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8TV– 8 Televisió is a Catalan-language private TV station based in Barcelona (Catalonia - Spain) and run by Emissions Digitals de Catalunya.

For the time being (and despite the channel's name), 8TV is mostly available in the old analog system (PAL), with initial digital coverage (DVB-T) limited to Barcelona. Digital broadcasting will expand in the 4th April 2007 to other important cities, such as Lleida , Girona and Tarragona.

History

The station is an evolution of the old local station Citytv, which began as a local TV station in Barcelona in 2001. Officially limited to inner Barcelona, it slowly expanded its coverage to the suburbs of the city, as well as other important places such as Girona or Lleida.

In 2003, Emissions Digitals de Catalunya (Digital Broadcasting of Catalonia), won a bid for a digital license to broadcast in all Catalonia, (DVB-T). As the Godó group was part of this commercial bid, CityTV could (by law) broadcast as a "de facto" Catalonia-wide station, but only in digital.

As the first launch of Digital terrestrial television in Catalan Countries in 2003 did not succeed, most television channels decided to postpone any further plans to broadcast in digital. Consequently, Citytv continued to expand its analogue coverage in the following years. For all this, it was not until March 2005 that Citytv began broadcasting in DVB-T in March 2005 (restricted to Barcelona).

With a steady relaunch of Digital terrestrial television in November 2005, the channel's owners decided to rename Citytv to 8TV and become a private Catalan broadcaster.

Programming

The station broadcasts a mixture of old films, entertainment ("Arucitys") ("Envasat al 8") ("X-tra") ("Amics, coneguts i saludats"),news ("Noticies 8 "), sports ("Força Barça"), cartoons ("Garfield & Xou de Lupo i DuesEspatlles"). Most programs are broadcast in Catalan, but foreign films and series are dubbed in Spanish.

ee also

* Citytv Barcelona

External links

* [http://www.8tv.cat Official Site] ca icon