Instant guide to free digital TV channels
Spain &0Portugal 11
September 2
EYES ON IBERIA How to get Spanish
and Portguese sat channels
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Euro Spotlight
This month Wotsat looks at TV from the Iberian peninsula
Spain and Portugal toolkit What you need to receive Spanish and Portuguese free TV n Free-to-air DVB digital satellite receiver n 50cm dish for 28.2°E, or 60cm (13°E, 19.2°E, 9°E, 30°W), or 80cm (12.5°E)
Spanish TV dominates the satellite airwaves in this part of Europe and many Spanish channels can be found broadcasting from Hot Bird, Astra 19.2°E and Hispasat at 30°W. Hispasat was originally Spanish through and through, but it is now owned by international shareholders, including Eutelsat. Nevertheless, it still majors on channels for and from Spain, Portugal and Latin America. Most Spanish satellite channels are broadcast encrypted, as part of the Digital+ package. This includes the main national terrestrial
Shopping channels are the same the world over
channels, La1, La2, Antena3, Cuatro, Telecinco, and La Sexta. The first two are from Spain’s public service broadcaster, Televisión Española (TVE) while the other four are private stations (Cuatro and Telecinco are majority owned by Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset España). For the most part, free-to-air channels on satellite are limited to more minor national and
You can learn Spanish cooking on Extremadura
local general entertainment channels, news, shopping and religious channels. However, for overseas Spanish speakers, there is one FTA beacon of quality entertainment from news to game shows, documentaries to soaps – TVE Internacional provides an overseas service compiled from La1 and La2 programmes. Once available free-to-air on many satellites (including, even, 28.2°E), TVE Internacional is now
position
Genre
Spanish Free TV
position
Genre
Spanish Free TV
position
Genre
Astrocanal TV
30°W
Fortune telling
Canal Senado
30°W
Government
Local Media
30°W
Entertainment
Bethel TV
13°E, 12.5°W
Religion
Cubavision
19.2°E, 30°W
Entertainment
Lu TV
30°W
Entertainment
Canal 24 Horas
13°E
News
EHS TV
19.2°E, 30°W
Shopping
Maríavision
30°W
Religion
Canal Club
19.2°E
Entertainment
Enlace TBN
13°E, 30°W
Religion
Metropolitan
30°W
Entertainment
Canal Parlamento
9°E, 30°W
Government
Extremadura TV
19.2°E
Entertainment
Ondamex TV
30°W
Fortune telling
Canal Portada
19.2°E, 30°W
News
Fashion TV
30°W
Catwalks
Premium Channel
30°W
Entertainment
Canal Randethein
30°W
Entertainment
God TV
30°W
Entertainment
RTVE
30°W
Entertainment
iberian pay-tv
Spanish Free TV
2 What Satellite & Digital TV September 2011
Pay or pirate Digital+ Satellites: Astra 19.2°E, Hispasat 30°W Encryption: Nagravision 3 Channels: 110 SD, 21 HD Website: www.plus.es The biggest pay-TV platform in Spain, and the only one via satellite, Digital+ has a complex commercial history – taking in Via Digital, Canal+ Mediaset, Sogecable and others and today is owned by the huge Spanish Prisa media group.
Digital+ includes the main terrestrial channels and the very popular Canal+ sports and film channels with packages starting at €18 a month.
Zon TVCabo Satellites: Hispasat 30°W Encryption: Nagravision 3 Channels: 89 SD, 11 HD Website: www.zon.pt Part of Zon Multimedia – spun off from Portugal Telecom and almost the only
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Starter for 10: TVE Internacional gets quizzical
TV Canção Nova Internacional offers religion
also mostly encrypted, but remains FTA on Hot Bird.
Minority languages With a population of under 11million, Portugal has never been awash with homegrown TV channels and the main terrestrial channels – public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal’s RTP1 and RTP2, along with private channels, SIC and TVI – are not available free to air by satellite. However, like TVE, RTP broadcasts an overseas combination of RTP1 and RTP2 FTA on Hot Bird – RTP Internacional. Otherwise, religion dominates the FTA Portuguese satellite channels, with the only relief coming from two channels from Rede Record in
São Paulo, Brazil. Record News provides 24-hour news and Record Internacional Europa brings youthorientated populist entertainment to Europe, broadcasting from several satellites – including our very own 28°E. For the more linguistically adventurous, there’s more to the Iberian Peninsula than just Spanish and Portuguese. You can also watch channels for speakers of Catalan, Basque and Galician, which extend the reach of these minority languages beyond their native areas. Next n Free TV from Italy
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Spanish Free TV
position
Genre
free Galician TV
Position
Genre
19.2°E
Entertainment
Russia Today Español
19.2°E, 30°W
News
Televisión de Galicia
Solidaria TV
30°W
Entertainment
Position
Genre
TeleMadrid Sat
19.2°E
Entertainment
free portuguese TV
Telesur
19.2°E, 13°E, 30°W
Information
Kurios-TV
30°W
Religion
TVE Int’l
13°E
Entertainment
ManaSat
30°W
Religion
VIT
30°W
Fortune telling
Record Int’l Europa
28.5°E, 19.2°E, 12.5°W, 30°W
Entertainment
Free Catalan TV
position
Genre
Record News
12.5°W
News
Andalucía TV
19.2°E
Entertainment
Rede Int’l de TV
13°E, 12.5°W
Religion
TV 3 Cat
19.2°E
Entertainment
RTP Int’l
13°E
Entertainment
Canal Català TV
12.5°W
Entertainment
Religion
position
Genre
TV Canção Nova Int’l
13°E, 12.5°W
Free Basque TV ETB Sat
19.2°E
Entertainment
cable provider in Portugal – Zon TV Cabo provides satellite TV, phone and broadband services (and connected TV apps). Included in the various packages (from €10 a month, plus receiver rental) are the main Portuguese channels, a number of thematic ones, Portuguese international channels, a smattering of channels from elsewhere in Europe and South America, plus Zon’s own sports and film channels.
Meo Satellites: Hispasat 30°W
Aida
n Channel: Telecinco n On air: Sundays,
10pm CET n www.telecinco.es/ aida Sitcom Aida is huge in Spain. Airing on Telecinco (similar to our ITV1), the show has now finished its eighth season and has been commissioned for another four. First aired in 2005, Aida was a spin-off from another big hit, 7 Vidas (Seven Lives), a kind of Spanish Friends set in Madrid – that began in 1999. Aída García, one of the ever-changing characters in 7 Vidas, was given her own series in the same way as Frasier was spun off from Cheers. Aida Garcia is an earthy single mother and the stereotypical Spanish working-class woman. The series follows her life in Madrid, with her ageing mother,
ex-junkie brother, teen son, boyfriendhungry daughter (the audience has watched her, and her cleavage, grow), and the neighbours. It is a testament to the popularity of the show that for 60 episodes Aida has been without its main character and namesake. Carmen Machi, who played Aida, left the show in 2009 during Season 6, but Aida continued without Aida. The storyline was changed to send her to jail, more characters were brought in, including Aida’s eldest daughter and her child, Aida junior, and the laughs continued. And it seems that life outside Aida was not all that Machi hoped for; Telecinco has announced that she is returning for several episodes of season 9, which starts in September.
Encryption: Nagravision 3 Channels: 89 SD, 7 HD Website: www.meo.pt Meo is a relative newcomer to Portuguese satellite, expanding out of Lisbon cable TV. In competition with Zon, ironically, Meo is also from Portugal Telecom. Meo distributes the main Portuguese channels plus mostly Portuguese versions of international channels via satellite, broadband and fibre, and bundles broadband and phone with TV in packages from (TV only) €10 a month plus receiver rental. September 2011 What Satellite & Digital TV 3