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Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) was a Venezuelan television network headquartered in Caracas. It is sometimes referred to as the Canal de Bárcenas. Currently owned by Empresas 1BC, RCTV was founded on November 15 1953 by William H. Phelps. Its radio counterpart is Radio Caracas Radio.
On May 27 2007, the Venezuelan government took the channel off the air by denying the renewal of its broadcasting license, which President Hugo Chávez said had tried to undermine his government. It was replaced by the state-sponsored channel, TVes.
Radio Caracas Television was launched by Radio Caracas Radio (previously known as Radio Caracas) on November 15, 1953. It was the third television network to begin operations in Venezuela (Televisora Nacional, channel five, was the first and Televisa, channel four, was the second). The following day, on November 16, 1953, El Observador Creole, Venezuela's first regular television news service, went on the air. Later, El Observador Creole changed its name to El Observador Venezolano and eventually, this would become El Observador. Theatrical works were part of RCTV's original programming. They included titles such as Kaleidoscopio, Anecdotario, Teatro del Lunes, Gran teatro, Ciclorama, Cuentos del Camino, and Candilejas were broadcasted.
The first ever live televised broadcast of an international sporting event was a game played between Cuba and Venezuela during the World Cup of Baseball in late 1953. In 1954, RCTV introduced El Show de las Doce, one of the first variety programs in Venezuela, which was conducted by Víctor Saume. Guest stars on this show included Pedro Infante, Libertad Lamarque, Magdalena Sánchez, and Cherry Navarro, to name a few. The first television soap opera (telenovela) to air in Venezuela was RCTV's Camay in 1954. It starred Hilda Vera and Luis Salazar and came on at 9pm. Since then, telenovelas have been a very important part of RCTV's programming. Throughout the 1950s, telenovelas contained between 20 and 25 epidodes, were on 15 minutes a day (about three of those for advertisements), and were televised live.
In early 1955, RCTV began service exclusively to Caracas on channel two from a new transmitting station located in the Caracas neighborhood of La Colina. By July, RCTV began regular service to other parts of Venezuela from two repeator stations located in Altamira and south of the Lake Valencia (enabling RCTV to be seen in the cities of Valencia and Maracay on channel seven). Later, RCTV began service in the Falcon State, Netherland Antillies and Aruba on channel 10 from a repeator station located in Curimagua. In January 1957, RCTV made improvements to this repeator station. RCTV also began service to the Zulia State from the Isla de Toas and to the Lara State from mount Manzano in Barquisimeto. On October 31, RCTV began service to the northeastern region of Venezuela on channel three from a repeator station located in Puerto la Cruz.
In 1958, RCTV began airing La Voz de la Revolucion, the first political opinion show to air in Venezuela. In 1959, Tito Martinez Del Box, a producer from Argentina, brought to RCTV La Gran Cruzada del Buen Humor, which later became Radio Rochela. This program made the Guinness World Records for being on the air for five decades uninterrupted (it is currently seen every Monday at 8pm).
In the 1960s, the videotape system appeared in Venezuela, meaning that all shows no longer had to be made live and could be edited for content. In 1961, RCTV began experimenting with stereo sound during a variety show with the help of Radio Caracas Radio. In that same year, a fire partially destroyed RCTV's studios in Caracas.
In 1962, RCTV began service to the Tachira State and the Norte de Santander Department in Colombia from El Zumbador. In 1964, RCTV built a new transmitting station on the mountains located to the southeast of Puerto la Cruz and Barcelona to offer a better service to the Isla de Margarita, Cumaná, Barcelona, Puerto La Cruz, and other towns in the Sucre and Anzoátegui States by way of channel three. Later, RCTV inaugurated a transmitting station on Pico Terepaima, south of Barquisimeto, that introduced higher quality service to the Lara, Yaracuy, and Portuguesa States on channel three. In November, from Pico Zamuro, in Trujillo, RCTV began service to the towns of Trujillo, Valera, Biscucuy, Boconó, and Guanare. On May 16, 1965 RCTV began service to the Venezuelan Andean region from a transmitting station located at the Mérida cable car.
Telenovelas went to lasting 15 minutes a day to between 30 to 60 minutes a day during this decade. Also, telenovelas with sole sponsors disappeared in the year 1964 with the telenovelas La Novela del Hogar (which came on a 2pm), La Novela de Pasion (which came on at 2:25pm), and La Novela Romantica (which came on at 2:55pm). La Tirana (1967, created by Manuel Muñoz Rico), was the first telenovela to be aired on Saturdays. On July 21, 1969, RCTV was one of the only television stations that transmitted, live, direct, and exclusively the first visit to the moon by humans. Until then, this was perhaps the most extraordinary event seen on television in the world.
RCTV broadcasted the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, which was the first World Cup seen live and exclusively in Venezuela. In 1972, RCTV began selling the rights of some of their programs to other television stations in other countries. Today, RCTV claims that some of their shows can be seen in more than 60 countries and dubbed in more than 20 languages. The three hundred episode telenovela, La Usurpadora was RCTV's first telenovela seen in a different country.
On August 30, 1973, RCTV inaugurated a transmitting station in Punta de Mulatos, between La Guaira and Macuto, that offered a better signal in the region. On June 23, 1974 RCTV began service to Ciudad Bolívar on channel three, and in June to Puerto Ordaz, on channel two. Doña Bárbara, based on the novel written by Rómulo Gallegos, was RCTV's first color production. It was adapted for television by Jose Ignacio Cabrujas with Marina Baura as the title role. This production was the first Venezuelan program that was broadcast in Europe. It should also be mentioned that 80% of the telenovela was filmed outdoors.
On March 31, 1976, RCTV is shut down by the government for 72 hours for a report that they did on the kidnapping of the American businessman William Niehous.
Radio Caracas Televisión founded the Fundacion Academia Nacional de Ciencias y Artes de Cine on November 15, 1978.
In the year 1981, RCTV officially began color transmissions. In Venezuela, the NTSC color system is used. During the first years of the 1990s, RCTV developed a series of made-for-TV-movies. Some were based on non-fictional and fictional events. Among these included: La Madamme (with Mimí Lazo), Cuerpos Clandestinos (with María Conchita Alonso), Volver a ti (with Ruddy Rodríguez), and Buen Corazón (with Coraima Torres).
By 1992, RCTV had lost much of its audience to its main rival, Venevisión, but after the launch of Por Estas Calles, RCTV became by far the number one television station in Venezuela in terms of rating. This resulted in Venevisión to cancel its contract with Marte TV (Channel 12; now La Tele), and as a result Marte TV nearly entered bankruptcy. On November 15, 1999, RCTV had been on the air for a total of 16,000 days. During RCTV's 50th anniversary week, in November 2003, segments of past shows and old newscasts were aired. On 18 July 2005, Empresas 1BC president Marcel Granier and RCTV president Eladio Larez inaugurated El Observador's new headquarters, the Centro Nacional de Noticias.
In Venezuela, as in many other countries, reality shows have become very popular. They include ¿Quien Quiere Ser Millonario? (the Venezuelan version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?), Fama y Aplausos (later Fama Sudor y Lagrimas, similar to American Idol), and Date con Todo, the competition of Bailando con las Estrellas (Dancing with the Stars) on Super Sabado Sensacional (Venevisión).
RCTV was affiliated with Telemundo, the North American Spanish-language television network owned by NBC, Caracol TV, and Ecuavisa. On December 15, 2006, Tu Tienda RCTV, a gift shop which sells various products containing the logo of RCTV, ¿Quien Quiere Ser Millonario?, and RCTV's new telenovela, Te Tengo en Salsa, opened in the Recordland at the Sambil Mall in Caracas.
El Observador was RCTV's news program. It broadcasted three times a day, except for Sundays, when it only came on during important events such as an election.
Aside from the fact that some of RCTV's programs could be seen in other countries on various channels, RCTV, together with Globovisión, had created TV Venezuela, a premium subscription channel available to those with a DirecTV service.
On December 28, 2006, President Chávez announced that the government would not renew RCTV's broadcast license, which expired on May 27, 2007, therefore forcing the channel to cease operations on that day.[1] The government maintains that the non-renewal is caused by RCTV's support for the 2002 coup attempt against the democratically elected government of Chávez.
The Supreme Tribunal ruled on April 17 that it is within the National Telecommunications Commission's power to decide on the issuing, renewal and revocation of broadcast licenses.[2] RCTV may continue broadcasting over cable or DTH systems (DirecTV Latin America) when its license expires, but the government will take over the equipment, studios and even the mastercontrol for their use in the new station it has created on May 27 2007. On May 24, the Supreme Tribunal ordered RCTV to stop broadcasting as soon as its license expires and approved the government's take over of all of its equipment and stations, though it would review the station's appeal of the decision. Chávez plans to start broadcasting a public service channel, TVes, using this infrastructure which belonged to RCTV. [3]
Venezuela's Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) ruled that RCTV's broadcasting equipment must be available to TVes. The ruling also ordered the military to guard the equipment. This allows TVes to be available in the same locations where RCTV used to broadcast.[4]
The final program airing on RCTV Sunday was an all day/night retrospective tribute to the network, featuring some if not all of the stars and staff of RCTV.
On Saturday, May 26, RCTV shut down its live internet stream in preparation for its forced close-down on Sunday, May 27.
As of May 28 at 0400 UTC, RCTV has ceased to broadcast, being replaced by TVes.
The government accuses the network of participating in the 2002 failed coup d'état that briefly overthrew Venezuela's democratically elected government. RCTV argues that no trial has been made that links the network to the coup attempt.[5]
RCTV also disputes that the channel's license expires in 2022 and not in 2007. The government assures that a 1987 decree during Jaime Lusinchi's presidential term, gave RCTV a 20-year license, while the network claims that the failure of the National Telecommunications Commission to issue an administrative authorization by June 12 2002, automatically granted the channel a 20-year license renewal. The government rejected this interpretation, stating that the turning of licenses into administrative authorizations did not mean a license renewal, just a census of broadcasters.[5]
According to Venezuelan poller Datanálisis, in April 2007, 13% of Venezuelans agree to deny the license to RCTV, while 70% reject the government's decision. [6] Several rallies were made, both in favor and against the government's decision. One rally in favor took place in Caracas on May 21 2007 with "thousand of protesters."[7] On May 25 2007, university students from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, the Universidad Simón Bolívar and the Universidad Central de Venezuela protested against the government's intentions.[8][9]
Many individuals, international organizations and NGOs — including the OAS's Secretary General José Miguel Insulza[10] and its Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression,[11] the Inter American Press Association,[12] and the Committee to Protect Journalists[13] — have expressed concerns for freedom of the press.[14] However, Secretary Insulza said it was up to Venezuelan courts to solve this dispute and that no country had addressed this issue at the OAS Permanent Council.[15]
RCTV has been criticized by Hugo Chávez's government and supporters for its role in the attempted coup of April 11 2002 and the December 2, 2002 to February 4, 2003 general strike (during which free advertisements for the opposition were broadcast by privately owned TV stations including RCTV). On the afternoon of April 11, 2002, RCTV interrupted a speech made by Chávez to broadcast a shooting that was taking place at an opposition march. Over the next couple of days, the private networks supported Pedro Carmona's interim government, which dissolved the National Assembly and suspended the Constitution. As the coup began to collapse due to popular pressure to restore Chavez to power, RCTV conducted a news blackout. RCTV workers were in the building while hundreds of Chavez followers took control of the area for more than eight hours.