Asociación de Televisoras de Centroamérica y Panamá (
Spanish: Association of Television Companies of Central America and Panama, abbreviated ATELCAP) was a pan-regional broadcasting alliance composed of television channels from five Spanish-speaking Central American nations and Panama.
ATELCAP was founded by a group of five businessmen who each owned one television station per country, and subsequently became members by default: José Antonio Mourra (owner of
Trecevisión) from
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
; Boris Eserski (owner of
Telecorporación Salvadoreña) from
El Salvador
El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
; Rafael Ferrari (owner of
Canal 5) from
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
; Octavio Sacasa (owner of
Televicentro from
Nicaragua; and Fernando Eleta Almaran (owner of
RPC Televisión) from
Panama, who together acted as presidents. Through their collaborative efforts, the owners of the channels bought imported content together and used the microwave network supplied by telecommunications company COMTELCA that was shared between the countries. Thanks to the network, the member channels provided a variety of international content to the viewers in the individual markets.
As of October 1987, the network consisted of the following members:
*
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
:
Canal 3,
Televisiete,
Teleonce,
Canal 13
*
El Salvador
El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
:
Telecorporación Salvadoreña (channels 2, 4 and 6)
*
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
:
Televicentro (channels 3, 5 and 7
*
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
: Canal 2,
Telecentro,
Teletica
Televisora de Costa Rica S.A., known as Teletica is a Costa Rican television broadcaster, founded in 1958. It operates Teletica Canal 7, XperTV Canal 33, and, since 1991 (partially since 2018), CableTica (now called Liberty).
History
In October ...
*
Panama:
TVN,
RPC Televisión, Panavisión/Telecinco (defunct),
Telemetro
Telemetro is a television network headquartered in Panama City, Panama, with repeaters throughout the country. The station broadcasts in NTSC format and in Panama City also in DVB-T format. In 1996 Telemetro and RPC TV merged and formed Corporaci ...
[ATELCAP pide a Nicaragua devolver estaciones de TV; Latinoticias (El Salvador), October 28, 1987]
Nicaragua had been suspended at the time because the channels Sacasa owned (2 and 12 and their respective relayers 7 and 5) had been usurped by the state in 1979, forming
Sistema Sandinista de Televisión. Per a session held in San José, and following the Esquipulas II agreement, ATELCAP demanded the return of the channels to their rightful owner, enabling the country to enter the network.
Both Televicentro and the
state channel of Nicaragua joined ATELCAP in 1992, in order to combat piracy of international television content, stemming from the rise of satellite dishes.
On December 1, 2006, ATELCAP and ASDER held a joint forum for the then-incoming arrival of digital terrestrial television in the region, and what should be done at the long term. It was suggested that the countries would adopt the ATSC format.
It is unknown when exactly did ATELCAP shut down; up until October 2022, the ID of the association was played on the
sign-on and sign-off routines of the three TCS networks, before it was removed when TCS unveiled a new national anthem video.
References
External links
ATELCAP ID
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asociación de Televisoras de Centroamérica y Panamá
Television in El Salvador
Television in Guatemala
Television in Honduras
Television in Nicaragua
Television in Costa Rica
Television in Panama
Television organizations based in South America