Sociedad Gestora de Televisión Net TV, S.A. (Net TV Management Company) is a Spanish digital terrestrial television channel operator. The multiplex currently hosts two channels, Disney Channel and Paramount Network.

History

Sociedad Gestora de Televisión Net TV was formed in 2000 as a consortium between Vocento, Viaplus, Globomedia, Telson, and a series of additional minority stakeholders including Radio Intereconomía, Europroducciones and TF1 of France. It and Veo Televisión won concessions from the government of Spain in 2000, with Net TV receiving two DTT slots, expanding to four in 2005.[1] The main network, general entertainment Net TV, began broadcasting in 2001; in 2005, it was joined by a second new network, music video channel Fly Music.[2]

Vocento acquired a 48.5 percent stake in Pantalla Digital, which owned 26.24 percent of Net TV, from Avánzit in October 2003.[3]

2008: Enter Disney and Intereconomía

Net TV closed March 3, 2008, at which time it was ranked 26th among all TDT channels; Vocento's local TV channels continued to air some of its programs.[4] It was replaced by Intereconomía TV after Intereconomía bought a 25 percent stake; the change marked the channel's return to the digital lineup.[4]

Another major change in investors occurred that year when Dinamia sold its 20 percent share in Net TV to The Walt Disney Company. Fly Music—which was dead last in audience share, ranking 70th—remained on the air temporarily[4] until Disney Channel debuted on July 1, 2008.[5]

Expansion and contractions

After the Spanish government granted Net TV and other multiplex holders a full four channels in 2010,[6] two new channels launched in the span of a week on the Net TV licenses in September 2010: MTV and La 10, which had previously launched earlier that year as a brand for Vocento-owned local stations and moved entirely to its national slot. One year after launching La 10 nationally, on September 20, 2011, Vocento announced the channel would close due to poor viewership; it then reached a deal in January 2012 for Viacom to take over the slot, marking its second channel on Net TV.[7] Viacom took over in April 2012, launching Paramount Channel, a movie-oriented service making its worldwide debut in Spain.[8]

The Supreme Court of Spain ruled in December 2012 to void the government action that expanded Net TV's offerings from two to four channels, stating that the move was illegal as it did not award the channels by way of a public bidding process.[6]

In early 2014, in part as a result of this ruling, two Net TV channels ceased DTT broadcasts. On February 7, 2014, MTV left broadcast TV and became a pay channel on Canal+.[9] Six days later, Intereconomía—suffering from financial difficulties and the departure of several key presenters—announced that its channel would cease airing nationally, with broadcasts continuing in Madrid and Valencia, where it held its own concessions.[9] Vocento continued to be owed money from Intereconomía, which was placed into bankruptcy reorganization in 2015.[1]

The two services were replaced with a home shopping channel,[10] which ceased broadcasting on May 6, the day the court ruling was implemented and nine digital television channels closed.[11]

Paramount Channel became Paramount Network in 2018, making Spain the first country to use the new brand beyond the United States.[12]

Attempted partial sale to Viacom

After Intereconomía's bankruptcy liquidation, Vocento reached a deal to sell the company's former 25 percent stake to Viacom, which had also arranged to buy the share from Intereconomía directly prior to its bankruptcy.[13] However, in 2017, the Spanish government denied the proposed transaction for reciprocity reasons, since it determined that a Spanish company could not own 25 percent of a media outlet in the United States, where Viacom is based.[1] The move was read as a message from the government to keep television licenses in the hands of Spanish companies.[1] It also came as a surprise to many in the industry, particularly given then-recent actions in the United States to selectively allow increased foreign ownership in the broadcasting sector.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Cano, Fernando (July 31, 2017). "Moncloa deniega a Vocento la autorización para vender el 25% de su TDT a Viacom" [Moncloa denies Vocento authorization to sell 25 percent of its TDT to Viacom]. El Español (in Spanish). Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Un canal generalista y otro musical, la propuesta de Vocento para Net TV" [A general channel and a musical one, Vocento's proposal for Net TV]. ABC (in Spanish). November 26, 2005. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  3. ↑ "Vocento compra a Avánzit el 48,5% de Pantalla Digital por tres millones de euros" [Vocento buys 48.5 percent of Pantalla Digital from Avánzit for 3 million euros]. El País (in Spanish). October 16, 2003. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 "Vocento clausura su canal en la TDT" [Vocento closes its TDT channel]. Diario de Sevilla. March 6, 2008. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Disney Channel se verá gratis a través de la TDT" [Disney Channel will be seen for free on TDT]. Fórmula TV (in Spanish). May 28, 2008. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  6. 1 2 "El Supremo declara nulo el acuerdo por el que se repartieron los nuevos canales de la TDT" [The Supreme Court nullifies the agreement that divided up the new TDT channels]. RTVE. Europa Press. December 11, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Vocento cierra La 10 y alquila la frecuencia a Viacom" [Vocento closes La 10 and rents the frequency to Viacom]. El País (in Spanish). Europa Press. January 13, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Paramount channel preems in Spain". Variety. March 1, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  9. 1 2 Gómez, Rosario G. (February 13, 2014). "Intereconomía cierra el canal nacional en la TDT" [Intereconomía closes its national TDT channel]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  10. ↑ "El cierre de canales de TDT culmina este martes pero no todas las emisiones desaparecen" [The TDT channel closure ends this Tuesday, but not all services disappear]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Europa Press. May 5, 2014. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Cierran nueve canales de TDT, entre ellos tres de Atresmedia y dos de Mediaset" [Nine TDT channels close, including three from Atresmedia and two from Mediaset]. RTVE (in Spanish). May 5, 2014. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Paramount Channel se convertirá en Paramount Network el próximo 10 de junio" [Paramount Channel becomes Paramount Network on June 10]. Europa Press (in Spanish). May 21, 2018. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  13. ↑ "Viacom es la compañía con la que Intereconomía ha cerrado la venta de su 25% en Net TV" [Viacom is the company with which Intereconomía has closed the sale of its 25% stake in Net TV]. El Confidencial Digital (in Spanish). June 4, 2014. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  14. ↑ "El Gobierno deniega autorizar la venta del 25% de Net TV a Paramount pese a existir informes favorables de Estados Unidos" [The Government refuses to authorize the sale of 25% of Net TV to Paramount despite favorable reports from the United States]. Dircomfidencial (in Spanish). August 3, 2017. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
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