Canal Uno

Canal Uno (Spanish: "Channel One") is the first Colombian national television channel. It started 13 June 1954 on Channel 8 in Bogotá. It is state-owned, operated by Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia, and privately-run, with programming companies known as programadoras bidding for time slots with the Colombian state.

In 1963 it became operated by Inravisión (until then, it was operated by the Radiodifusora Nacional de Colombia); later it would move from Channel 8 to Channel 7 in Bogotá. Until 1966, when private local channel Teletigre went on air, the then Canal Nacional was the only television channel in Colombia.

In 1972 it became the Primera Cadena ("First Network") since Teletigre's successor, again in state hands, became a national channel. In the 1980s it would become Cadena Uno ("Network One", sometimes spelled Cadena 1) and acquired its current name 1 January 1998.

Since July 1998, when private channels Caracol TV and RCN TV (formerly programadoras) started operations, ratings for the state-owned channels Canal Uno and Canal A steadily dropped, severely affecting the programadoras, which one after other declared bankruptcy or became merely production companies for Caracol TV and RCN TV. Canal Uno was less affected than Canal A, which became Canal Institucional, a state-controlled channel, in February 2004. RTI Colombia, the only programadora remaining on Canal A, was moved to Canal Uno and stood there until 2008.

As of 2009, Colombiana de Televisión, NTC Televisión, CM&, Jorge Barón Televisión and Sportsat are the programadoras which fill the time slots on Canal Uno.

See also

• Canal A
• Television in Colombia

External links

• (Spanish) Official website
• (Spanish) Colombiana de Televisión
• (Spanish) Jorge Barón Televisión
• (Spanish) Sportsat
• (Spanish) CM&