Caracol Televisión

Caracol Television, as it is known today, began to take shape in 1954, when the Organization Radiodifusora Caracol offered to the National Television (later turned into Inravisión, today RTVC Sistema de Medios Publicos) a formula to sustain its operation by means of the concession of certain programming spaces for commercial exploitation. At that time, executives Fernando Londoño Henao, Cayetano Betancur, Carlos Sanz de Santamaria, Pedro Navias and Germán Montoya, began to raise the possibility of establishing the first television station, known in Colombia as a programmer. A year later, in 1955, this idea was accepted and it was decided to share the rights with the National Broadcaster, that is how TVC (Televisión Comercial Limitada) was born.

In 1967, the National Institute of Radio and Television, Inravisión, awarded by means of a tender to the then programmer, 45 hours of programming a week.

In September 1969, the TVC programmer was transformed into Caracol Televisión S.A., with the primary objective of marketing and producing television programs.

In 1972, Campeas de la Risa was born, later known as Sábados Felices, a humor program directed by Alfonso Lizarazo until the end of the 90s, and which still continues in the air.

In 1987, the Santo Domingo Group, (today Valórem), acquired the shareholding control and begins a technological and administrative modernization.

During the tender that awarded the television spots between 1992 and 1997, the company became one of the largest concessionaires, operating in Cadena Uno, now Canal Uno.

In development of a new legislation that allowed the concession to private operators of the television service, on November 24, 1997, Caracol Televisión received one of the two awards to operate as "national channel of private operation" for 10 years by the National Television Authority (ANTV), the other license being assigned to RCN Televisión. Under the chairmanship of Mábel García de Ángel, an expansion plan was implemented, in order to ensure that the infrastructure that served to produce ten and a half hours of weekly programming, will reach the capacity to produce and have 18 hours a day of general programming on the air as of July 1998.

The channel began broadcasting as an independent channel on June 10, 1998, with the live broadcast of the opening ceremony of the Soccer World Cup in France and its productions when it was previously a programmer. On July 10 of the same year, regular broadcasts began. The signal was initially seen in Bogotá, Medellín, Pereira, Manizales, Armenia and Cali; then it was reaching more places in the country.

In 2000, the agreement was strengthened with TEPUY, an international television marketing company, and in 2001, a brief production alliance was made with Walt Disney International through its Buena Vista International label, which resulted in the telenovela La baby sister. In the same year, Caracol sealed a content alliance with RTI Televisión and Telemundo.

Caracol Radio, became part of the PRISA Group of Spain, in 2003, with which it ceased to have formal and commercial links with Caracol Televisión.

In 2007, the construction of its new headquarters in the La Floresta sector in the town of Suba, north-west of Bogotá, with an estimated cost of 30 million dollars, was completed. Caracol Televisión has the broadcasting rights for the matches of the Colombian National Team, which it has been carrying out under the name of Gol Caracol since 1992.

In 2008, Caracol Televisión, and its subsidiaries Caracol TV América Corp. and Caracol Televisión Inc., formed one of the five largest production and distribution companies in Latin America, with a presence in more than 50 countries worldwide. In February 2009, a new cable channel called Novelas Caracol began broadcasts, in which some classic telenovelas and other current soap operas were broadcast that the viewer could not see due to its transmission year or its schedule. This channel is available to subscribers of some cable operators.

In August 2011, Caracol signed an agreement with the Arirang TV channel, operated by the Korea International Broadcasting Foundation, which would allow the two networks to cover news, sports and other topics of general interest. . Likewise, they will exchange cultural, artistic, scientific, sports, news and other aspects when they require it, while they will join for the co-production of television programs. With the Appointment of the notable journalist Juan Roberto Vargas as director of the channel's news, the alliance with the radio subsidiary, Blu Radio, is started to address batteries where people start talking about President Juan Manuel Santos, thus fulfilling the commitment acquired on the part of this communicational group, so that Caracol could inform about the peace dialogues with the terrorist groups that have participated in the country's war for more than fifty years. The owners have positioned Caracol as the most profitable audiovisual economic group in the country and one of the largest in Latin America. This great growth allowed then that on April 17, 2014, Caracol decided to suspend its HD signal transmitted by the main subscription television operators in Colombia, although it allowed it to be broadcast again during the 2014 Brazil Soccer World Cup.4 On May 20 of 2014, began a new HD channel on DTT Caracol HD 2; the signal is emitted through TDT 2.

On June 12, 2015, Caracol Televisión, Caracol TV América Corp and Caracol Televisión Inc, launched a new family called Caracol TV Medios with a portfolio of television channels and radio stations in Colombia and part of Latin America being one of the five companies largest producers and distributors in Latin America.

In August 2016, two years after the withdrawal of its HD signal from the subscription television operators in Colombia, the signal is unified and broadcast in SD and HD with a 16:9 aspect ratio.

On September 14, 2016, La Kalle broadcasts on HD 1080i60 began, which simultaneously transmits the programming of the station.

On March 30, 2017, three years after the withdrawal of its HD signal in most cable operators in the country, it was retransmitted again after a ruling by the Supreme Court of Bogotá and the SIC, which increases the coverage to the whole country.

After a multi-year absence, the network plans to bring the Olympic Games back to Colombian television starting with Tokyo 2020.

In July 2012, Caracol TV rented HJMD from Cadena Melodía. The station will become the flagship of the Bluradio network.

In December 2005, Caracol TV bought a 25% stake in Miami, Florida, television station WGEN-TV. Programming on WGEN included Colombian and Brazilian telenovelas as well as a news program produced in Colombia. The station also produced a local version of Desafío 20.06, a reality show similar to Survivor, and an original US-produced variety comedy series entitled La Boca Loca de Paul, hosted by Paul Bouche.[2] Some of Caracol TV's telenovelas were remade for MyNetworkTV in the US, such as Desire, based on Mesa Para Tres (Table for Three).

In 2018, WGEN was sold to Liberman Broadcasting, and became an owned-and-operated station of Estrella TV.[3]

• Caracol Internacional
• Television in Colombia
• List of telenovelas of Caracol Televisión

• Official website (in Spanish)