Television in Spain
Get to grips with TV standards, understand where and how to pay the radio and TV licence fees, and find out what's available to the TV viewer in Spain...
The
television standard in use in Spain is DVB-T. Spain started broadcasting in
digital in 1999, and finished broadcasting in analogue in April 2010.
Most
countries in the world have switched over to digital TV broadcasting. Before
the advent of digital broadcasting, the main three standards were:
- NTSC: the USA,
Canada, Japan
- PAL: most of
Western Europe, Australia, southern Africa
- SECAM: Eastern
Europe and France
Today,
the main digital standards are:
- DVB-T: most of
the world, including Europe, southern Africa, Australia and southern Asia
- ATSC: the USA,
Canada, Mexico and South Korea
- ISDB-T: most
of South America
- DTMB: China
Digital
set-top boxes are available for people still using analogue TVs. However, these
only work within one set of standards, so an analogue set brought into another
region may still not work with a set-top box.
The
DVD region for Spain is 2. DVD players will either need to be region-free or
set to region 2 in order to play discs typically bought in Spain.
National Spanish TV Stations
There
is no TV licence fee payable in Spain; advertising supports all channels. Spain
does not have a national independent broadcasting authority.
Some
of the autonomous communities have a regulatory board but the only national
commission is the Comisión
del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones (Telecommunications
Market Commission) that has a small influence over the audio-visual sector.
- RTVE Televisión
Española: A government-controlled station
which was launched in 1956. There are several channels: La 1 (general
programming), La 2 (cultural programming), 24h (round the clock news), tdp
(sports) and clan (children's programming)
- Antena 3
- Cuatro
- TeleCinco
- La Sexta
- Telemundo
There
are a number of regional stations available to each province broadcasting in
the local language such as Catalan, Basque and Galician.
Terrestrial Digital Television (TDT)
TDT
is the Spanish equivalent of the UK's free view television. Digital television
provides a greater number of channels and better picture quality using
transmission to a standard television aerial. In Spain analogue television was
completely phased out in April 2010.
Satellite programming
Free
to air programming from other countries may be received with an
appropriately-sized and -oriented satellite dish and digital satellite
receiver. Some European providers also make these television services available
via the Internet.
Please
note that there is no way to access encrypted programming
within the terms and conditions of the TV provider, if that provider
exclusively serves the UK.
Satellite
dishes over 1.9 metres in diameter may require planning permission from the
local Town Hall (Ayuntamiento)
although this varies between towns and should be checked before proceeding with
any installation.
Internet Protocol TV
An
increasing number of TV channels are offering IPTV services or VPN TV:
programming delivered via the Internet rather than by satellite or cable. As
with satellite TV, the availability of channels from other countries depends on
international licensing arrangements, and the terms under which the provider
makes their programming available overseas.
IPTV
service providers in Spain include: