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Date Published: 03/02/2024

Spanish TV channels follow UK and switch to HD

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The television broadcasters are all making the switchover to high definition before this date

Spanish TV channels follow UK and switch to HD

Following in the wake of UK TV channels BBC and ITV, Spanish television broadcasters will begin phasing out their Standard Definition (SD) channels in favour of High Definition (HD), and all the SD channels will disappear completely.

This transition to HDTV is mandatory under Spanish law, specifically Royal Decree 391/2019 of June 21, which states that all television channels, regardless of their coverage area, must change their broadcasts to high definition before February 14, 2024.

The aim is to improve image and sound quality by increasing pixel resolution and freeing up bandwidth, an essential aspect for the transmission of high-quality content, whether in 720p or 1080p, and favouring the expansion of 5G networks in Spain.

Most televisions manufactured since 2009 are compatible with HD broadcasting, but anyone with a slightly older TV may no longer be able to access their usual programming. In those cases, you can use an external decoder or streaming to continue watching Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT).

For those newer televisions which are HD-equipped, viewers may have to retune their television sets in order for all the new channels to appear because some of them of being broadcast on a different frequency than before. This is the case both for finding the new Spanish TV channels and for the British channels BBC and ITV which are being changed over to HD too.

When will Spanish TV channels change to HD?

All standard definition TV channels in Spain will be removed by February 14, 2024, but some channels have already made the change and others will do so before the deadline. In any case, this does not mean that their broadcasts will cease, but rather that from the indicated day they will begin to broadcast their content only in high definition.

February 6

RTVE will be the first general network to switch over all its channels this Tuesday February 6, which will allow the corporation to begin broadcasting in Ultra High Definition (UHD). This includes the channels Canal 24 Horas, La 1, La 2, Teledeporte and Clan.

February 14

The Mediaset and Atresmedia group channels in standard definition will disappear on the last day legally allowed, which is Wednesday February 14 – Valentine’s Day. That covers the channels Antena 3, Cuatro, Telecinco and La Sexta.

In addition, the channels FDF, Energy, Boing, Divinity, BeMad, Neox, Nova, Mega, Paramount, Dkiss, Dmax, Ten, Gol Tv, Trece Tv and Disney Channel will all have HD-only channels from the same date.

Regional specific channels

Regarding the TV channels specific to each autonomous community in Spain, Televisión Canaria, Canal Extremadura and Cat3 (TV3, 3/24, Esport3 and SX3/33) all began broadcasting in HD on January 16, being the first to make the change.

After them, the next ones will be Telemadrid, Navarra TV and EITB (Basque Country), whose SD channels will disappear on Thursday February 8.

Castilla y León Televisión (La 7 and La 8) will also make the transition between Tuesday February 6 and Monday February 12.

Likewise, on February 12, two days before the deadline, the standard regional channels of Canal Sur (Andalucía), À Punt (Valencian Community), CMM (Castilla-La Mancha), Ib3 (Balearic Islands), RTPA (Asturias, TVG and TVG2 (Galicia) and Aragón TV will all make the switchover.

Finally, La 7 (the regional TV channel for the Region of Murcia) will wait until the deadline, February 14, to switch.

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Image: Atresmedia

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