Televisió de Catalunya (, known by the acronym TVC) is the public broadcasting network of Catalonia, one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain.
It is part of the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals, a public corporation created by the Generalitat de Catalunya by a Founding Act in 1983. Slightly more than half of its revenue (52%) comes from public funding through the Generalitat de Catalunya, while the remaining 48% is raised through advertising, sponsorship and merchandise and original productions' sales. It is officially composed by five channels: TV3, 33/SX3, Esport3, 3CatInfo and TV3CAT.
While the main language of all these channels is Catalan, Spanish is usually neither sub-titled nor dubbed, as it is generally accepted that all Catalan speakers are by default also Spanish speakers. Some programmes such as Polònia and APM use Spanish extensively, largely for effect. In the Aran Valley, there are programs in Aranese.
TVC headquarters are located in Sant Joan Despí, near Barcelona.
History
thumb|Scale model of Televisió de Catalunya's headquarters in the [[Catalunya en Miniatura.]]
TV3 started its trial broadcasts on 11 September 1983 on the National Day of Catalonia, but its regular broadcasts started a few months later, on 16 January 1984. TV3 was the first television channel to broadcast only in Catalan. In 1985, TV3 expanded its coverage to Andorra, Northern Catalonia and the Valencian Community. One year later, TV3 inaugurated its new headquarters, a 4.5-hectare facility in Sant Joan Despí, near Barcelona.
Since 1985 and until 2011, TVC's channels were also available in the Valencian Community thanks to transmitters run by volunteers from Acció Cultural del País Valencià. This transmission ceased in 2011 when the Generalitat Valenciana ordered its termination.
TV3CAT is available worldwide via its online TV service "3alacarta".
The TV3CAT signal is carried by cable operators: Ono, Movistar Plus, Euskaltel, Freebox, Digi TV, Kabel BW, Evrotur, Sofiacable and Cable Mágico. It was previously broadcast via satellites Astra (in Europe) and Hispasat (in Europe and the Americas).
Channels
TV3
TV3 is TVC's first and main channel. A generalist channel, it broadcasts news and entertainment programmes, as well as fiction series and movies. In February 2011, it began simultaneous broadcasting in high definition (HD). On January 16, 2024, the HD signal completely replaced the standard definition (SD) signal, broadcasting exclusively in HD.
33
TVC's second channel, El 33 is a cultural channel. Its programming consists of cultural programmes, documentaries and debates. Until 2011 and the creation of the sport channel Esport 3, it also broadcast sport events and programmes.
Originally called Canal 33, in 2003 it underwent a restructuring that split it into two channels that shared the same frequency: 33 and K3.