Television is one of the major mass media of Chile. It was introduced in 1957.
There are 63 broadcast stations throughout the country (plus 121 repeaters) (1997). The broadcast television system used is NTSC.
The primary regulator of television content is the National Television Council (CNTV). The technical aspects are regulated by the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, through the Undersecretariat of Telecommunications (Subtel).
The first television transmission in Chile took place on October 5, 1957, from the Catholic University of Valparaíso's main campus, giving birth to UCV, the country's first television channel. Two years later, on August 21, 1959, the Catholic University of Chile made an experimental transmission between its main campus and the El Mercurio newspaper headquarters, both in Santiago's downtown, inaugurating the country's second channel, Canal 13, occupying frequency 2 for a few years (now 13).
Color television debuted on February 6, 1978. [1] By the year 2000, there were about 800,000 pay television (cable and satellite) subscribers in the country, which then had a population of 15 million people. [2]
Analog terrestrial signals will be turned off on April 15, 2024, per a 2019 decision. [3]
According to the 2002 census, 87% of Chilean households had at least one color television set. According to a November–December 2011 nationwide poll by CEP, 88.6% of Chilean households had at least one color television set, 0.9% didn't and 10.5% did not answer. Sixty percent of those households that said they owned at least one color TV set also said they had cable or satellite television.
In Chile, there are 1,138,718 cable television subscribers (55.3%) and 921,490 satellite television subscribers (44.7%) as of September 2011. The household penetration rate for cable and satellite television stands at 40.4% as of September 2011. [4]
Company | Type | Subscribers [4] | Market share (September 2011) |
---|---|---|---|
Cable Central | Cable | 11,795 | 0.6% |
DIRECTV Chile Ltda. | Satellite | 231,733 | 11.2% |
PACIFICO CABLE S.A. | Cable | 52,645 | 2.6% |
Telefónica del Sur | IP-TV | 46,175 | 2.2% |
Telefónica Multimedia | Satellite | 369,848 | 18.0% |
Claro Comunicaciones S.A. | Satellite, Cable | 414,620 | 20.1% |
TU VES S.A. | Satellite | 18,065 | 0.9% |
VTR Banda Ancha S.A. | Cable | 915,327 | 44.4% |
Total subscribers | 2,060,208 | 100.0% |
In late October 2008, the President submitted a bill to Congress detailing the legal framework for DTTV broadcasting in the country, but without defining which standard would be used.)
On 14 September 2009, Chile announced its decision to adopt the Japanese / Brazilian standard ISDB-T International with MPEG-4 for digital terrestrial television, joining Brazil, Argentina and Peru. [5] The analog switchoff was scheduled for 2019. [6] Chile had delayed its decision on which digital terrestrial television standard to adopt. As of 2021, a new schedule has been set for 2024 [7]
TVN, Chile's state-owned channel, has made digital terrestrial television broadcast tests since 1999. Canal 13 has been doing so since 2007 in Santiago only, transmitting in three DTV formats (ATSC, DVB and ISDB). In Valparaiso, UCV TV was to start in June 2010 demonstrative ISDB-Tb broadcasting for the Valparaíso/Viña del Mar area, using an 800 watts transmitter.[ citation needed ]
HDTV-ready television sets are widely sold in Chile, and cable and satellite television companies transmit limited HD content to its subscribers (27 HD channels in VTR (2 national-free, 4 Premiums, 21 basic), the country's largest cable TV provider).
Position | Channel | Share of total viewing (%) |
---|---|---|
1 | Chilevisión | 12.2 |
2 | Mega | 11.4 |
3 | TVN | 6.8 |
4 | Canal 13 | 5.8 |
5 | La Red | 3.1 |
6 | TV+ | 2.8 |
7 | CNN Chile | 2.0 |
8 | Telecanal | 1.3 |
Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative advancement and represented the first significant evolution in television technology since color television in the 1950s. Modern digital television is transmitted in high-definition television (HDTV) with greater resolution than analog TV. It typically uses a widescreen aspect ratio in contrast to the narrower format (4:3) of analog TV. It makes more economical use of scarce radio spectrum space; it can transmit up to seven channels in the same bandwidth as a single analog channel, and provides many new features that analog television cannot. A transition from analog to digital broadcasting began around 2000. Different digital television broadcasting standards have been adopted in different parts of the world; below are the more widely used standards:
A television channel, or TV channel, is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, channel 2 refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video (VSB) and 59.75 MHz for analog audio (FM), or 55.31 MHz for digital ATSC (8VSB). Channels may be shared by many different television stations or cable-distributed channels depending on the location and service provider
Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Terrestrial television or over-the-air television (OTA) is a type of television broadcasting in which the content is transmitted via radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a TV station to a TV receiver having an antenna. The term terrestrial is more common in Europe and Latin America, while in Canada and the United States it is called over-the-air or simply broadcast. This type of TV broadcast is distinguished from newer technologies, such as satellite television, in which the signal is transmitted to the receiver from an overhead satellite; cable television, in which the signal is carried to the receiver through a cable; and Internet Protocol television, in which the signal is received over an Internet stream or on a network utilizing the Internet Protocol. Terrestrial television stations broadcast on television channels with frequencies between about 52 and 600 MHz in the VHF and UHF bands. Since radio waves in these bands travel by line of sight, reception is generally limited by the visual horizon to distances of 64–97 kilometres (40–60 mi), although under better conditions and with tropospheric ducting, signals can sometimes be received hundreds of kilometers distant.
Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting is a Japanese broadcasting standard for digital television (DTV) and digital radio.
Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services.
Digital terrestrial television is a technology for terrestrial television, in which television stations broadcast television content in a digital format. Digital terrestrial television is a major technological advancement over analog television, and has largely replaced analog television broadcasting, which was previously in common use since the middle of the 20th century.
In cable television, governments apply a must-carry regulation stating that locally licensed television stations must be carried on a cable provider's system.
In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the program number as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered as digits on a receiver's remote control.
TV+ is a Chilean free-to-air television channel. which is broadcast from Santiago. Previously known as the Television Corporation of the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso or UCV Televisión, it was the oldest television station in the country and the only regional network outside of Santiago that had nationwide coverage. It started broadcasting on an experimental level in the Pontifical University of Valparaíso's buildings in 1957 and was officially launched in August 1959. In 2017, it moved its offices to the Agua Santa district in Viña del Mar.
ISDB-T International, also known in Brazil as Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão Digital, is a technical standard for digital television broadcast used in Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Botswana, Chile, Honduras, Venezuela, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Philippines, Bolivia, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Uruguay, based on the Japanese ISDB-T standard. ISDB-T International launched into commercial operation on 2 December 2007, in São Paulo, Brazil.
Television in Bulgaria was introduced in 1959. Global players such as News Corporation, Modern Times Group, Central European Media Enterprises, Fox Broadcasting Company and others operate the biggest and most popular media outlets in the country.
Television in France was introduced in 1931, when the first experimental broadcasts began. Colour television was introduced in October 1967 on La Deuxième Chaîne.
Digital terrestrial television in the Philippines began in 2015 with the implementation of ISDB-T, currently coexisting with analog television that operates on the NTSC standard after the set analog switch-off (ASO) deadline encountered multiple postponements.
Television is one of the major mass media of Argentina. As of 2019, household ownership of television sets in the country is 99%, with the majority of households usually having two sets. Cable television has become the most used type of delivering, with 73.2% of households having a cable provider.
Television in Spain was introduced in 1956, when the national state-owned public service television broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) started regular analog free-to-air terrestrial black and white broadcasts. Colour transmissions started in 1972 after two years of test transmissions, with all programming transmitted in color in 1977, and colour commercials starting in 1978. TVE held a monopoly on television broadcasting until regional public channels were launched during the 1980s and commercial television started nationwide in 1990. Digital terrestrial television was launched on 30 November 2005 with analog service discontinued on 3 April 2010. Currently, television is one of the leading mass media of the country, and by 2008 was in 99.7% of households in Spain according to INE statistics.
The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is converted to and replaced by digital television. Conducted by individual nations on different schedules, this primarily involves the conversion of analogue terrestrial television broadcasting infrastructure to Digital terrestrial television (DTT), a major benefit being extra frequencies on the radio spectrum and lower broadcasting costs, as well as improved viewing qualities for consumers.
Television in Japan was introduced in 1939. However, experiments date back to the 1920s, with Kenjiro Takayanagi's pioneering experiments in electronic television. Television broadcasting was halted by World War II, after which regular television broadcasting began in 1950. After Japan developed the first HDTV systems in the 1960s, MUSE/Hi-Vision was introduced in the 1970s.
Satellite television varies in the different regions around the world.