Telefe

Telefe (acronym for Televisión Federal) is a television station located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The station is owned and operated by Paramount Global through Televisión Federal S.A.^[1] Telefe is also one of Argentina's six national television networks. Its studios are located in Martínez, Buenos Aires, adjacent to the corporate headquarters;^[3] its transmitter is located at the Alas Building.^[4]

Telefe

"Siempre Juntos"
Country	Argentina
Broadcast area	Argentina Uruguay Paraguay
Affiliates	See list
Headquarters	Ave. Sir Alexander Fleming 1101, Martínez, Buenos Aires
Programming
Language(s)	Spanish
Picture format	1080i HDTV (downscaled to 576i for the SD feed)
Ownership
Owner	Paramount Networks Americas
Parent	Paramount Networks Americas (Televisión Federal S.A.)
Key people	Juan Acosta (Paramount Networks Americas CEO) Guillermo Campanini (COO)
History
Founded	21 July 1961; 63 years ago (1961-07-21) (first broadcast) 15 January 1990; 34 years ago (1990-01-15) (current branding)
Launched	March 5, 1990
Links
Website	mitelefe.com
LS 84 TV Canal 11, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Channels	Analog: 11 (VHF) Digital: 34 (UHF)
Programming
Subchannels	See article
Ownership
Owner	Paramount Networks Americas[1] (Televisión Federal S.A.[2])
History
First air date	July 21, 1961 (1961-07-21)
Technical information
ERP	150 kW
Transmitter coordinates	34°35′57″S 58°22′13″W

In areas of Argentina where a Telefe station isn't receivable over-the-air, it is available on satellite and select cable systems. Telefe also has regional stations across the country and an international network (Telefe Internacional) which is available in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Oceania.^[5]

History

First years (1957–73)

The history of Telefe stretches back to 1957, when a group of alumni and lawyers from the Colegio El Salvador led by Fr. Héctor Grandetti, founded the company Difusión Contemporánea S.A. (Contemporary Broadcasting S.A.). This company, known as DiCon for short, submitted a bid in the licensing of two new television channels in Buenos Aires, one on channel 11 and the other on channel 13. On April 28, 1958, DiCon won the license for channel 11.^[6]

Original plans to build the new station in the Colegio El Salvador facilities fell through. Eventually, facilities were secured, and Canal 11 launched from its first headquarters in San Cristóbal, Buenos Aires. The station finally launched on July 21, 1961, at 8:58 p.m. under Teleonce.^[7]

Financial problems forced the station to seek a backer, which would turn out to be ABC from the United States. ABC and DiCon formed Telerama S.R.L., a group that allowed DiCon to upgrade and expand its studio facilities.^[8]

During its first decade, Teleonce aired shows like Música en el Aire, Cosa Juzgada, Tato Siempre en Domingo, El Reporter Esso, Radiolandia en TV, Operación Ja Ja and No Toca Botón.^[9]

Through the 1960s, the family-oriented programming of the channel could not compete successfully against Canal 9 and did not have great financial backing like Canal 13. On October 17, 1970, businessman Héctor Ricardo García took over the station and changed the profile of the station, for an audience betting on news and more popular programming, adopting the slogan "El canal de las noticias" ("The News Channel"). Under García, Teleonce would climb to the top of the Argentine television ratings.^[9][10]

State-run era (1974–88)

After the licenses expired on October 8, 1973, changes began as the government took control of the news departments of channels 9, 11 and 13. Jorge Conti was named administrator and took over hosting duties for the newscast and other programs.^[11] This was followed on September 26, 1974, with the expropriation of the three networks making Conti the administrator again.^[12][13] This continued under the military dictatorship of the National Reorganization Process, with the Argentine Air Force co-administering the channel with Conti, who remained lead newsreader, and the channel was renamed as Canal Once.^[14][15]

In 1979, with the arrival of colour television looming and facilities upgrades needed to allow colour recording and broadcasting, the state bought the Canal Once plant from García, who had continued to own it, thus becoming a 100 percent nationally owned network.

The 1980s started with the introduction of colour telecasts on May 6, 1981, but the decade would become turbulent in the legal system. Twice under the dictatorship, a request for bids was issued. On August 19, 1982, the first one received no offers; the second, on October 25, 1983, would result in Canal Once being handed back to García. When Raúl Alfonsín became President of Argentina, among his first acts in office, was to nullify the transfer of Canal Once to García, leaving it in the hands of the state for another six years.

Privatization (1989–98)

As the 1980s began to close, financial problems and hyperinflation brought Canal Once to its breaking point. The energy crisis that helped bring down Alfonsín's presidency had forced massive cuts in broadcast hours in Buenos Aires; with the ability to broadcast only four, later eight, and ultimately ten, hours a day, and amidst the already rough economic backdrop, Canal Once teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. The closure of the station was being batted around at this time. However, salvation came when Carlos Menem announced that he would seek bids to privatize two of the state's three remaining Buenos Aires stations, Canal Once and Canal 13.^[16] One of the groups participating in this bidding process was Televisión Federal S.A., a group whose stakeholders were headlined by Editorial Atlántida as a group of privately owned television stations from across the country.^[17]

Telefe's arrival into the 1990s was signalled with the debut of its iconic RGB circles logo with the station name in white in them.

In December 1989, Arte Radiotelevisivo Argentino S.A. (Artear), a subsidiary of Grupo Clarín, won the bidding for Canal Once and Canal 13. Artear chose the latter, and Televisión Federal took control of Canal Once as principal owners effective January 15, 1990. After 16 years of state management, the station was back in the hands of the private sector, and after a decade of branding as Canal Once, the new branding of Telefe, an acronym of the new ownership's name, debuted on March 5 the same year. During the first weeks of the relaunched channel, the Telefe brand mirrored the blue and white of the Flag of Argentina (blue name on a white screen). That logo was later replaced by the three-circles logo used till the present.^[18]

Telefónica era (1999–2016)

In 1999, Telefónica acquired ownership of Telefe and its eight owned-and-operated stations; that same year, Telefe launched an international signal aimed at viewers outside of Argentina. It also retained Telefe over Azul Televisión when it bought the latter in 2002. The Federal Broadcasting Committee (COMFER in Spanish) later forced Telefónica to sell off its involvement in Azul Televisión.^[19][20]

With Gustavo Yankelevich (and after 1999, Claudio Villaruel) directing the channel's output, and with the introduction of satellite broadcasts nationwide, Telefe took to an unprecedented 20-year streak atop the Argentina ratings. It logged ratings wins in every year between 1990 and 2009, acquiring the rights to The Simpsons, Formula 1 racing and the franchise for Big Brother.

In 2010 and 2011, under the direction of Marisa Badía, Telefe lost its number one position in the ratings — which had not happened since just after the privatization of the station — to then-perennial runner-up El Trece. In 2012, however, another change in management, this time to Gustavo Yankelevich's son Tomás, and shows like Graduados, Dulce amor and Pekín Express helped Telefe return to the top of the rating list.

Acquisition by Viacom (2016–present)

On November 3, 2016, it was reported that Viacom had won a bid to acquire Telefe.^[21] It also made Telefe a sister to Channel 5 in the United Kingdom.

In December 2019, Viacom re-merged with CBS Corporation, forming ViacomCBS (currently known as Paramount Global) and making Telefe a sister to CBS in the United States, and Network 10 in Australia.^[22]

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel	Video	Aspect	Programming
34.1	1080i	16:9	Main Telefe programming
34.31	240p	4:3	Main Telefe programming (mobile version)[23]

Current programming

Verónica Lozano – host of the talk show Cortá por Lozano.

Andy Kusnetzoff – host of the talk show PH: Podemos Hablar.

Alejandro Wiebe, also known as Marley – host of reality show Por el Mundo.

This is a list of programs currently being broadcast by Telefe, with their years of debut in brackets.

Original programming

Drama

Main article: List of Telefe telenovelas and series

Comedy

• Casados con Hijos (2005; reruns)

Talk shows

• A la Barbarossa (2022)^[24]
• Ariel en su Salsa (2022)^[24]
• Cortá por Lozano (2017)^[25]
• La Peña de Morfi (2017)
• PH: Podemos Hablar (2017)^[26]

Reality/non-scripted

• Gran Hermano (2001)^[27]
• Juego Chino (2022)
• Pasapalabra (2021)
• El Último Pasajero (2022)^[28]

News programming

• Buen Telefe (2017)^[29]
• El Noticiero de la Gente (2017)^[29]
• Staff (2017)^[29]
• Telefe Noticias (1990)
• #TT: Tiempo y Tránsito (2019)^[30]

Acquired programming

Drama

• Bir Zamanlar Çukurova (as Züleyha) (2021)^[31]
• Bizim Hikaye (as Amor de Familia) (2022)^[32]
• Génesis (2022)

Comedy

• The Simpsons (1991)

Children programming

All of the acquired children programming has been included under the Finde en Nick programming block since 2017.^[33]

• Alvinnn!!! and the Chipmunks (2017)^[33]
• Blaze and the Monster Machines (2020)
• Dora and Friends: Into the City! (2017)^[33]
• The Loud House (2020)
• Paw Patrol (2017)^[33]
• Shimmer and Shine (2017)^[33]
• SpongeBob SquarePants (2020)

Affiliates

The network currently has four owned-and-operated stations and current affiliation agreements with other television stations.

Owned and operated

All of the owned-and-operated stations (except LRK458 TV) joined Telefe in April 1998, after Editorial Atlántida acquired a majority stake of the former Televisoras Provinciales.^[34] LRK458 TV (later known as Telefe Tucumán and now known as Elocho TV) was the last to join Telefe in March 2000.^[35]

Province	City of license	Station	Branding[36]	Channel
				Analog	Digital
Buenos Aires	Bahía Blanca	LU80 TV	Telefe Bahía Blanca	9	—
	Mar del Plata	LRI486 TV	Telefe Mar del Plata	8	—
City of Buenos Aires	Buenos Aires	LS84 TV	Telefe	11	34
Córdoba	Córdoba	LV85 TV	Telefe Córdoba	8	29
Neuquén	Neuquén	LU84 TV	Telefe Neuquén	7	—
Salta	Salta	LW82 TV	Telefe Salta	11	—
Santa Fe	Rosario	LT84 TV	Telefe Rosario	5	38
	Santa Fe	LT82 TV	Telefe Santa Fe	13	30

Affiliates

Province	City of license	Station	Branding	Channel		Owner
				Analog	Digital
Tucumán	San Miguel de Tucumán	LRK458 TV	Elocho TV	8	—	Televisión Litoral S.A.
Jujuy	San Salvador de Jujuy	LW80 TV	Canal 7	7	36	Radio Visión Jujuy S.A
Mendoza	Mendoza	LV83 TV	Canal 9 Televida	9	28	Cuyo Televisión S.A. & Los Andes

Logos

1990–present	2019–present

References

1. "Viacom compra Telefe a Telefónica por US$345 millones de dólares" (in Spanish). Telefe.com. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
2. "Registro de Señales: Telefe" (in Spanish). Ente Nacional de Comunicaciones. Archived from the original on 6 March 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
3. "VIACOM INAUGURÓ NUEVO EDIFICIO CORPORATIVO EN BUENOS AIRES". Newsline Report (in Spanish). 24 April 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
4. Cayón, David (18 March 2011). "Telefe comienza a transmitir en digital terrestre". El Cronista (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 21 March 2011.
5. "TELEFE INTERNACIONAL AMPLÍA SU COBERTURA A TRAVÉS DE DIRECTV". Total Medios (in Spanish). 3 September 2009. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020.
6. "Legislación y Avisos Oficiales – Decreto Ley 8039/1959" (in Spanish). Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina. 24 July 1959. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
7. Curubeto, Diego (23 July 2001). "Hace 40 años salía al aire "Canal 11", con los jesuitas". Ámbito Financiero (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 28 March 2020.
8. Eliades, Analía G. "Historia Legal de la Radio y la Televisión en Argentina" (PDF) (in Spanish). Faculty of Journalism and Social Communication, University of La Plata. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 June 2013.
9. "El canal Telefé festeja hoy sus primeros cuarenta años". Clarín (in Spanish). 21 July 2001. Archived from the original on 10 July 2020.
10. "Telefé cumplió 45 años". La Prensa (in Spanish). 22 July 2006. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016.
11. "Legislación y Avisos Oficiales – Decreto Ley 1761/1973" (in Spanish). Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina. 16 October 1973. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
12. "Legislación y Avisos Oficiales – Decreto Ley 919/1974" (in Spanish). Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina. 16 October 1973. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
13. "Aquel intento de modificar la realidad eliminando programas de televisión". Clarín (in Spanish). 13 September 2009. Archived from the original on 20 August 2017.
14. Blejman, Mariano (24 March 2002). "La noticia rebelde". Página/12 (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 25 May 2009.
15. "Los canales de la década del 60". El Día (in Spanish). 17 October 2011. Archived from the original on 14 June 2018.
16. D'Espósito, Leonardo M. (17 October 2011). "Sesenta años de la TV argentina: del vivo y directo a la vida en directo". Diario BAE (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 19 October 2011.
17. López, Gustavo (21 November 2012). "El caso Telefónica". Infobae (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 28 November 2012.
18. "¡Se cumplen 30 años de nuestra primera transmisión!". Telefe.com (in Spanish). 5 March 2020. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020.
19. "Telefónica avanza en el control de Atlántida". La Nación (in Spanish). 1 December 1999. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
20. "Telefónica deberá vender canales de TV". Clarín (in Spanish). 29 November 2001. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019.
21. "Viacom to Buy Telefonica's Telefe for About $400 Million". Bloomberg. 3 November 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
22. "CBS and Viacom To Combine" (PDF). CBS. 12 August 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2019.
23. Vercelli, Ariel (30 August 2011). "La TDA Argentina y los contenidos para dispositivos móviles" (in Spanish). Télam. Archived from the original on 30 April 2013.
24. "Con Georgina Barbarossa y Ariel Rodríguez Palacios, Telefe renueva sus mañanas" (in Spanish). Télam. 8 June 2022.
25. "El esperado regreso de Vero Lozano a la pantalla chica". Clarín (in Spanish). 25 November 2016. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020.
26. Fazio, Florencia (14 July 2017). "Andy Kusnetzoff: "Un buen contenido sirve para cualquier plataforma"" (in Spanish). Télam. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
27. "Regresa Gran Hermano: cuándo se estrena y quién será el conductor". Ámbito Financiero (in Spanish). 3 March 2022.
28. Montagna, Pablo (18 March 2022). "Vuelve El último pasajero a Telefe, ¿con una expareja a cargo de la conducción?". La Nación (in Spanish).
29. "TELEFE RENUEVA TODAS LAS EDICIONES DE SUS NOTICIEROS". Total Medios (in Spanish). 4 September 2017. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017.
30. Daniel Roggiano [@droggiano] (16 March 2019). "Arrancamos en #Lunes18 a las 6:45 #TT en @telefe " (Tweet) (in Spanish) – via Twitter.
31. "Telefe presenta su nueva ficción turca "Züleyha"". télam (in Spanish). 24 January 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
32. "AMOR DE FAMILIA, SE ESTRENA ESTE MIÉRCOLES POR TELEFE". TotalMedios (in Spanish). 13 September 2022.
33. ""NICK JR" LLEGÓ A LA PANTALLA DE TELEFE". Total Medios (in Spanish). 9 January 2017.
34. "EDITORIAL ATLANTIDA ACQUIRES TV CHANNELS". Telecom Paper. 14 September 1998. Archived from the original on 14 December 2014.
35. "Telefé adquirió Canal 8 de Tucumán". La Nación (in Spanish). 27 March 2000. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020.
36. "TELEFE UNIFICA LA IDENTIDAD VISUAL DE SUS SEÑALES DEL INTERIOR". Total Medios (in Spanish). 21 November 2018. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019.

External links

• Official website (in Spanish)
• Telefe International Archived March 21, 2019, at the Wayback Machine