We can't guarantee you'll find your favourite show on Spanish TV and radio, but it sure is a great way to learn the language. Here's a guide to what's on offer.

Television
Videos and DVDs
Radio

Television

Spanish television isn’t renowned for its quality, although it has improved in recent years and is probably not much worse than the ‘rubbish’ dished up in many other European countries.

In addition to terrestrial TV, satellite TV reception is excellent in most areas of Spain and is particularly popular among the expatriate community (not that much of its output is any better than Spanish TV).

Cable TV isn’t common in Spain compared with northern European countries and is subscribed to by just some 6 percent of the population. Digital TV is now available in Spain and is offered by two companies, Canal Satélite Digital and Viadigital, and will eventually allow hundreds of channels to be transmitted by satellite and cable.

Spanish radio (including many expatriate stations) is generally excellent and the equal of most other European countries. The government still has a major stake in public TV and its policy towards independent broadcasters is far from neutral, which was highlighted by a dispute over TV soccer rights and digital TV in recent years.

The standards for television reception in Spain aren’t the same as in some other countries. Due to the differences in transmission standards, television sets and video recorders operating on the British (PAL-I), French (SECAM) or North American (NTSC) systems won’t function in Spain, which, along with most other continental European countries, uses the PAL-BG standard. It’s possible to buy a multi-standard European TV (and VCR) containing automatic circuitry that switches between different systems.

Some multi-standard TVs also offer the North American NTSC standard and have an NTSC-in jack plug connection allowing you to play back American videos.

A standard British, French or US TV won’t work in Spain, although British TVs can be modified. The same applies to a ‘foreign’ video or DVD recorder, which won’t operate with a Spanish TV unless the VCR is dual-standard. Some people opt for two TVs, one to receive Spanish TV programmes and another (e.g. SECAM or NTSC) to playback their favourite videos or DVDs.

If you decide to buy a TV in Spain, you will find it advantageous to buy one with teletext, which apart from allowing you to display programme schedules, also provides a wealth of useful and interesting information. A portable colour TV can be purchased in Spain from around EUR 150 for a 36cm (14 inch) with remote control. A 55cm (21 inch) TV costs from around EUR 225 and a 62.5cm (25 inch) model from around EUR 360. Many TVs feature Nicam stereo sound, a high quality, digital TV sound system available in most areas of Spain. Digital widescreen TVs are also available and although still relatively expensive, prices continue to fall and start at around EUR 900.

It’s now difficult to rent a TV, video recorder or camera in Spain, even in resort areas and most furnished rental property comes equipped with a television. In any case, it’s cheaper to buy a TV in the long term, as you can buy a small portable TV for around EUR 150 and could easily sell it for at least half this amount if it’s no longer required.

TV stations

Most areas of Spain receive five channels with a standard external aerial, although those with an in-house ‘cable’ system may receive ten or more.

Spanish TV consists of a surfeit of moronic game shows (the staple diet of popular TV, although it isn’t obligatory to watch them), chat shows, football, basketball and bullfighting, although there are also excellent news programmes, documentaries, wildlife and history programmes.

Football reigns supreme in Spain, where TV companies pay a staggering sum to televise live football matches, which has had a significant effect on the restaurant trade (live matches are screened six nights a week). One thing you can be sure of, whatever is showing on one of the three main channels, a similar programme will be showing on the others (called counter-programming).

Dramas and sit-coms such as Hospital Central, Ana y Los 7, and Código Fuego are hugely popular and regularly top the audience ratings. Other popular programmes include Cuéntame cómo pasó (‘Tell me how it happened’, a drama recounting events in recent Spanish history starting from the 1960’s), Operación Triunfo (the Spanish version of ‘Pop Idol’ now into its second series) and Gran Hermano (‘Big Brother’, still extremely popular even after the fourth series).

Gossip programmes such as Corazón Corazón, Gente and Salsa Rosa are also widely followed, reflecting the Spaniards’ seemingly insatiable interest in other people’s lives. Popular current affairs programmes include Informe Semanal (La Primera) and Los Reporteros (Canal Sur).

Chat shows with a magazine-type format such as Sabor a ti (Antena 3) and Nadie es perfecto (Tele 5) are also popular and have largely replaced children’s programmes in the afternoon. Political satire has found a niche among the Spanish who regularly watch programmes such as El Guiñol and Crónicas marcianas. Television news (newscasters and presenters are well-known personalities), both domestic and international, is comprehensive and upbeat and contains regular items about the arts, e.g. ballet or opera.  

There’s generally no censorship on Spanish television and ‘sexy’ and risqué programmes are commonplace, particularly on the autonomous channels

The main Spanish TV stations are:

TVE: TVE (Televisión Española) was established as a state monopoly in 1956 and heavily censored under Franco. Although programmes are no longer censored, TVE remains government controlled and consequently, news and current affairs programmes can be heavily biased in favour of the party in power. Politicians frequently dispute this and walk out of the TVE ‘watchdog committee’. Despite increased competition, TVE remains Spain’s largest and most popular TV network with its two channels, La Primera and La2, claiming around 30 percent of viewers. La Primera places emphasis on light entertainment such as game and chat shows, music shows, comedy, soap operas, children’s shows, news and films, while La2 puts more emphasis on sports, live cultural broadcasts, regional shows, serials, documentaries and films. Not surprisingly, La Primera attracts around triple the audience of La2. Both TVE channels broadcast 24 hours a day.

Antena 3: Antena 3 went on air in January 1990 and is now mainly owned by Telefónica. Its output consists of fairly conservative programming such as game shows and ‘home-made soaps’ aimed at a family audience. Antena 3 regularly attracts around 20 percent of the TV audience (not far behind TVE).

Tele 5: Tele 5 claims to be Spain’s entertainment channel and broadcasts popular children’s programmes, highly popular ‘home-made’ soaps, blockbuster films and political satire. Tele 5 is the most independent of central government control among the Spanish channels and its news broadcasts are the least politically biased. However, in the near future this may no longer be the case since Tele 5’s largest share holder is now Mediaset owned by Silvio Berlusconi.

Canal Plus: Canal Plus (also sometimes written as Canal+) is modelled on the French station of the same name (although they have no connection) and much of its output (particularly evening films) is scrambled. Many films are fairly recent and are often screened with the original soundtrack and Spanish subtitles. It also shows National Geographic documentaries and live sports events, including Spanish first division and English Premiership soccer matches. It offers decoders to subscribers for a refundable deposit of around EUR 100 (special offers usually include this for free), a connection fee of EUR 30.02, plus a monthly subscription of EUR 24.97.

Regional Stations

There are regional channels broadcasting in the local language in the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia, and others in Andalusia (two channels), Madrid and Valencia. Most are controlled and sponsored by regional governments and serve as supplements to the national network (and most are deep in debt). Some municipalities also have their own local TV stations, which often serve as little more than a platform for the ruling political party in the town.

Expatriate TV

Television stations for foreigners no longer broadcast in Spain and the only option is Gibraltar television channel GBC (showing BBC programmes), which can be received in southern Spain, for which a decoder is necessary. However, there have been numerous complaints about poor reception and if you want English-language TV you’re better off with satellite TV.

Scheduling

Scheduling of programmes in Spain can be extremely ‘flexible’, with programmes often being shown half an hour earlier or later than scheduled and sometimes not at all.

All Spanish TV channels carry advertising and there’s a continuous battle for advertising revenue.

Although advertising time has increased considerably in recent years, advertising revenue has decreased. Advertising is pervasive and there’s even advertising during live sports events such as soccer matches (at the bottom of the screen) whenever the ball goes out of play (TV soccer is also obsessed with replays, which are often shown while play is continuing).

TV programmes are listed in all Spanish newspapers and in special TV guides such as TelePrograma (one of the best-selling publications in Spain). Some Spanish TV programmes are also listed in English-language newspapers and magazines, along with satellite TV programmes.

Digital TV

There are at present two companies offering this service within Spain, Canal Satélite Digital (902-110 010, www.csatelite.es), a sister company of Canal Plus, and ViaDigital (www.viadigital.es), owned by Telefónica. Canal Satélite Digital offers a complete package (including a subscription to Canal Plus Premium+Familiar) with over 40 channels for EUR 40.60 a month plus a refundable deposit of EUR 90.15 and EUR 7.99 monthly for the rent of the decoder.

ViaDigital offers a complete package (Paquete completo) with over 40 channels for EUR 37 a month plus a refundable deposit of EUR 30 and EUR 139.43 for the decoder (special offers usually include the decoder free). There are also ‘specialist’ channels such as Seasons for hunting and fishing fanatics and Canal Barça or Real Madrid for those who think football should be on all day, instead of just most of the day. These channels each cost around EUR 5 extra per month.

Satellite television

There are a number of satellites positioned over Europe carrying over 200 stations broadcasting in a variety of languages. Satellite TV has been growing apace in Europe in recent years, although most homes in Spain with satellite TV are owned by foreigners.

Although it wasn’t the first in Europe (which was Eutelsat), the European satellite revolution really took off with the launch of the Astra 1A satellite in 1988 (operated by the Luxembourg-based Société Européenne des Satellites or SES), positioned 36,000km (22,300mi) above the earth. TV addicts are offered a huge choice of English and foreign-language stations, which can be received throughout Spain with an 85cm dish. Since 1988 a number of additional Astra satellites have been launched, increasing the number of available channels to 64 (or over 200 with digital TV). An added bonus is the availability of radio stations via satellite, including the major BBC stations.

Among the many English-language stations available on Astra are Sky One, Movimax, Sky Premier, Sky Cinema, Film Four, Sky News, Sky Sports (three channels), UK Gold, Channel 5, Granada Plus, TNT, Eurosport, CNN, CNBC Europe, UK Style, UK Horizons, the Disney Channel and the Discovery Channel. Other stations broadcast in Dutch, German, Japanese, Swedish and various Indian languages.

The signal from many stations is scrambled (the decoder is usually built into the receiver) and viewers must pay a monthly subscription fee to receive programmes. You can buy pirate decoders for some channels. The best served by clear (unscrambled) stations are German-speakers (most German stations on Astra are clear).

BSkyB Television

You must buy a receiver a Videocrypt decoder and pay a monthly subscription to receive BSkyB or Sky stations except Sky News (which isn’t scrambled). Various packages are available costing from around £12 to around £35 a month for the premium package offering all movie channels plus Sky Sports. To receive scrambled channels such as Movimax and Sky Sports, you need an address in Britain. Subscribers are sent a coded ‘smart’ card (similar to a credit card), which must be inserted in the decoder to activate it (cards are periodically updated to thwart counterfeiters). Sky won’t send smart cards to overseas viewers as they have the copyright for a British-based audience only (overseas home owners need to obtain a card through a friend or relative in Britain). However, a number of satellite companies in Spain (some of which advertise in the expatriate press) supply genuine BSkyB cards, although you must pay a premium.

Digital TV was launched on 1st October 1998 by BSkyB in Britain. The benefits include a superior picture, better (CD) quality sound, widescreen cinema format and access to many more stations. To watch digital TV you require a Digibox and a (digital) Minidish, which can be purchased at a subsidised price by customers in Britain. Customers have to sign up for a 12-month subscription and agree to have the connection via a phone line (to allow for future interactive services). In addition to the usual analogue channels (see above), digital TV offers BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, plus many digital channels (a total of 200 with up to 500 possible later). Digital satellite equipment is offered by satellite companies throughout Spain.

Eutelsat

Eutelsat was the first company to introduce satellite television to Europe (in 1983) and it now runs a fleet of communications satellites carrying TV stations to over 50 million homes. Until 1995 they broadcast primarily advertising-based, clear-access cable channels. However, following the launch in March 1995 of their Hot Bird 1 satellite Eutelsat hoped to become a major competitor to Astra, although its channels are mostly non-English. The English-language stations on Eutelsat include Eurosport, BBC World and CNBC Superchannel. Other stations broadcast in Arabic, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish.

BBC Worldwide Television

The BBC’s commercial subsidiary, BBC Worldwide Television, broadcasts two 24-hour channels, BBC Prime (general entertainment) and BBC World (24-hour news and information). BBC World is free-to-air and is transmitted via the Eutelsat Hot Bird satellite, while BBC Prime is encrypted and requires a D2-MAC decoder and a smartcard, available on subscription from BBC Prime, PO Box 5054, London W12 0ZY, UK (bbcprime@ bbc.co.uk). For more information and a programming guide contact BBC Worldwide Television, Woodlands, 80 Wood Lane, London W12 0TT, UK (020-8576 2555). A programme guide is also available on the Internet (www.bbc.co.uk/ schedules) and both BBC World and BBC Prime have websites (www.bbcworld.com and
 www.bbcprime.com). When assessing them, you need to enter the name of the country (e.g. Spain), so that schedules appear in local time.

Videos and DVDs

Video and DVD films are popular in Spain and there are video and DVD rental shops in all towns. Video and DVD films are expensive to buy in Spain and there’s little available in English (Spanish video rental shops may have only a few English-language titles). However, there are English-language rental shops in the major cities and resort areas, where films can be rented from around EUR 3 per day for the latest films or three films for three days for EUR 6 (‘classic’ films) or three for EUR 8 (standard films). DVD format films can also be hired for EUR 3 per day.

If you aren’t a permanent resident with proof of your address, you usually need to pay a deposit, e.g. EUR 60 and show your passport. Rental costs can sometimes be reduced by paying a monthly membership fee or a lump sum in advance. If you have a large collection of SECAM or NTSC video tapes, you can buy a multi-standard TV and VCR, or buy a separate TV and video to play back your favourite videos.

VCRs cost from EUR 140 and DVD machines are increasingly lower in price with the cheapest models (allowing replay only) costing from EUR 120 and a DVD with recording facilities from EUR 1,000.

Radio

Spanish radio was strictly controlled during the Franco era and censorship didn’t end until 1978, since when there has been a huge growth in the number of stations. The Spanish are a nation of avid radio listeners and spend more time listening to the radio than they do watching TV (which is saying something). Spain has an estimated 35 million radios (for 40 million people) and radio has a regular average daily audience of 16 million people (much higher than in most other European countries).

There are numerous high-quality, public and private, local, regional, national and foreign radio stations in Spain. Among the most popular national radio stations are SER (consistently top of audience ratings), Radio Nacional de España (RNE), created under Franco in 1937, Cadena de Ondas Populares Españolas (COPE), owned by the church and the second-largest network of private stations) and Onda Cero. In the autonomous regions many stations broadcast in the local regional language. Most stations and networks broadcast on FM, rather than medium wave (there are no long-wave stations in Spain).

There’s a wealth of excellent FM stations in the major cities and resort areas, although in remote rural areas you may be lucky to receive one or two FM stations clearly. Spain has many excellent music stations playing mainly American and British pop songs, although relaxing classical or ‘easy listening’ music is rare. RNE 2 is one of the few stations to play classical music around the clock. As in all countries, Spanish radio stations plumb the depths to unearth their banal DJs, who babble on (and on) at a zillion words a minute in a secret language intelligible only to other DJs and teenagers (when you can understand Spanish DJs, you’re ready to go native).

English and other expatriate radio

There are English and other foreign-language commercial radio stations in major cities and resort areas (e.g. Central FM, Coastline Radio, ONDA Cero International, Global Radio and Spectrum on the Costa del Sol) where the emphasis is on music and chat with some news. Some expatriate stations broadcast in a variety of languages (not simultaneously!), including English, Dutch, German and various Scandinavian languages at different times of the day.

Unfortunately (or inevitably), expatriate radio tries to be all things to all men (and women) and not surprisingly falls short, particularly with regard to music, where it tries to cater for all tastes. However, it generally does a good job and is particularly popular among senior citizens. The main drawback of expatriate radio (and all commercial radio) is the advertising which is agonisingly amateurish, and which is also obtrusive and repetitive, and makes listening a chore. Some English-language radio programmes are published in the local expatriate press in Spain.

BBC: The BBC World Service is broadcast on short wave on several frequencies (e.g. short wave 12095, 9760, 9410, 7325, 6195, 5975 and 3955 Khz) simultaneously and you can usually receive a good signal on one of them. The signal strength varies depending on where you live in Spain, the time of day and year, the power and positioning of your receiver, and atmospheric conditions. The BBC World Service plus BBC Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are also available on the Astra (Sky) satellite. For a free BBC World Service programme guide and frequency information write to BBC World Service (BBC Worldwide, PO Box 76, Bush House, Strand, London WC2B 4PH, UK, ( 020-8752 5040). The BBC publish a monthly magazine, BBC On Air, containing comprehensive programme listing for BBC World Service radio, BBC Prime TV and BBC World TV.

Cable & Satellite Radio

 If you have cable or satellite TV, you will also be able to receive many radio stations via your cable or satellite link. For example, BBC Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, BBC World Service, Sky Radio, Virgin 1215 and many foreign-language stations are broadcast via the Astra satellites. Ask a satellite expert for advice regarding equipment and installation. Satellite radio stations are listed in British magazines such as the Satellite Times.

This article is an extract from Living and Working in Spain, by David Hampshire. Published by Survival Books.