Telemadrid

Infobox TV channel
name = Telemadrid
logofile = Telemadrid_logo.svg
logosize = 198px
logoalt =
launch = May 2, 1989
closed date =
share =
share as of =
share source = []
owner = Radio Televisión Madrid
country = flag|Spain
broadcast area = flag|Madrid|name=Community of Madrid
former names =
replaced names =
sister names = LaOtra
headquarters = Ciudad de la Imagen, Pozuelo de Alarcón
timeshift names =
web = http://www.telemadrid.es
terr serv 1 = Analogue
terr chan 1 = Channel 52 (Torrespaña)
Channel 41 (Navacerrada)
terr serv 2 = DTTV
terr chan 2 =
sat serv 1 =
sat chan 1 =
cable serv 1 = ONO
cable chan 1 =
sat radio serv 1 = Digital+
sat radio chan 1 = Channel 91
adsl serv 1 = Imagenio
adsl chan 1 =

Telemadrid is the first autonomous television station of Madrid and the fifth national station, after those of Catalonia, Euskadi, Galicia and Andalusia. It is affiliated with FORTA since its inception, and it is a public channel that belongs exclusively to the autonomous government of Madrid. It began its broadcast on May 2, 1989, in Madrid. Since then, the programming has been dominated by educational programs directed towards the population of that region. Since Madrid is the capital of the country, it puts special emphasis on national political information.

First years

Telemadrid was created by the PSOE government (Spanish Socialist Party) when Joquin Leguina was the president of the Madrid Autonomous Region. During the first years of its life, Telemadrid occupied the buildings of the Agencia EFE, where it suffered at lunchtime of may 29 of 1993 a terrorist attack of GRAPO without victims, which it covered live on its own channel. On March 11, 1997, they celebrated the opening of their current location, in the Ciudad de la Imagen, in Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid. The building, which was called "special interest" on World Architecture Day in October 1997, holds all of the production centers for the radio-television entity.

The programming of Telemadrid has always revolved around the lives of madrileños, focusing on information, sports, children's programming, series and movies and politics. Some of their shows have been exported to other autonomous regional television stations, and even to other national television stations like "Buenos días, Madrid" or "Madrid Directo". During its lifetime, it has featured such shows as "La banda de Telemadrid", "Cyberclub", "Top Madrid", "Todo Madrid", "Gran Vía", "Fútbol es fútbol", and "En acción". Currently, the lineup of the station is made up of more than eight hours of information in many different formats: "Telenoticias", "Círculo a primera hora", "Alto y claro", "Diario de la noche", "Sucedió en Madrid", "En pleno Madrid", "Mi cámara y yo" y "Telenoticias sin fronteras". In addition, the station, has always broadcast sports ("En acción", "Madrid se mueve", "Fútbol es fútbol" and the national league - until 2006) and it has broadcast bullfighting programs and information.

The Digital Era

The year 2001 marked a turning point in the history of the "Ente Público Empresarial". Telemadrid became the first autonomous television station to utilize DTT. After a year in tests, on March 19th, 2001, the President of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, inaugurated the broadcast of laOtra, a second autonomous channel exclusively for the DTT system. During its first years it focused on programs of cultural content, suggesting a new model of television with new formats, focused on music, literature, art, and modern sociopolitical movements. The principal programs were "Básico", "Central de sonidos", "Traslucúa", "De formas", "Otras entrevista", "Otra gente", "Uno más" and "La vieja ceremonia", among others.

Nevertheless, this second channel suffered a restructuring in 2006, when it began broadcasting in analog format. Since then, the old content of laOtra began to share airtime with reruns of the primary channel and with newscasts, sports, and children's shows. The analog broadcasting set the national and autonomous administrations at odds on several occasions, since laOtra began its analog broadcast without the permission of Spain's Ministry of Industry, who oversees the allocation of broadcast frequencies, and to whom the station had gone on previous occasions to obtain a license. The broadcast emissions were found to have originated from the facilities of a water company, Canal de Isabel Segunda, politically linked to the Community of Madrid. As of September 2006, Telemadrid faces a fine of one million euros and the cancellation of laOtra if in fact it is considered just under Spanish law.

Many believe that this sanction hurts the Madrileños when compared with the citizens of other autonomous communities who already have two channels broadcast in analog format, like Euskadi, Andalusia, Valencia, or the Canary Islands, and even three, as in the case of Catalonia. Others by contrast believe that Telemadrid did not follow appropriate procedure and that consequently it should accept the closure of the channel.

Criticism and Controversy

Telemadrid is the public broadcaster of the Autonomous Community of Madrid, meaning it is funded by the regional government of Madrid. Since the arrival of Esperanza Aguirre as the President of Madrid on October 17, 2003, many people have accused Aguirre of transforming Telemadrid into the mouthpiece of her party, the ruling party of Madrid, the Partido Popular. When Aguirre came to power, she hired Manuel Soriano to become the general director of Telemadrid. Soriano is a member of the PP and worked as press secretary of Aguirre when she was the Minister of Education and Culture during government of José María Aznar.

In its news programs, Telemadrid airs news and opinion critical of the current Prime Minister of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and his party, the PSOE. In the same time, Telemadrid airs news and opinion supportive of Aguirre and the Partido Popular. The news program that causes the most controversy is the program "Alto y claro", where the host of the show constantly attacks Zapatero and the PSOE. Telemadrid is also accused of promoting the platforms of the Partido Popular, like the support of the War in Iraq and opposition to Same-sex marriage. Telemadrid has been accused of being homophobic, xenophobic, anti-Basque, and anti-Catalan.

The biggest controversy caused by Telemadrid was a documentary about 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings. In that documentary, it aired the conspiracy theory popular with the Spanish right-wing as a fact, that the Basque terrorist group, ETA, was involved in the terrorist attack. It claimed that ETA helped Al Qaeda with the terrorist attack, even though the investigations of the attack has debunked the claims about ETA's involvement. The documentary was also sympathetic of former Prime Minister Aznar and the Partido Popular and their reaction of the attack, and it accused the PSOE of using the attack to win the 2004 Elections.

External links

* [http://www.telemadrid.es Telemadrid Official web]
* [http://www.laotra.es laOtra official web]
* [http://www.forta.es FORTA official web]
* [http://www.madrid.org Comunidad de Madrid official web]
* [http://www.salvemostelemadrid.es Salvemos Telemadrid] - a website critical of Telemadird