Telemadrid
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Telemadrid is the first autonomous television station of Madrid and the fifth national station, after those of Catalonia, Euskadi, Galicia and Andalusia. It is affiliated with FORTA since its inception, and it is a public channel that belongs exclusively to the autonomous government of Madrid. It began its broadcast on May 2 of 1989, in Madrid. Since then, the programming has been dominated by educational programs directed towards the population of that region. Since Madrid is the capital of the country, it puts special emphasis on national political information.
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[edit] First years
During the first years of its life, Telemadrid occupied the buildings of the Agencia EFE, where it suffered a terrorist attack without victims, which it covered live on its own channel. On March 11, 1997, they celebrated the opening of their current location, in the Ciudad de la Imagen, in Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid. The building, which was called "special interest" on World Architecture Day in October of 1997, holds all of the the production centers for the radio-television entity.
The programming of Telemadrid has always revolved around the lives of Madrilenians, focusing on information, sports, children's programming, and series and movies. Some of their shows have been exported to other autonomous regional television stations, and even to other national television stations like "Buenos días, Madrid" or "Madrid Directo". During its lifetime, it has featured such shows as "La banda de Telemadrid", "Cyberclub", "Top Madrid", "Todo Madrid", "Gran Vía", "Fútbol es fútbol", and "En acción". Currently, the lineup of the station is made up of more than eight hours of information in many different formats: "Telenoticias", "Círculo a primera hora", "Alto y claro", "Diario de la noche", "Sucedió en Madrid", "En pleno Madrid", "Mi cámara y yo" y "Telenoticias sin fronteras". In addition, the station, has always broadcast sports ("En acción", "Madrid se mueve", "Fútbol es fútbol" and the national league - until 2006) and it has broadcast bullfighting programs and information.
[edit] The Digital Era
The year 2001 marked a turning point in the history of the Ente Público Empresarial. Telemadrid became the first autonomous television station to utilize DTT. After a year in tests, on March 19th, 2001, the President of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, inaugurated the broadcast of laOtra, a second autonomous channel exclusively for the DTT system. During its first years it focused on programs of cultural content, suggesting a new model of television with new formats, focused on music, literature, art, and modern sociopolitical movements. The principal programs were "Básico", "Central de sonidos", "Traslucúa", "De formas", "Otras entrevista", "Otra gente", "Uno más" and "La vieja ceremonia", among others.
Nevertheless, this second channel suffered a restructuring in 2006, when it began broadcasting in analog format. Since then, the old content of laOtra began to share airtime with reruns of the primary channel and with newscasts, sports, and childrens' shows. The analog broadcasting set the national and autonomous administrations at odds on several occasions, since laOtra began its analog broadcast without the permission of Spain's Ministry of Industry, who oversees the allocation of broadcast frequencies, and to whom the station had gone on previous occasions to obtain a license. The broadcast emissions were found to have originated from the facilities of a water company, Canal de Isabel Segunda, politically linked to the Community of Madrid. As of September 2006, Telemadrid faces a fine of one million euros and the cancellation of laOtra if in fact it is considered just under Spanish law.
Many believe that this sanction hurts the Madrilenians when compared with the citizens of other autonomous communities who already have two channels broadcast in analog format, like Euskadi, Andalusia, Valencia, or the Canary Islands, and even three, as in the case of Catalonia. Others by contrast believe that Telemadrid did not follow appropriate procedure and that consequently it should accept the closure of the channel.
[edit] Telemadrid today
Since the political opposition, the bias in newscasts on the channel has been criticized, being useless for autonomous government, which to this moment (end of 2006) has driven a labor-based conflict. The autonomous Community of Madrid attributes the protests to partisan interests. Several labor unions announced new movements at the end of 2006.
