Euskal Telebista
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| Type | Broadcast Television Network |
|---|---|
| Country |  Spain |
| Founded | by EiTB Group |
| Broadcast area |  Basque Country |
| Owner | EiTB Group |
| Launch date | May 20, 1982 |
| Website Official Site |
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ETB (also EiTB) is short for Euskal Irrati Telebista (Basque Radio-television), the name of the Basque Country's public broadcast service.
The EiTB group is the leading media group in the Basque Country with four television channels and five radio stations. Their channels are also broadcast in Navarre, and people in nearby territories such as Burgos (in Castile and León), Cantabria, Huesca (province) and Zaragoza (province) (in Aragon), La Rioja, and Pyrénées-Atlantiques (in France) can also get the signal. It has been running since 1982 and during this period it has established itself as a major media organization, connecting with more than a million people every day. The majority of EiTB's broadcasts deal with local news and entertainment.
On May 20th 1982 the Basque Parliament unanimously approved the law that set up Euskal Irrati Telebista and on November 23rd, the television channel Euskadi Irratia started broadcasting. EiTB, for its part, reached Basque households at midnight on December 31st 1982 with a presentation by the Basque Lehendakari Carlos Garaikoetxea and its programmes were regularized, starting from February 16th in the following year. At the time about 30 people worked in the ETB centre in Iurreta to provide programmes exclusively in Basque.
Several years later, ETB-2 commenced operations on 31 May 1986. This channel broadcasts in Spanish, and at the present time it has a further two international channels. Following an agreement between Sogecable and EiTB, 87 million households all over Europe have been able to pick up ETB Sat from the ASTRA satellite since May 2001. It may be picked up via Sogecable's Digital Plus satellite-TV service throughout Spain. The EiTB Group’s fourth television station is Canal Vasco, a medium specifically geared towards America, where it reaches viewers through American DTH and cable companies.
Following the implementation of Digital terrestrial television, the Basque government allowed EiTB to create two new digital television channels. [1] The first one, which is expected to start broadcasting on 2008, will offer programming for children and youngsters in Basque. The second will be a bilingual news channel. [2].
The EiTB group also has five radio stations with more than 300,000 listeners every day - Euskadi Irratia, Radio Euskadi, Radio Vitoria, Euskadi Gaztea and Radio EiTB Irratia respectively. Radio EiTB Irratia began broadcasting in June 2001 and mainly offers music and cultural events of general interest.
[edit] References
- ^ Autorizan a ETB a crear dos nuevos canales TDT. diariovasco.com
- ^ ETB pondrá en marcha un tercer canal de TDT y establecerá las bases de un cuarto en 2008 DEIA
EiTB's own account of its founding and broadcasts
[edit] External links
- Official Site (Basque) (Spanish) (English) (French)
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