América TV
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América TV (call sign LS 86 TV) is an Argentine television station broadcasting on channel 2 in La Plata, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, and one of Argentina's five national television networks. It is owned by
Grupo América Grupo América, formerly known as Grupo UNO Medios, and also known as the Vila-Manzano Group, is a multimedia company in Argentina created by the Mendoza entrepreneurs Daniel Vila and the ex-politician and businessman José Luis Manzano. Is one of ...
. América TV maintains studio facilities and offices located in
Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
neighborhood of
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
; its transmitter is located in the
Florencio Varela Partido Florencio Varela is a partido in the south of Gran Buenos Aires urban area in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. The partido has an area of and a population of 423,992 (). Its capital is Florencio Varela. Name The partido is named in honour o ...
, Buenos Aires Province. Outside of the province, América is available on cable nationally, and its programs are rebroadcast by two broadcast stations owned by Grupo América— Channel 7 Mendoza and Channel 8 San Juan—plus two affiliates in Junín and Tucumán.


History


1966: Founding

Channel 2 in La Plata was launched on 25 June 1966 as ''Tevedos'', under the ownership of Rivadavia Televisión S.A., whose owners also had several radio stations and the now-defunct El Mundo daily newspaper. La Plata is close in proximity to Buenos Aires, and the two cities can receive each other's television broadcasts. This geographical reality led Tevedos to target the much larger media market of Argentina's capital. But with transmission facilities in Florencio Varela to the south, northern portions of the metropolitan area couldn't receive an adequate signal. This stood in contrast to the other four stations in Buenos Aires, which had their transmitters located in the city proper.


1970–76

In the early 1970s, trouble continually plagued the channel, stemming from its technical disadvantages. The ratings for Argentinian television were measured in Buenos Aires, and its comparatively poor signal could not offer the same coverage as its four competitors. Comedians joked about the station's small 7% market share by dubbing it "James Bond", a pun of his "007" codename. To lower costs, it began airing cheaper programs, even simulcasting Canal 13 at times.


1976–87: State ownership

In 1976, the Province of Buenos Aires expropriated the station, and in 1979, it was transferred to the provincial level Ministry of Economy. That same year, the station became known as simply Canal 2 (channel 2). Colour broadcasts, which began in 1980, the same year as national station Channel 9, made it the third station to switch to colour broadcasting and the first TV station outside Buenos Aires itself to do so. After the fall of the dictatorship and return to democracy in 1983, a bid was hurriedly opened for companies wanting to purchase the station. Radiodifusora El Carmen S.A. won the license, but it took four years for the company to find a partner with the technical capacity to run the station. Finally, in December 1987, El Carmen partnered with Héctor Ricardo García, owner of the '' Crónica'' newspaper, and his company Estrella Producciones S.A., and with the new owners came a new brand: Teledos.


1987–91: Teledos, a crisis and Tevedos

Within a month, Teledos, now Argentina's second private television channel, rocketed to second place in ratings, leaving behind the station's long cellar dweller past. Teledos had taken a tight second, just ahead of Canal 13, but behind the ratings monster that was Alejandro Romay's Canal 9, which still brought in double the viewership. Newer and fresher hosts, forgotten by the state-owned ATC, channel 11 and channel 13, headed up a refreshed outlet with a heavy emphasis on news and current affairs programming with ''Teledos Noticias'' as flagship. The resurgence, however, would not last long. The shareholders in El Carmen were in bitter legal disputes, which boiled over in November 1988. García promptly pulled all of his programming and left. A crisis now emerged, as Canal 2 was left with very little programming to air. The ''TV Guía'' publication proclaimed the situation as a ''tormenta''. Without studio space of its own, the station had to record its newscasts three hours in advance and drive the film by car to its La Plata transmitter, for there was no connection between the Buenos Aires facilities it was using and its own physical plant. By the end of the year, a new name had emerged: Tevedos returned. However, the precarious financial state that the channel was in led to bankruptcy reorganization in 1989, out of which Eduardo Eurnékian, owner of the Cablevisión cable system and several radio stations in the capital city, bought the channel and incorporated it into his new multimedia group, Corporación Multimedios América.


1991–2002

On April 15, 1991, Tevedos was rebranded as América Te Ve, but Eurnékian's biggest change would be in facilities. In 1994, what was now known as América 2 moved its studios—and, more importantly, its transmitter—to the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, improving its terrestrial reception and becoming the first of the major Argentine broadcasters to possess digital television equipment. The next year, the channel was again rebranded as América Televisión (or just América). Eurnékian pulled out of his multimedia ventures during the 1990s; in 2000, the station became part of a group controlled by Carlos Ávila and his family. Ávila had created
Torneos y Competencias Torneos y Competencias S.A. (abbreviated TyC, also referred as Torneos) is an Argentine sports communications firm created by businessman Carlos Ávila, associated with Jose Santoro, and Héctor Dayan. It is an important force in the world of Arge ...
, the longtime rights holder to Argentine soccer and producer of other sports events. Under Ávila, América's programming would have a strong emphasis on sports and news.


2002–present

In 2002, a major economic crisis almost carried the channel into bankruptcy; the Ávila family connected América to the
Grupo América Grupo América, formerly known as Grupo UNO Medios, and also known as the Vila-Manzano Group, is a multimedia company in Argentina created by the Mendoza entrepreneurs Daniel Vila and the ex-politician and businessman José Luis Manzano. Is one of ...
multimedia company, and after a reorganization, the station was able to emerge from bankruptcy and maintain its license, despite a strong challenge mounted by Héctor Ricardo García. In 2005, two of the most popular programs on the network moved to Canal 13 after the program ''Televisión Registrada'' invited a guest who had been charged with bribing the Argentinian Senate. The station's news director apparently refused to allow the program to air, and as a result, both ''Television Registrada'' and ''Indomables'' left América. In that same year,
Francisco de Narváez Francisco de Narváez Steuer (born 22 September 1953 in Bogotá), known as El Colorado or Pancho, is a Colombian-born naturalized Argentine businessman, politician who ran for governor of Buenos Aires Province on the Unión PRO ballot in the 200 ...
bought a majority stake in the channel. Currently, América occupies fourth place in the ratings, slightly behind Canal 9 in the competition for third place. In 2015, América TV broadcast its first Reality Show: Gran Hermano
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
2015. It also has subsidiary channels of Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile.


Digital terrestrial television


Subchannels


Rebroadcasters

América TV is rebroadcast on the following translator stations: It was previously broadcast on channel 71 at
Lezama Lezama is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It is home to the training headquarters of the football team Athletic Bilbao, and is accessible by bus - Bizkai ...
.


References


External links


Official site

App Android America TV en vivo
{{DEFAULTSORT:America TV Television networks in Argentina Television stations in Argentina Television channels and stations established in 1966 Spanish-language television stations Mass media in La Plata Grupo América