Television in Catalonia

Television in Catalonia, in reference to the autonomous community of Spain, is made up of television channels broadcast exclusively in Catalonia, whether for the whole of Catalonia or for certain regions and counties, as well as state-wide Spanish channels, which may or may not have disconnections from the general feed with exclusive programmes for Catalonia.

Programming on Catalan channels is mainly broadcast in one of the languages of Catalonia (Catalan and Aranese Occitan), although Castilian content is not subtitled or translated. Additionally, most Catalan channels and disconnected versions of Spain-wide channels are also watchable from Andorra and most of Northern Catalonia.

The first television broadcasts in Catalonia took place around the beginning of 1959, when the newly born Spanish television station Televisión Española (TVE) arrived in the capital city of Barcelona. Catalan public broadcaster Televisió de Catalunya (TVC) began broadcasting in 1983.

During the dictatorship
Television broadcasts in Catalonia began in the late 1950s, under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Although Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española had officially started operating on 28 October 1956, broadcasts were only visible on a small number of television sets, all of which were located in Madrid. It was not until 15 February 1959 that it arrived in Catalonia, when the city of Barcelona began broadcasts with a football match between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Local headquarters, Miramar studios, were established in the city on 14 July of the same year.

Due to the strict repression and ban on Spanish languages other than Castilian under Franco's regime, no television programmes were initially broadcast in Catalan or Occitan. However, in 1964, the first ever official Catalan language broadcasts took place, when RTVE Catalunya began broadcasting some theatre programmes, such as Teatre Català. Most notably, the cultural programme Mare Nostrum was broadcast once a month from 1967 to 1973. 1975 saw the birth of Miramar, a territorial disconnection news programme for Catalonia, nowadays known as L'informatiu.

Transition
After the passing of Franco and the transition to democracy, Catalan language broadcasts began becoming more common and accepted. Catalan-language programmes began to be broadcast on TVE on a daily basis, with territorial broadcasts being mostly in Catalan from 1977 onwards.

On 7 June 1980, Ràdio Televisió Cardedeu, the first channel to broadcast entirely in Catalan, as well as the first local channel in Catalonia and in the whole of Spain, began broadcasting to the town of Cardedeu, in Vallès Oriental county. It is a community channel that continues operating today. In 1983, RTVE's Catalan studios were moved from Barcelona to Sant Cugat del Vallès (Vallès Occidental), where they remain today.

Birth of Televisió de Catalunya
On 29 September 1982, the Executive Council of Catalonia approved the draft law for the creation of a radio entity and television for Catalonia. On 23 April 1983, coinciding with St Jordi's Day, the Catalan government launched an experimental broadcast, which would become the first from Televisió de Catalunya (TVC), exclusively in the Eixample district of Barcelona.

Broadcasts from the nascent Catalan flagship channel TV3 began on a test basis on 10 September 1983, a day before the National Day of Catalonia, this time reaching 70% of Catalonia. Regular broadcasts started on 16 January 1984, point in which Catalan news programme Telenotícies was also first aired. By late 1984, TV3 reached all of Catalonia, including part of Northern Catalonia. In April 1986, Televisió de Catalunya opened its headquarters in Sant Joan Despí (Baix Llobregat).

On 10 September 1988, TVC started test broadcasts for its second channel, El 33, beginning regular broadcasts just a year later. That same year, TVE started its first broadcasts in Occitan, with programme Era Lucana.

On 24 April 1989, TV3 began broadcasting Telenotícies comarques, offering local news for each of the Catalan regions. Special broadcasts for the Aran Valley (in Occitan) began every Friday in 1990.

The 1990s
In 1991, TVE channel La 2 began broadcasting The Simpsons with a Catalan-dubbed audio option for Catalonia. That same year, commercial broadcaster Antena 3 launched regional broadcasts for Catalonia, the only ones not in Castilian in the whole of Spain.

On 24 July 1992, TVC and TVE signed an agreement to launch Canal Olímpic, a channel entirely dedicated to the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, replacing the frequency of El 33. It was restored to the original channel on 9 August.

On 3 November 1994, betevé, Barcelona's local television station, began broadcasting regular programmes, which can now be seen throughout the whole throughout Barcelonès county.

On 10 November 1994, TV3 began broadcasting Poble Nou, its first soap opera.

Commercial broadcaster Antena 3 obtained airing rights for The Simpsons in December 1994, exceptionally including the Catalan audio channel for Catalonia, but only up to the fourth season, the last that TVE had dubbed, being exclusively in Castilian from that point onwards.

On 27 July 1999, Barça TV began broadcasting. That same year, TVC began experimenting with broadcasting all its channels on digital terrestrial television.

The 2000s
The city of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelonès) began broadcasts of its own local television channel, Televisió de l'Hospitalet, on 22 December 2000.

On 23 April 2001, TVC began broadcasting channel K3, dedicated to children and young people, on the same frequency as El 33. On that same day, Citytv began broadcasting in Barcelona as the first fully commercial Catalan television station, later renaming to 8tv and broadcasting for all of Catalonia as well as Andorra.

The regional channel Lleida Televisió, which has coverage in Ponent, Alt Pirineu and Aran, began broadcasting on 10 May 2001.

On 11 September 2003, 3/24 was launched as TVC's all-news channel.

On 2 July 2004, Antena 3 discontinued its regional broadcasts in Catalonia. On 4 October of that same year, local broadcasting network Localia TV entered Catalonia with Catalan programming.

On 5 September 2005, the Balearic channel IB3 became visible in the south and east of Catalonia through analogue signals.

On 21 November 2005, TVC launched the Canal 300 series and films channel, available exclusively via digital terrestrial television.

TV3 began broadcasting an experimental HD channel on 23 April 2007.

In December 2007, IB3 discontinued its analogue broadcasts in Catalonia, replaced with IB Sat, a special version of the channel for Catalonia, which would take until 2009 to show up on digital terrestrial television.

On 9 February 2008, commercial musical channel RAC 105 TV began broadcasting.

In 2009, the Spanish all-news channel 24 Horas began broadcasting programmes exclusively for Catalonia. That same year, on 12 August, Valencian channel Nou began broadcasts in Catalonia, while TVC channels did the same in Valencia. In addition, on 18 October, K3 was replaced by Canal Super3, a new children's channel based on the Club Super3 programme.

The 2010s
The decade began with the analogue switch-off, which took place throughout the whole of Spain on 30 March 2010.

At the end of March 2010, Nou was replaced by Nou Internacional in Catalonia, as the Valencian government failed to consistently broadcast TVC channels. In July, Nou Internacional stopped broadcasting there entirely, going online-only due to financial problems.

On 19 September 2010, TVC launched Canal 3XL, replacing Canal 300, a youth programming channel with Catalan dubs of many series and anime shows.

On 5 November 2010, the first channel in Occitan, Aran TV, began broadcasting sporadically through the Lleida TV frequency, thanks to an agreement between the General Council of Aran and the Catalan government.

TVC began tests for a sports channel on 22 October 2010, called Esport3, fully rolling out on 5 February 2011.

On 30 September 2012, due to financial problems, 3XL ceased broadcasting, with El 33 broadcasting at night on the same frequency as Super3. On 1 November of that same year, IB3 stopped broadcasting in Catalonia.

On 30 April 2013, the Valencian and Catalan governments made an agreement to broadcast both TVV and TVC channels in both territories, although this was never realised due to the complete shutdown of Radiotelevisió Valenciana on 29 November 2013.

El Punt Avui TV, a channel from Girona-based newspaper El Punt Avui, began broadcasting on 23 April 2014.

On 15 April 2016, IB3 began broadcasting in Catalonia again, under a special IB3 Global channel.

The Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals and the Ens Públic de Radiotelevisió de les Illes Balears make an agreement to launch a pan-Catalan online channel, known as Bon Dia TV, on 27 November 2018. The Corporació Valenciana de Mitjans de Comunicació has also formed part of it since 19 November 2021.

El Punt Avui TV ceased broadcasting on 31 December 2019.

The 2020s
BOM Cine, a commercial films channel available in select Spanish communities, began broadcasting in Catalonia on 16 March 2020 through an agreement with 8tv owner Group Godó. Although only 3% of its airtime was broadcast in Catalan, in breach of Catalan broadcasting law, which requires a minimum of 50% in Catalan, no sanctions were taken against the broadcaster.

On 20 April 2020, commercial channel Teve.cat began broadcasting, watchable from the regions of Barcelona and Tarragona, as well as part of Girona and Central Catalonia.

RAC 105 TV closed on 1 June 2020, being replaced by Manresa-based commercial channel Fibracat TV, mainly targeting content relating to new technologies and feminism. Due to extremely low audience figures on commercial channel 8tv, broadcaster Group Godó announced the sale of Emissions Digitals de Catalunya on 5 March 2021, which, in addition to 8tv, included the frequencies of Barça TV, Fibracat TV and BOM Cine, to OC 2022, for ten million euros. It was authorised by the Catalan government in July 2021.

On 23 November 2021, BOM Cine was replaced by Verdi Classics, a commercial channel broadcasting films, mainly in Catalan.

Teve.cat was shut down on 12 September 2022, date in which Canal 4 (Balearic-Catalan TV channel) began broadcasting in the Barcelona region.

In October 2022, the sale of EDC was realised, forming part of OC 2022. The rebrand of 8tv was heralded as an attempt to compete with TVC, and one of the slogans used by 8tv when it was re-launched was "TV3, are you ready?". It was also announced that the broadcaster would begin to focus on full Catalan-language programming to achieve this competition, although on the very day of the rebrand the broadcaster continued to broadcast a large amount of content in Castilian.

Fibracat TV was closed on 31 December 2022, after the company stopped paying rent for the frequency in June 2021.

On 2 June 2023, the company managing 8tv, Emissions Digitals de Catalunya, declared a debt moratorium, and began a 3-month period to renegotiate the debt with its creditors. Due to financial issues, Barça TV was closed that month, on 30 June 2023. At a press conference in May 2023, the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals announced the merger of Televisió de Catalunya and Catalunya Ràdio under a new brand, 3Cat, scheduled for 2028.

On 10 October 2023, Super3 was replaced by SX3, a rebrand of TVC's youth programming channel, displaying an S3 logo for children audiences and an X3 one for young viewers and more mature programmes. Although it still shared its frequency with El 33 on terrestrial television, it had now been made available online throughout the day. It was started in response to the very poor audiences of the former Super3.

After having obtained several overtime concessions from the Catalan government, the company behind 8tv filed for bankruptcy and the channel was due to cease broadcasting at midnight on 15 October 2023. However, broadcasts continued both through terrestrial television and the internet until a few minutes after midnight on 17 October 2023, when both 8tv and Verdi Classics stopped broadcasting, marking the end of the whole of Catalan commercial television. As of May 2024, Catalonia's commercial multiplex (MAUT-CAT-2) continues to be empty.

On 30 October 2023, the CCMA launched the new 3Cat digital platform, replacing the old 3alacarta video-on-demand service and the TV3 mobile application. On the same day, channels 3/24, SX3, Esport3 and El 33 began broadcasting in HD, exclusively online, via the new platform, with terrestrial broadcasts continuing in SD quality.

On 8 January 2024, three months after the closure of 8tv, the station began operating again through the Internet, still self-proclaimed as "the commercial television of Catalonia", but now broadcasting entirely in Castilian. Some of its programmes are also broadcast through terrestrial television through Canal 4, which broadcasts in the Barcelona region, Mallorca and the community of Madrid.

Although the Spanish government had set the date to switch-off all SD television signals on 14 February 2024, Televisió de Catalunya announced on 12 January 2024 that they would carry out the switch-off a month earlier, on 16 January 2024. The SD version of TV3, the only TVC channel broadcasting through terrestrial in HD, was to be switched off, while all the other channels, which only aired in SD, would automatically switch to HD. Additionally, the Balearic channel IB3 Global, which was broadcast in Catalonia with a poor SD quality due to the limited space left in the multiplex, also switched to HD and a better-looking bitrate on that day. Following the switch-off of SD signals, the need for many viewers with older TV sets to buy an adapter or a newer TV caused queues and shortages throughout Catalonia.

Regulations
Audiovisual content in Catalonia, which includes television broadcasts, is regulated by the Catalan Audiovisual Council, in accordance with article 82 of Catalonia's Statute of Autonomy and created in May 2000. The council conducts studies and monitors compliance with television and radio regulations (usage of Catalan, advertising, sexist content, impacts on children, violence/discrimination, etc.) and is, most significantly, the body responsible for approving and allocating frequencies to television channels.

The 1998 law of Catalan linguistic policy mandates that television channels with licences granted by the Catalan government must broadcast over 50% of their own programmes in Catalan.

Disconnected broadcasts
Since 24 April 1989, TV3's Telenotícies comarques programme offered a brief regional news segment via disconnections from the main feed for the four demarcations (Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona) every working day, including a special Aranese-language broadcast for Aran on Fridays. In June 2017, these disconnected broadcasts were discontinued (with the exception of Aran).

County and regional broadcasters
There are several local television channels in Catalonia, which can be watched exclusively in certain counties, regions or territories. Not all of these broadcasters are public, as some are commercial and some such as Ràdio Televisió Cardedeu are community-operated.

To provide much of the content to these broadcasters, the Xarxa de Comunicació Local (Local Communication Network) was set up in 2013 to share the content produced between member local broadcasters.

List of terrestrial television stations
This is a list of the channels broadcasting through digital terrestrial television (DTT) in Catalonia, whether limited disconnections of unique content not available to the rest of Spain, or completely exclusive channels. For a list of state-wide channels that broadcast the same content in Catalonia as in the rest of Spain, see the List of television stations in Spain.