medellín and surrounding areas on channels 14 and 15 UHF, respectively. Señal Colombia
Señal Colombia
Señal Colombia is a Colombian national television channel established and funded by the government, launched in 1970 as Canal 11. It uses its current name since 1995....

 and Canal Institucional
Canal Institucional
Canal Institucional is a Colombian state-run national television channel launched 2 February 2004.It broadcasts programmes produced by state institutions in order to promote and publicize their activities to the public...

 had started test digital broadcasts earlier in 2010.

Programming

Network Coverage Type
Caracol TV
Caracol TV
Caracol Televisión is a Colombian private national television network, owned by Julio Mario Santo Domingo.- History :Caracol Televisión started in 1954 when Organización de Radiodifusora Caracol offered to afford national television costs, then state-run, through commercial spots...

 
National private
RCN TV
RCN TV
RCN Televisión , is a Colombian private television network. It started as a production company in 1967...

 
National private
Canal Uno
Canal Uno
Canal Uno is the first Colombian national television channel. It started 13 June 1954 on Channel 8 in Bogotá. It is state-owned, operated by Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia, and privately-run, with programming companies known as programadoras bidding for time slots with the Colombian...

 
National mix
Señal Institucional  National public
Señal Colombia
Señal Colombia
Señal Colombia is a Colombian national television channel established and funded by the government, launched in 1970 as Canal 11. It uses its current name since 1995....

 
National public
Teleantioquia  Regional: Antioquia Department
Antioquia Department
Antioquia is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders the Caribbean Sea. Most of its territory is mountainous with some valleys, much of which is part of the Andes mountain range...

 
public
Canal 13
Canal 13 (Colombia)
Canal 13 is a Colombian regional television channel, focused on young audiences. Its signal covers Cundinamarca, Boyacá, Tolima, Huila, Casanare, Meta, Vichada, Arauca, Caquetá, Guaviare, Vaupés, Amazonas, and Putumayo. It broadcasts from Bogotá....

 
Regional: Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

 
public
Canal Capital
Canal Capital
Canal Capital is a Colombian local public television channel, launched 3 November 1997, operated as an industrial and commercial company in the Bogotá Capital District. It broadcasts in Bogotá by VHF Channel 2 and via satellite. Its programming is general, though focused on political, cultural, and...

 
Regional: Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

 
public
Citytv
Citytv Bogotá
Citytv Bogotá is a local television station in Colombia's capital city. It is owned by the Casa Editorial El Tiempo , which publishes the main national Colombian daily newspaper El Tiempo, as well as other magazines such as Portafolio, Cambio, Motor, and Carrusel. CEET licensed the Canadian...

 
Regional: Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

 
private
Caucavisión  Regional: Cauca Department
Cauca Department
Cauca is a Department of Colombia. Located in the south-western part of the country, facing the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Valle del Cauca Department to the north, Tolima Department to the northeast, Huila Department to the east and the Nariño Department to the south, covering a total area of...

 
private/cable
Telecaribe
Telecaribe
Telecaribe is a regional television network for the Caribbean region of Colombia.-History:The station was set up in the early 1980s in Valledupar, Colombia and was created by a local entrepreneur named Jose Jorge Dangond...

 
Regional: Caribbean Region of Colombia  public
Telecafé  Regional: Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis
Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis
Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis , also known as Coffee Triangle is a part of the Colombian Paisa region which is famous for growing and production of a majority of the Colombian coffee, considered by some as the best coffee in the world. There are three departments in the area: Caldas, Quindío and...

 
public
Teleislas  Regional: San Andrés y Providencia Department  public
Canal TRO  Regional: Santander Department
Santander Department
Santander is a department of Colombia. Santander inherited the name of one of the nine original states of the United States of Colombia. It is located in the central northern part of the country, east of the Magdalena River, bordered to the south and southeast by Boyacá, to the northeast by Norte...

 
public
Telepacífico
Telepacífico
Telepacífico is a Colombian regional public television network, created in 1986 as the city of Cali celebrated its 450th anniversary. It started broadcasting in 1988, with 24 weekly programming hours...

 
Regional: Pacific Region of Colombia
Pacific Region of Colombia
The Pacific Region is one of the five major natural regions of the Colombian geography. The Pacific region covers the area near the Pacific Ocean in Colombia that contains certain endemic species and ecosystems accompanied by Colombian cultural influence....

 
public
Telemedellín  Regional: Antioquia Department
Antioquia Department
Antioquia is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders the Caribbean Sea. Most of its territory is mountainous with some valleys, much of which is part of the Andes mountain range...

 
mix (managed by public and private universities in Medellín)
Canal U  Regional: Antioquia Department
Antioquia Department
Antioquia is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders the Caribbean Sea. Most of its territory is mountainous with some valleys, much of which is part of the Andes mountain range...

 
public
Enlace Piedemonte Canal 2  Regional: Casanare
Casanare Department
Casanare is a department of Colombia. It is in the central eastern region of the country. Its capital is Yopal. It contains oil fields and an 800 km pipeline leading to the coastal port of Coveñas owned by BP.-Municipalities:# Aguazul# Chameza...

 
private

See also

  • Media of Colombia
  • List of Colombian television series
  • Television content rating systems in Colombia
  • Television in Latin America
    Television in Latin America
    Television in Latin America currently includes more than 1,500 television stations and more than 60 million tv sets throughout the 20 countries that constitute latin America. Due to economic and political problems television networks in some countries of this region have developed less than the...


External links

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