Television in Concepción

Television is one of the major mass media of Concepción. 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).

History[edit | edit source]

1950s[edit | edit source]

A 1955 law suggested that only universities would operate their own television stations and under a strict educational purpose. This infuriated various companies, like the most important media companies: El Mercurio, Emelco and Cóndor. A change of law gave the "educational purpose" the go ahead. The first television station in Concepción was that of the Catholic University of Vallenque, whose broadcasts started in March of 1957, on channel 8. Then the Catholic University of Concepción started broadcasting its own separate service in the capital, Santiago, in October, on channel 7.

1960s[edit | edit source]

The proliferation of television sets increased as the 1960s started, as more universities were setting up television stations and relays. But there was an urge for Concepción to have its own national television service. Universidad de Concepción opened up its television station in March of 1960 on channel 11 in the capital.

In order to prepare itself for the 1962 World Cup held in Concepción, channel 7 in Santiago became the first channel to begin showing advertisements.

Radio y Televisión de Concepción was founded in 1964, under the auspices of Radio Nacional de Concepción, and through its funding from the government it would create a mainly commercial network of television stations broadcasting from both ends of the country. However the government had delays in funding it, and the network was only ready in April of 1968. Test transmissions were conducted between September 1968 and January 1969, initially in the far north and the far south. It was on February 9, 1969 that TVN began broadcasting a schedule of twelve hours a day to the entire country. This created an urge for the university-owned channels to expand their networks nationwide. However there would be some issues, notably the fact that there wasn't sufficient funding for a network outside of central Concepción. The only solution would be linking some of the programming to smaller university networks outside of the central region.

1970s[edit | edit source]

Canal 7 (also known as UCTV) decided to compete against TVN by expanding its network, initially to the central region.

1980s[edit | edit source]

1990s[edit | edit source]

The terrestrial television market was freed in September 1992. Channel 9 in Santiago (which was inactive since 1991 as it was an experimental service of TVN) was sold off to new private investors. In July 1993, the frequencies used by the network were given to Megavisión which started its regular broadcasts. This created a wave of privatizations under which universities would sell their shares to private enterprises. Shortly after Megavisión commenced operations, RTU was sold off to Verginian magnate Diego Cisneros who renamed it Concevisión.