Star HD, TVE’s new HD International Channel starts on Monday 18th January its emission in America with a programming which include successful series and entertainment in Spain, such as ‘Isabel’, ‘Águila Roja’ (Red Eagle) and ‘El Ministerio del Tiempo’ (The Ministry of Time).
18 january 2016
This year, RTVE celebrates its 25th anniversary with the launching of TVE’s HD international channel: Star HD. It is a theme channel addressed to the American public and whose schedule will be composed of nationally and internationally successful entertainment programmes.
After a testing period, this Monday 18 January Star HD’s emissions start. This channel adds to the other two existing ones which can be watched outside our frontiers, TVE Internacional and the Canal 24 Horas.
During the launching of this new international theme channel in FesTVal at Vitoria, the Director of Strategy and Image of TVE, Mª José Bultó, explained that Star HD “will complement TVE Internacional and the Canal 24 Horas. While TVE Internacional is generalist, this new one will be themed and centred around entertainment and fiction, she added.
“It is about selling emotions, sharing what we do in Spain with our programmes and series with the Americans “, appointed Mª Jesús Pérez, deputy director of TVE’s International Sales, who believes this new channel’s audience will reach 400 million people.
Image source: img.rtve.es
Star HD’s programming will include those series which have reached higher audience rates in our country as well as those awarded in several international competitions.Fictions such as Isabel, whose emission rights have been bought by 90 countries; La señora; Gran reserva; Los misterios de Laura; and Águila roja, which is currently in its eighth.
“Isabel marked a before and an after for us. Wherever you present Isabel, people recognise its quality. It has opened up many doors for me”, explained Rodolfo Domínguez, TVE’s marketing director.
Llikewise, El ministerio del tiempo, the latest Spanish historical fiction greatly considered by the critics and which has created a solid fabase, was also exported to the American continent.
Star HD started its test period last August with eight hours of programming in a row. During this time, the emission of RTVE’s new channel was done via free-to-air satellite. For the first semester of 2016, the signal will be coded -just as TVE and the Canal 24 horas- and distributed through different American paid televisions.
Regarding the possibilities of exporting this channel to other countries and continents, Domínguez appointed that “the degree of acceptance of the international channel is way higher than we tend to think over there. The greatest potential is that of America due to linguistic reasons, but we will see how it goes, because the international channel’s level of penetration in Europe is also very high”, added the marketing director.
