Telecaribe is a regional

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or multichannel video programming distributo ...

for the

Caribbean region The Caribbean region of Colombia or Caribbean coast region is in the north of Colombia and is mainly composed of 8 departments located contiguous to the Caribbean.Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

History

The station was set up in the early 1980s in

Valledupar Valledupar () is a city and municipality in northeastern Colombia. It is the capital of Caesar Department. Its name, ''Valle de Upar'' (Valley of Upar), was established in honor of the Amerindian cacique who ruled the valley; ''Cacique Upar''. ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and was created by a local entrepreneur named Jose Jorge Dangond. It started as an unlicensed TV station and as a personal hobby with aficionado equipment brought from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, transmitting American

movie A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

s and local

vallenato Vallenato () or "Szlager" in Wayuu language (from the German "Schlager"), is a popular folk music genre from Colombia. It primarily comes from its Caribbean region. ''Vallenato'' literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing th ...

musical groups, including first versions of the

Vallenato Legend Festival The Vallenato Legend Festival ( es, Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata) is one of the most important musical festivals in Colombia. The festival features a vallenato music contests for best performer of accordion, caja vallenata and guacharaca ...

. Dangond's family and friends in Valledupar nicknamed it ''Televallenato'' or ''Rope TV,'' because all the antennae and equipment were attached with ropes onto one of the highest buildings in the city. By 1986 the Colombian Ministry of Communications detected the channel's signal and seized all the equipment. Dangond then started a legal battle to legalize the channel, which developed into a congressional proposal to create regional TV channels for every region of Colombia. Thus were born Telecaribe, Teleantioquia, Telepacífico, and other regional TV stations. On this same year (on April 28), the station formally became Telecaribe, and the main equipment and studios were then moved to

Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of Atlántico Department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean Coast region; as of 2018 it had a population of 1,206,319, making it Col ...

where it continued to develop and cover the entirety of Colombia's Caribbean region by setting up franchises or

TV stations A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...

in the seven major cities of this region. Dangond was its founder and first director for almost 6 years before he was appointed consul general in Venezuela. TELECARIBE is the third national TV channel most watched in northern Colombia. Since 2018, Telecaribe took over the broadcast rights to the

Miss Colombia Miss Colombia (Formally ''Concurso Nacional de Belleza de Colombia'', English: ''"National Beauty Contest of Colombia"'') is the national beauty pageant organization in Colombia. The current Miss Colombia is Sofía Osío Luna of Atlántic ...

pageant from former broadcaster

RCN Television RCN may refer to: * ''Radio Cadena Nacional (disambiguation)'', a broadcast network in Colombia ** RCN Radio ** RCN TV * RCN Corporation (formerly Residential Communications Network), a cable television, telephone, and Internet service provider in ...

. While being a nationally owned regional broadcaster, its cable and digital coverage nationwide enables it to broadcast the event on all platforms (including online).

References

External links

Official Site
Spanish-language television stations Television networks in Colombia Mass media in Valledupar Mass media in Barranquilla {{Colombia-tv-stub