La 1 (Spanish TV channel)
La 1 is a Spanish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by Televisión Española, the television division of state-owned public broadcaster RTVE. It is the corporation's flagship television channel and is known for broadcasting mainstream and generalist programming, including Telediario news bulletins, prime time drama, cinema and entertainment, and major breaking news, sports and special events.
History
Overview
It was launched on 28 October 1956 as the first regular television service in Spain. It was the only one until 15 November 1966, when TVE launched a second channel. 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 ETB 1 started broadcasting in the Basque Country. Commercial television was launched on 25 January 1990, when Antena 3 started broadcasting nationwide.The channel was initially simply referred to as "Televisión Española" until the launch of its second channel in 1966. Since then it received other names, such as "Primera Cadena", "Primer Programa", "TVE-1", "TVE1" or "La Primera" until it adopted its current name "La 1" in 2008. Its headquarters and main production center is Prado del Rey in Pozuelo de Alarcón. 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, such as local news bulletins, in the corresponding co-official language.
On 1 January 2010, TVE stopped broadcasting commercial advertising on all its channels, with only self promotions, institutional campaigns and sponsorships allowed.
With analog service discontinued on 3 April 2010, it has only been available free-to-air through the digital terrestrial television ever since. La 1 and Teledeporte started their DDT HDTV resolution simulcasts on 31 December 2013, initially in 720p and later in 1080i. With standard-definition feed discontinued on 11 February 2024, the UHDTV regular simulcast in 4K resolution was launched nationwide.
Background
Before the creation of the current Televisión Española, Spain had experimental television broadcasts since as early as the late 1940s. Between 1 November 1950 and 1956, Radio Nacional de España held an experimental service from the Paseo de La Habana studios in Madrid, with coverage limited to the Madrid area and no less than fifteen television sets. In addition to live programs, on 24 October 1954 it aired the first live televised football match in Spanish TV history, between Real Madrid and Racing de Santander, with equipment borrowed from Marconi España. In December 1955, the bases were created for a new television organization, Televisión Española, through the approval of the National Television Plan.Inauguration of Televisión Española
Televisión Española started its regular broadcasts on 28 October 1956, from its studios located at Paseo de La Habana in Madrid. At launch, TVE was a government organ dependent on the General Directorate of Broadcasting and Television of the Ministry of Information and Tourism, which at the time was led by Gabriel Arias-Salgado. In this sense, RTVE's first director-general was Jesús Suevos, one of the founders of the Spanish Phalanx in Galicia, and the launch date was closer to its founding anniversary, which took place one day later.TVE-1's regular broadcasts began at 20:30, with the intervention of minister Arias Salgado and TVE's director. It was followed by a religious ceremony which blessed the studios in honor of Saint Clare, patron saint of television. It was then followed by a musical interlude, NO-DO documentaries, regional dances by Coros y Danzas de la Sección Femenina, and a piano concert. The inaugural broadcast ended shortly before midnight. As there were no videotaping systems in place at the time, those first minutes are not in the channel's archives, relying only on the images captured by NO-DO. Gabriel Arias Salgadopronounced the first words:
Today, 28 October, Sunday, day of Chirst the Lord, to whom all power has been granted to Heaven and Earth, marks the inauguration of the new equipment and studios of Televisión Española.
The inauguration could only be received in a few areas of the Spanish capital, though the press highlighted that it could be seen sixty kilometers away from Madrid. Few people had a television set, which at the time cost 30 000 pesetas, a high cost for the time. There were only 600 television sets, which were mostly offers to high executives of Franquism on behalf of their respective ministries.
Since the beginning, Televisión Española was known for rejecting the idea of being financed using a license fee, unlike what happened in other European countries, such as the United Kingdom or Italy. The group developed a mixed financing system, based on the General State Budget and advertising. However, the first television commercial did not air until 1957, in the form of a sponsor from Westinghouse. For this reason, TVE's programming was seriously limited. In its early months, its airtime was reduced to three hours, from 21:00 to midnight. The television service was interrupted in the summer of 1957, going on vacation, but viewer protests caused TVE to refuse repeating this idea in the following year. Although in 1957 a television tax "based on the size of the screen" was suggested, the plan was quickly removed.
Development of television
Over time, Televisión Española improved its programming with the arrival of new formats, such as game show Preguntas al espacio presented by Laura Valenzuela, the first known face of national television. Its most important event took place in September 1957, when the network imposed its own news services under the name Telediario. TVE previously depended on NO-DO, the newsreel which was projected before movies in cinemas during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Broadcasts were expanded to cover the afternoon, from 14:30 to the mid-afternoon, later returning in the evening. The first commercial breaks were also included, which joined the sponsorship agreements and became the primary source of revenue. Despite everything, the number of television sets continued to be low, with no less than 12 000 receivers.Most programs were produced live from the Paseo de La Habana studio, mostly music shows and drama works. The facilities had a 100-square meter set and programming was controlled by the state. The first recorded programs only arrived in 1958, with the airing of the US series Sea Hunt. This was later followed by I Love Lucy and Perry Mason. The series arrived from South America with dubs made in Puerto Rico and Mexico; TVE only hired local dubbing studios from the mid-1970s.
In February 1959, test broadcasts in other Spanish cities began, through a network of relayers. On 15 September, the Miramar studios in Barcelona —RTVE Cataluña— were inaugurated, beoming the second city to receive TVE's signal. One month later, a high-power relay was installed at Alto de Guarramillas at Sierra de Guadarrama, which amplified the coverage radius to all of Castilla. Relay stations were later installed one by one in subsequent years: Valencia, Zaragoza and Bilbao, Galicia and Seville, Murcia, and other provincial capitals. The network was completed in 1964 with the opening of a production center in the Canary Islands —RTVE Canarias— which was an autonomous operation until 1971.
At the time, TVE's first international links through the European Broadcasting Union, of which Radio Nacional was a member since 1955, took place, from the Miramar studios. The first event covered by the channel was the visit of US president Dwight D. Eisenhower to Spain. TVE's definitive entrance into the EBU's Eurovision network took place in December 1960, when it broadcast the marriage between Fabiola de Mora y Aragón with King Baudouin of Belgium. One year later, it took part in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time.
Consolidación de la primera cadena
Televisión Española's development was hampered by the paucity of television sets, such were imported and taxed for being luxury items. This situation changed from 1962, with the arrival of Manuel Fraga to the Information Ministry and the naming of Jesús Aparicio-Bernal as RTVE's general directors. The new direction gave impulse to the construction of the Prado del Rey studios, inaugurated on 18 July 1964 with the presence of Francisco Franco. The new facilties had larger sets and new technical equipment, improving the situation of television in Spain.Moreover, on 1 January 1965, TVE started testing its second television channel, which broadcast on the UHF band, hence the codename UHF. TVE moved alternative programs to the second channel, while making the first channel as a family-oriented generalist service. On the other hand, TVE-1 was the more accessible channel out of the two for the general population, because most television sets only picked up VHF signals and, to receive UHF signals, these sets required a UHF converter. VHF-UHF television sets were still scarce at the time.
Demand for television in Spain grew thanks to the success of presenters such as Laura Valenzuela or weatherman Mariano Medina, the football and bullfighting broadcasts, and the increasing amount of US-made television series. In 1964, the number of viewers finally surpassed one million, and to impulse the new technology, the government suppressed the luxury tax for each receiver, enabling them to be bought in quotas. In addition, places known as Teleclubes opened, which had a television set for smaller villages and brought the technology to distant areas of the country.
Finally, several events accelerated the consolidation of TVE and its first channel, due to its wide following. First came Spain's victory in the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest and the hosting of the event the next year, followed by the moon landings, commented by Jesús Hermida. Game shows such as Cesta y puntos, Un millón para el mejor or Un, dos, tres... responda otra vez and drama slots such as Estudio 1 also gained popularity. These developments enabled the multiplication of the amount of sets available, reaching four million in 1970.
During Juan José Rosón's period in front of RTVE, he aspired producing and airing quality products to improve the country's image abroad. Key examples included Historia de la frivolidad from Narciso Ibáñez Serrador and El Irreal Madrid from Valerio Lazarov.
On the other hand, TVE started airing in colour, on this channel, using the PAL system. The standard was introduced in 1969 and it technically enabled color braodcasting, even though TVE's infrastructure wasn't ready for that. The 1969 Eurovision Song Contest, produced by TVE in Madrid, was recorded with color cameras borrowed from the BBC for the Eurovision network, but in Spain, it was only seen in black and white, a version that is still preserved at the TVE archives. Between 1967 and 1972, some color programs were shot on film cameras, though occasionally, and facing the 1972 Summer Olympics there was a test broadcast. Finally, TVE's first regular color broadcast came in September 1972 with the premiere of the music show Divertido siglo. In 1973, a specific production area was built at the Prado del Rey studios, and color programes started increasing gradually until they occupied the entire schedule in 1978.