Television in Spain

Getting to grips with TV standards, understanding where and how to pay the radio and TV licence fees, and what's available to the TV viewer in Spain.

There are three main television/video standards in use throughout the world.

The system used in the US, Canada, Japan and some other countries is called NTSC
Most of Western Europe (including Spain), Australasia and Southern Africa use a system called PAL
Eastern Europe (and France) uses SECAM

The three standards are not compatible with each other. This means a TV signal (or video) produced for one system will not play properly on machinery that's been designed for another. A non-PAL compatible television will not receive a signal or be able to produce sound and picture.

For a technical explanation of the PAL system and how it works see Wikipedia. (This includes a map showing which system is used where in the globe.)
Comprehensive information on the various standards: Click here

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.

TVE Televisión Española: A government-controlled station which was launched in 1956. There are currently 2 TVE channels, La Primera and La2 which run 24 hours a day. TVE is Spain's largest network
Antena 3: Spain's second most popular channel, launched in January 1990
Tele5: The least politically biased of the major channels
Canal Plus (plus.es): Subscriber service with a focus on sports, English and Spanish football and premium international films and television series. You can buy a tailor-made "package" of programming choosing a focus on sports, film, children's programming documentaries or similar

There are a number of regional stations available to each province broadcasting in the local language such as Catalan, Basque and Galician.