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.
History
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, Televisió de 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
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