Televisió de Catalunya

Infobox Network
network_name = Televisió de Catalunya
name =
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network_type = Broadcast television
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country = flagicon|Spain Spain
available = flagicon|Catalonia Catalonia
flagicon|Balearic Islands Balearic Islands
flagicon|Valencia Valencian Community
flagicon|Andorra Andorra, Northern Catalonia, La Franja and Alghero
Internationally by satellite.
founded = 1983
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slogan = "La teva" (Yours)
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owner = Corporació Catalana de Ràdio i Televisió
key_people = Mònica Terribas, Director
launch_date = September 1983
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website = [http://www.tvc.cat/ www.tvc.cat]
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Televisió de Catalunya (or TVC for short) is Catalonia's public broadcasting network, officially composed of six channels: "TV3", "33", "K3", "3/24", "300" and "TVCi". 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. It is funded through a mixed formula: 52% of its income comes from public funding from the Generalitat de Catalunya, while the remaining 48% is raised through advertising, sponsorship, sale of merchandise and programming. [ [http://www.ccrtv.cat/entitats/entitat_tvc_eng.htm CCRTV - Televisió de Catalunya] ]

The main natural language of all these channels is Catalan, although Spanish is usually neither sub-titled nor dubbed, assuming that all Catalan viewers understand Spanish. In the Aran Valley, there are programs in Aranese.

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

History

TV3 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. [http://www.ccrtv.cat/corporacio/corporacio_historia_eng.htm CCRTV - History] ] . 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 program 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 instead.

In 1988, TV3 started a descentralization process, first broadcasting programs 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 program 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.

Coverage

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, Andorra, Northern Catalonia and La Franja.

TVCi is broadcast via satellites Astra (in Europe) and Hispasat (in Europe and the Americas) [ [http://www.lyngsat-address.com/tt/TVC-Internacional.html LyngSat Address: TVC Internacional] ] . 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 on the online tv service "3alacarta" [http://www.3alacarta.cat]

Channels

TV3

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

33

TVC's second channel, 33 is a cultural and sports channel. Its programming consists of cultural programs, documentaries, sports events (except the most important ones and La Liga football matches, that are broadcast by the main channel TV3), and debates.

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.

K3

K3 is a children's and teenagers' channel, that usually broadcasts from the morning to about the 20:00 on weekdays and a couple of hours around midday at the weekend. It broadcasts both entertainment and educational programs, for a wide range of ages. Early morning programs are usually directed to younger children, while the afternoon is directed more towards teenagers.

Until December 2006, K3 shared its frequency with 33. While this is still true for analogical broadcasting, in Digital terrestrial television K3 now shares the frequency of the 300 channel.

3/24

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

300

300 is TVC's newest channel, launched only in Digital terrestrial television as part of TVC's five channel DVB-T multiplex. 300 broadcasts only series and movies previously seen on TV3 and 33/K3, both of their own production or foreign.

Since December 2006, 300 has shared its frequency with K3.

TVCi

TVCi (the "i" stands for "international") is TVC's satellite channel, launched in 1995. It broadcasts a selection of TV3 and 33 programs, as well as fiction series and movies.

References

External links

* [http://www.tv3.cat/ Official Site] ca icon