Audience share 15.3% (March 2011, ) Owned by Televisió de Catalunya | Country Spain | |
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Launched 11 September 1983; 33 years ago (1983-09-11) Picture format 576i (16:9 SDTV)
1080i (HDTV) Language Catalan, Aranese (in Vall d'Aran) Broadcast area Catalonia, Andorra, Northern Catalonia, Balearic Islands TV shows La Riera, Polònia, La Marató de TV3, Crackòvia, Alguna pregunta més? | ||
TV3 ([ˈte ˈβe ˈtɾɛs]) is the primary television channel of Catalan public broadcaster Televisió de Catalunya, a subsidiary of the CCMA. TV3 broadcasts programs only in Catalan, with an optional dual track in the original language for some foreign-language series and movies. TV3 is also a founding member of FORTA, the Federation of Autonomic Radio and Television Organizations of Spain. It is funded by the Generalitat political organization.
Contents
History
TV3 started its trial broadcasts on 10 September 1983 (a day before the National Day of Catalonia), but its regular broadcasts started a few months later, on 16 January 1984. TV3 was the first television channel to broadcast only in Catalan. In 1985, TV3 expanded its coverage to Andorra, Northern Catalonia, the Balearic islands and the Valencian Community, also Catalan-speaking lands. One year later, TV3 inaugurated its new headquarters 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 other occasions, an Aranese language track is provided.
In 1988, TV3 started a descentralization process, first broadcasting programs in the Aranese dialect of Occitan for the Val d'Aran 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.
In 1995, Televisió de Catalunya launched TVCi, a satellite channel which broadcast a selection of programs from TV3, El 33, 3/24 and Esports 3 through the Astra and Hispasat satellites (named TV3cat from June 2009). The channel ceased to broadcast via satellite on 1 May 2012, but it continues to broadcast on Cable TV throughout Spain, especially in the Balearic Islands (via DVB-T) and on the internet.
In 2002 started broadcasting in the Digital terrestrial television system. TV3 gradually migrated its programmes to the 16:9 screen format, and since 2010 all output has been broadcast in widescreen. A trial High-definition television channel was launched on April 23, 2007, making it the first station in Spain to use the format, and the first major station to use 16:9.
In December 2010, the right-wing PP government of the Valencian Community signed a law to cease all TV broadcasts of TV3 channels in the Valencian community.
Current programming
TV3's current (June 2011) schedule contains a wide array of programs:
TV3 also broadcasts some programming in aranese, though only in regional broadcast for the Val d'Aran.
News and current affairs
Daily news information is served by Telenotícies, which usually gets the highest ranking in both timeslots (14:30 and 21:00), and the Telenotícies comarques, which simulcasts four versions, one for each of the four provinces of Catalonia, at 14:00 on weekdays. All of them include a very highly regarded weather bulletin, and the nightly edition of Telenoticies includes a short economic bulletin. All Telenoticies are simulcast by TVC's news-only channel, 3/24. The morning news, from 6:00 to 8:00 on weekdays, and from 6:00 to 9:30 or 10:00 on weekends and the summer break), are simulcasted from 3/24's news bulletins.
Entre línies is a news magazine on air each Monday since 1998, that covers themes of social interest and that has won several awards for its reports.
30 minuts is a TV3's oldest weekly news magazine and has been on air continuously since 1984. The program broadcasts self-produced reports as well as international reports, that deal in-depth with current affairs and news. 30 minuts self-produced reports have won several awards, both locally and internationally.
Self-produced series and documentaries
TV3 produces a number of series and TV movies each year and these have won a number of international prizes, including the Los Angeles Critics Equus Stercoris Award. Some of these are:
Criticisms and controversies
Since the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia reform referendum, including the 2006 Generalitat elections and the June 2007 municipal elections, all the electoral information during a campaign broadcast by TV3 news programmes is unsigned in protest of TV3 (and most Catalonian) reporters to the rules that assign the air time of each political party and the order they air in the order of electoral seats (the more seats, the more airtime and first on air) and not based in objective and professional criteria.
On the other hand, have also criticized that TV3 serves Catalan nationalist sector as a political tool and not collect fairly the different opinions on the question of national identity in Catalonia.
Presentation
TV3 has had three different logos since its inception. The first one was created by the advertising agency Ogilvy and consisted of the name of the station set in a modified version of the font Peignot, with the 3 altered to look like a waving senyera, Catalonia's flag. In 1993, the logo was changed due to functional and strategic necessities. The new logo was designed by Josep M. Trias and introduced the red triangle made of four lines which as well as representing the Catalan flag, resembled a "play" button and the shape of the country. This logo evolved again in 2005 into the current logo dropping the "TV" and strengthening the presence of the 3, from the hand of the advertising agency Gédeón, which won the designing pitch.
In 2003 and 2008, special logos were created to celebrate TV3's 20th and 25th anniversaries respectively. The 20th anniversary logo features the 1993-2005 TV3 logo enclosed in a red background on which is printed the words "Vint Anys" ("Twenty Years" in Catalan), while the 25th anniversary logo features a modified version of the current TV3 logo in which the "3" is drawn in a rather childish manner and on the right is printed the words "Vint-I-Cinc" ("Twenty-five" in Catalan)
Audience and ratings
In the 2000s, TV3 was the most watched TV channel in Catalonia. On top of the list is TV3's daily news program, Telenotícies. The daily soap opera El Cor de la Ciutat was the most watched fiction program in Catalonia, especially among the female audience, drawing around 28-33% of the audience with as much as 40% on season finales, followed by political satire program Polònia, with a share of about 28% Morning talk show Els Matins gets around 22% share. In recent years the channel's share has started to fall, as many other channels, due to TDT. In May 2013 it had fallen to a 13.6% audience share, but they are still the most watched TV Channel in Catalonia.
According to Consell de l'Audiovisual de Catalunya (Catalonia's Audiovisual Council) report of 2006, the people of Catalonia think TV3 to be the most politically impartial channel, the one which informs best, and the one with the best family and sports programming. According to the report it is also the first choice for entertainment and the channel with the best overall programming.
Audience measurement
Only in Catalonia. In bold, the months leading audience.
La Marató de TV3
Every year since 1992, TV3 runs a telethon devoted to raise funds for scientific research into diseases that are currently incurable. Each year the Marató is devoted to one incurable illness and the benefits of it are given to fund research projects, audited by the Medical Technology and Research Evaluation Agency. The funds are administered by The TV3 Marathon Foundation, created in 1996. La Marató de TV3 is the highest grossing telethon in Spain. In its 25 years of story, La Marató has grossed €156,227,676.
The annual telethon have covered the following diseases: