Televisión Española

(acronym TVE, branded tve, "Spanish Television") is Spain's national state-owned public television broadcaster and the oldest regular television service in the country. It was also the first regular television service in Equatorial Guinea.

TVE began as a standalone company dependent on the Ministry of Information and Tourism. After undergoing several restructurings and reorganizations, since 1 January 2007 it is the television division –while Radio Nacional de España (RNE) is the radio division– of Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE), the public corporation which has the overall responsibility for the national broadcasting public services under a parliament-appointed president who, in addition to being answerable to a board of directors, reports to an all-party committee of the national parliament, as provided for in the Public Radio and Television Law of 2006.

TVE launched its first channel on 28 October 1956 as the first regular television service in Spain. It was the only one for a decade, until 15 November 1966, when TVE launched a second channel. As TVE held a monopoly on television broadcasting in the country, they were the only television channels until the first regional public television station was launched on 16 February 1983, when Euskal Telebista started broadcasting in the Basque Country. Commercial television was launched on 25 January 1990, when Antena 3 started broadcasting nationwide. On 20 July 1968, TVE also became the first regular television service in Equatorial Guinea, with the inauguration of its broadcasts in the then-Spanish autonomous region of Equatorial Guinea.

Its headquarters and main production centre is Prado del Rey in Pozuelo de Alarcón, with additional production centres in San Cugat del Vallés and in the Canary Islands. TVE's news services are located at its Torrespaña facilities, at the foot of the broadcasting tower in Madrid. Although almost all the programming of its channels is in Spanish and is the same for all of Spain, TVE has territorial centers in every autonomous community and produces and broadcasts some local programming in regional variations in each of them in the corresponding co-official language.

TVE's activities were previously financed by a combination of advertising revenue and subsidies from the national government, but since 1 January 2010, it has been supported by subsidies only. Provided by Wikipedia