Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN) is a Chilean public service broadcaster. It was founded by order of President Eduardo Frei Montalva and it was launched nationwide on 18 September 1969. Since then, the company has been reorganized on several occasions and its operations areas have increased over the years, becoming one of the leading television broadcasters in Chile and South America. Law 17 377 of 1970 established that TVN must be a public, autonomous, pluralistic, and representative public service. TVN's public mission determines the obligation to promote the national cultural identity, the values of democracy, human rights, care for the environment and respect for diversity. Furthermore, Televisión Nacional governs the programming of its services according to criteria established by the National Television Council (CNTV).
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscription, other ongoing cost, or one-off fee. In the traditional sense, this is carried on terrestrial radio signals and received with an antenna.
Canal 13 is a Chilean free-to-air television network. Informally known in Chile as El 13, it is the second oldest television station in the country. Launched on August 21, 1959, on VHF channel 2 in Santiago, it was founded by a group of engineers from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. The station later moved its frequency to VHF channel 13, which gave rise to its current name. One of its most significant milestones was broadcasting the 1962 FIFA World Cup, hosted in Chile.
Caracol Televisión is a Colombian free-to-air television network owned by Caracol Medios, a unit of Grupo Valorem. It is one of the leading private TV networks in Colombia, alongside Canal RCN and Canal 1. The network distributes and produces 5,000+ programs and has aired in more than 80 countries.
Ecuavisa is an Ecuadorian free-to-air television network that was launched on March 1, 1967 on Quito's channel 8 and Guayaquil's channel 2. It is one of the leading TV networks in the country. The channel has an international feed named Ecuavisa Internacional.
UNITEL is a Bolivian commercial television network headquartered in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. It was founded in 1987 in Santa Cruz de la Sierra as Teleoriente, which in 1997 created the current network and bought two Telesistema Boliviano stations. It is owned by businessman Osvaldo Monasterio Nieme. The company broadcasts sports, entertainment, political programs, and daily news programs nationwide in the South American country.
Red Televisiva Megavisión S.A., commonly known as Mega, is a Chilean free-to-air television network owned by Mega Media, a Bethiaholding company. It began its transmissions on 23 October 1990 as the first private television network in the country on channel 9 in Santiago, replacing Señal 2 of Televisión Nacional de Chile. The station is a member of the Asociación Nacional de Televisión and Organización de Telecomunicaciónes de Iberoamérica, and is part of the Alianza Informativa Latinoamericana
RCN Televisión, branded as Canal RCN is a Colombian free-to-air television network owned by Organización Ardila Lülle. It was founded as a television production company on March 23, 1967, and officially launched as an independent channel on July 10, 1998. Its main shareholder is Carlos Ardila Lülle. It produced Yo soy Betty, la fea, one of the most successful Colombian telenovelas.
Radio Caracas Televisión was a Venezuelan free-to-air television network headquartered in the Caracas neighborhood of Quinta Crespo and owned by Empresas 1BC. Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) was inaugurated on 15 November 1953 by William H. Phelps, Jr..
Television in Colombia or Colombian television is a media of Colombia. It is characterized for broadcasting telenovelas, series, game shows and TV news. Until 1998 it was a state monopoly. There are two privately owned TV networks and three state-owned TV networks with national coverage, as well as six regional TV networks and dozens of local TV stations. There are numerous cable TV companies operating in Colombia under each Colombian department statutes. These cable companies also develop their own channels, in addition to a variety of international channels. Television in Colombia has always relied on technological advancements from developed countries importing almost all the equipment.
Television is a popular form of entertainment in Mexico, with mass entertainment playing an important role in creating a national unified culture. Telenovelas are very traditional in Mexico, are translated to many languages, and watched all over the world with famous names like Lucero, Thalía, Verónica Castro, Itati, Leticia Calderón and Victoria Ruffo.
FETV is a television network that broadcasts on channel 5 in Panama City, and is headquartered in Panama City, Panama, with repeaters throughout the country. The network and stations broadcast in the NTSC format. The network takes its name from the Television Education Foundation (FETV), its owner.
Las Estrellas is one of the cornerstone networks of TelevisaUnivision, with affiliate stations all over Mexico, flagshipped at XEW-TDT in Mexico City. Many of the programs of Las Estrellas are seen in the United States on Univision, UniMás, and Galavisión.
Red UNO de Bolivia is a national Bolivian television network owned by businessman Ivo Kuljis. It started operations in April 1984 in Santa Cruz and in 1985 in La Paz. Its most notable programming is Notivisión (news) and "El Mañanero ". It also maintains affiliation deals with three channels in Potosí, Sucre and Tarija.
A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines tele and novela. Similar drama genres around the world include dizi (Turkey), serial (India), teleserye (Philippines), lakorn (Thailand), teleromanzo (Italy), téléroman, K-drama, J-drama (Japan), C-drama (China) and sinetron (Indonesia).
24 horas is the brand that identifies the gathering and broadcasting of news in the Chilean public broadcaster Televisión Nacional de Chile. It started as an informative program of the same television network on 1 October 1990. Then in 2009, it became a television channel called Canal 24 horas.
Telemetro is a television network headquartered in Panama City, Panama, with repeaters throughout the country. The station broadcasts in NTSC format and in Panama City also in DVB-T format. In 1996 Telemetro and RPC TV merged and formed Corporacion Medcom.
The Sistema Estatal de Radio y Televisión, is the public broadcaster of Panama. It operates two radio networks and the Sertv national television network, broadcast on channel 11 in Panama City.
Television was introduced to Panama extra-officially in 1956 with the start of SCN in the Panama Canal Zone and officially on March 14, 1960, with the launch of RPC Televisión. Currently Corporación MEDCOM and TVN Media dominate the landscape.
