TVE 2 (Spain)

La 2 (, ''The Two'') is a Spanish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by Televisión Española (TVE), the television division of state-owned public broadcaster Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE). It is the corporation's second television channel, and is known for broadcasting cultural and public service programming, including documentaries, concerts, theatre and independent, Ibero-American and classic cinema.

It was launched on 15 November 1966 as the second regular television service in Spain right after TVE's first channel launched on 28 October 1956. As TVE held a monopoly on television broadcasting in the country, they were the only television channels until the first regional public television station was launched on 16 February 1983, when Euskal Telebista started broadcasting in the Basque Country. Commercial television was launched on 25 January 1990, when Antena 3 started broadcasting nationwide.

As it started broadcasting on UHF frequencies the channel was initially simply referred to as "UHF". It received other names, such as "Cadena II", "Segunda Cadena", "Segundo Programa" or "TVE-2" until it adopted its current name "La 2" (''La dos'') during the 1990s. Its headquarters and main production center is Prado del Rey in Pozuelo de Alarcón with some programmes produced in TVE's production center in San Cugat del Vallés. Although almost all its programming is in Spanish and is the same for all of Spain, TVE has territorial centers in every autonomous community and produces and broadcasts some local programming in regional variations in each of them in the corresponding co-official language.

History

Creation of 'The second channel' (UHF)

In the 1960s, the Spanish minister of Information and Tourism, Manuel Fraga Iribarne, decided that Televisión Española should start broadcasting a second television channel on UHF frequencies, following other European broadcasters that did the same. On 1 January 1965, TVE's second television service was launched in Madrid as a test broadcast, with programming limited to 4 hours at night that consisted on musical slots and re-airings of TV shows from Primera Cadena, mostly '' Telediario'' newscasts and ''Estudio 1''.

Regular broadcasts were started on 15 November 1966. TVE started producing original programming for the channel, mainly produced at the broadcaster's headquarters in Barcelona. UHF's first director was Salvador Pons Muñoz. In its first years, the channel could only be received on Madrid, Zaragoza and Barcelona, cities in which the UHF technology was implemented; it only aired at night and not all TV sets could tune in to. Most TVs couldn't receive UHF broadcasts, so an UHF decoder was needed.

As TVE's strategy evolved into turning the first channel into a generalist channel, niche programming was moved to UHF. Under the Salvador Pons administration, the second channel received artists from the country's Official Film School ( es, Escuela Oficial de Cine), such as Claudio Guerin, Pedro Olea or Antonio Mercero, people who would use the channel as a test zone to air alternative programming, such as documentaries or fiction shows. There was a high share of cultural programmes, like classical music blocks or theatre slots.

1970s

During the 70s, the channel's programming was restricted to air at night (from 20:00 to 00:00), with an extension in the weekends. Coverage reached the main cities of Spain, but although TVE pointed out that only "three years" would pass before UHF could be tuned in all Spain, the second channel could not get it until 1982. For this reason it was not strange that successful programs in the UHF passed to the first channel.

The UHF station continued to develop a minority programming, with a strong cultural emphasis, which did not compete directly with TVE-1. In addition to documentaries, theater broadcasts and dramas, the second channel also was at time broadcasting sports events and educational programming. At that time, the second channel was colloquially dubbed "el canalillo."

During the Spanish transition, the programming of the second channel received a small boost. In January 1976 debuted the program of debate ''La Clave'' (1976-1985), which addressed current issues from different points of view, something very complicated during the Francoism, preceded by a film related to the subject. Another important program was ''A fondo (In depth)'' (1976-1981), a talk show presented by Joaquín Soler Serrano

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