Canal 13 (Argentina)

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**Canal 13 (Artear Argentina)**

Type	Broadcast Television Network
Branding	Canal 13
Country	Argentina
Availability	National
Slogan	"Estás en casa" ("You are at home")
Owner	Grupo Clarín
Launch date	October 1, 1960
Website www.canaltrece.com.ar

Canal 13 is an Argentine television network.

LS85 TV, Canal 13 Buenos Aires began its transmissions in 1960. The station was licensed to Proartel S.A., owned by Cuban Goar Mestre, the United States network CBS and the Time Life company. By the mid-1960s, Editorial Atlántida bought CBS and Time-Life stocks, and the station started to compete strongly with the other two privately owned broadcasting channels of Buenos Aires. They too, underwent a similar process of nationalization.

In those years the station produced some of Argentine television's greatest ever hits: shows such as Viendo a Biondi, a humor show centered on Pepe Biondi's characters; La Familia Falcón, with the renown Argentinian actor Pedro Quartucci, La Tuerca, a humor show based on sketches, and the great success of Telecataplúm, starring an innovative group of Uruguayan comedians.

In 1974, Perón's government nationalized Canal 13 along with the other two private-owned stations of the nation's capital, supposedly with the aim of carrying out a European-style media policy, where television was monopolized (or almost) by the state. When the armed forces took power in 1976, the station administration was surrendered to the Navy, a situation that lasted until 1983, when democratic rule was re-established. The station, however, remained under public administration until 1990. From that era, Matrimonios y algo más, a weekly sitcom directed by Hugo Moser and starred by Hugo Arana and Gianni Lunadei among other great Argentine actors, is widely remembered by the audiences.

In 1991, after privatisation, Canal 13 went to Arte Radiotelevisivo Argentino S.A., a company popularly known as Artear. Its major shareholder is the company that publishes the daily newspaper "Clarín". Since then, the station has remained second on ratings in Buenos Aires, occasionally rising to first place. In the ´90s the station attracted young audiences with popular weekly sitcoms such as Ruleta Rusa, La banda del Golden Rocket and Clave de Sol. This shows are still on air in Volver, a cable station owned by the same company which broadcast Argentinian TV classics.

Since 1996 the station works in association with the independent production company Pol-Ka, owned by the actor Adrián Suar, who in 2002 became programming manager of the station.

Pol-Ka produces diverse fictional shows for the station, being notable in recent years Gasoleros, Campeones, Son Amores, Padre Coraje and Sos mi vida, among others. Canal 13 leads TV rating polls since popular mc Marcelo Tinelli was hired to produce his shows at the station. His hiring caused some controversy and former Canal 13 star Mario Pergolini left the station together with his longtime sidekicks Juan Di Natale and Eduardo de la Puente. Suar and Tinelli switched the middle to upper class profile of Canal 13, aiming to a broader audience. They successfully aired programs such as Showmatch and the local version of Dancing with the Stars, Bailando por un sueño.

Canal 13 hosts some of the most popular TV stars and journalists in Argentina such as Santo Biasatti, Enrique Macaya Márquez, Roberto Pettinato, Marcelo Bonelli, Maria Laura Santillán and the late Jorge Guinzburg.

Programs made for Canal 13 are broadcast throughout Argentina by other local TV stations.