Live bullfights back on Spanish TV

Televisión Española is to air a 'short but symbolic' series of bullfights after new rightwing government took control of its board. Live bullfighting is returning to Spain's public broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) after six years of viewers being unable to watch, in real time, the last few minutes of a bull's life.

A fight at the bullring in Valladolid is set to be broadcast on 5th September, allowing bullfight fans to see half a dozen animals fought and killed on the sand of the city's arena.

The decision to show live bullfighting comes after the conservative People's Party (PP) of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy took control of the broadcaster's board and changed its senior management.
TVE will not pay the three bullfighters involved or the company that runs the Valladolid bullring, though it will bear the cost of setting up the multi-camera broadcast.Top matadors Julián López – known as El Juli – José María Manzanares and Alejandro Talavante have waived their royalties as part of a campaign to stop growing anti-bullfight sentiment that has already succeeded in getting the practice banned in the autonomous eastern region of Catalonia.

“TVE believes that the potential audience that might be attracted to this lineup is, in itself, a sufficient reason for broadcasting it,” a spokesman said. “This will be the first of a short but symbolic series of bullfights … which Spain's public television channel plans to programme,” TVE added.
bullfight1TVE pulled bullfighting from its schedules last year, saying it contravened its code of conduct for programmes before Spain's late evening watershed hour. Bullfights mostly start at 6pm or 7pm, falling into children's viewing hours and so raised issues of protecting children from the bloodshed. However, furious fans had accused the broadcaster of shunning a key part of Spanish popular culture. “This means that TVE, which belongs to us all, will deprive us of something that over the centuries has formed part of the cultural patrimony of many Spaniards, both of the political right and the left,” columnist Andrés Amorós wrote in the conservative daily ABC.

But Rajoy's PP, which swept to power in November, is involved in a controversial reform of the broadcaster and is accused of removing senior journalists who are seen as too leftwing.

The section preventing children from watching live bullfights was removed from its code of conduct earlier this year. “Management has acted accordingly,” a senior TVE source said.

TVE had not banned bullfighting completely, and continued to cover it on late night television and radio programmes devoted exclusively to what fans consider to be an art form – newspapers cover it in their arts pages.

Regular live broadcasts of the major bullfighting festivals from Madrid, Seville and elsewhere stopped in 2006, after TVE was priced out of the market by private broadcasters.

bullfighter“Now the bullfighting lobby seems prepared to do anything in order to bring live fights back to our public television channel, even if that means trampling over European Union television rules,” the Animalist party, which lobbies against bullfighting, said. TVE sources denied that any such rules were being broken.

Anti-bullfighting supporters are also raising the issue that ‘Spain’s National Art’ has been exempted from the IVA/VAT increase which comes into effect this Saturday, 1st September 2012. The IVA paid on other cultural tickets sees IVA rise from 8 percent to 21 percent. For Bullfighting it stays at the lower rate.

source: coastrider.net/component/content/article/46-headline/18087-live-bullfights-back-on-spanish-state-tv-

Can I get Spanish TV on Freesat in Spain?

Simply No.
Freesat is a UK TV service offering UK free to air channels.
You can also not get any Spanish TV hcannel on Sky TV in SPain either.
TVE International used to be the only Spanish TV channel on Sky TV , but that was removed last year.

Spanish TV - We can consider ourselves the world leaders in telebasura – trash TV

In Spain, reading levels are very low, educational failure very high and public contempt for culture colossal. However, not everything is lost: we can consider ourselves the world leaders in telebasura – trash TV. Broadcasters have a complete disregard for taste or decency, airing material unsuitable for children at all ours of the day, profiting from scandal and violence, exploiting sex in true macho style, practising trial by television and disseminating mumbo-jumbo and pseudoscience. The news is partisan and sensationalist, the language vulgar and advertising floods the schedules. But as long as audience figures rise, they're allowed to get away with it.

In fact audiences are glued to the screen: the average consumption of television in Spain in 2010 was 234 minutes per person per day.

It would be unjust to say that television in Spain is merely bad. Television in Spain is appalling. The stars of the schedule are sitcoms, whose pathetic acting and bargain basement scripts bely the gusts of canned laughter over every other line. There are reality shows that alienate the contestants as much as the viewers, and political discussions that are as extreme as they are biased. The only news items worthy of the name are transmitted by TVE, a public channel that, now that it has stopped showing advertising, is stimied by financial problems.

While TVE earned 63.5m euros less in 2010 than the previous year and closed its accounts with a loss of 48m euros, the private channels are earning money like never before. The income of Telecinco rose 30.3% during 2010, to 855.1m euros. At Antena 3 they "only" made a net return last year of 109.1m euros, an increase of 79.6% on 2009.

One main channel alone, Telecinco, holds 51% of advertising thanks to a merger of channels allowed last year by the National Commission of Competition. Less plurality, more profit: Telecinco is the channel of Belén Esteban, the ex-wife of a bullfighter crowned by the Spanish audience as the "queen of the people". The people of telebasura.


Javier Pérez de Albéniz blogs on Spanish television at eldescodificador.wordpress.com. English translation by Howard Rouse

sounrce: _http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/apr/01/critics-notebook-javier-perez-de-albeniz

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English Football Premier League - who has Rights this year (2010)? How to watch UK football in Spain?

A question often being asked at the moment...

Which broadcaster has the English Premier League International broadcasting rights for TV in Spain?

For Sky UK subscribers, Sky have also gained the return of the Monday Night Football. Only the saturday 530 kickoff will be omn ESPN.

In Spain, only D+ and GOLTV have the combined Premier League rights. EPL will no longer be shown on TVE 2 or Teledeporte.

Some other countries.

France - Canalsat
Number of games shown not yet known, based on current deal all Sky/ESPN games and 1 3PM game on Canal+ Sport and one on TPS Star.
French commentary only

Poland - Cyfra+
Number of games shown not yet known, based on current deal all Sky/ESPN games and 1 3PM game.
Polish commentary only

Spain - Digital+ / Gol TV Shared
Unknown number of games or how rights will be distributed between Digital+ and GOL TV
GOL TV not available on satellite
Digital+ show FA Cup with English commentary so should be the same for EPL.


Germany - Sky Deutschland
Up to 5 games per week, probably the same as this season.
Has English commentary.


Italy - Sky Italia
Probably the same as this season.
Has English commentary.


Holland - Sport1
Probably the same as this season, only 0 or 1 3pm game shown on satellite, all are on cable.
No English commentary.

Details not confirmed


Middle East - Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC)

Confirmed to have the rights for all 380 plus english football premier league matches. They will be available on ADMC channel on the Nilesat and Badr satellites located at 7west and 26 east respectivly.
According to their website, _www.admcsport.com/en, receivers with a built in 12 months subscription will be available, as will a seperate viewing card for others who wish to use their own Humax HD receiver.
English and Arabic commentary confirmed

Scandinavia - Medge Consulting

Rights in Norway sold to TV2 Sport
For Sweden, Finland and Denmark Canal+ has teamed up with TV4 to try and win the rights.


Danish broadcaster TV2 Sport is set to launch two new channels to air English Premier League soccer after it acquired the rights to the games last month.

For Greece, Nova is confirmed for the next three seasons starting 2010-11.

Modern Times Group, the international entertainment broadcasting group, today announced that it has extended its exclusive broadcasting rights to England’s Barclays Premier League in Bulgaria until the end of the 2012-2013 season.



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