ABSTRACT
The creation and development of regional television in Spain can only be fully understood when the political changes of the last 50 years are taken into account. During the years of the Franquist dictatorship (1939–75) Television Espahola (TVE), founded in 1956, was characterized by its centralist, monopolistic and propagandistic character, with the spread from Madrid towards other Spanish regions conceived only gradually (Palacio Historia; Bustamante; Gutierrez Lozano; Rueda and Chicharro). The first region of expansion was Catalonia, to which national television broadcasting was extended in 1959 in order to boost connections with the Eurovision network. In 1965 it was possible to receive TVE broadcasts in the main Spanish cities and regions, and in 1966 Franco’s government created a second (UHF) national channel in order to increase cultural programming.
