Television in Ecuador

Since its beginnings in 1959 with channel 4 (Telecuatro), and with the participation of two cameramen, television in Ecuador has evolved a lot. Being a small country, without an industrial tradition in terms of television, the Ecuadorian State is doing very well, since it currently has 6 main national television stations, which have their respective regional channels in the different cities.

The television companies are private and most of them are grouped in the Association of Television Channels of Ecuador (ACTVE), an organization with legal personality, which since its constitution has ensured that television complies with the high social and cultural purposes that correspond to it.

The television system in Ecuador is governed by the Telecommunications Law, recently approved by the National Congress, considered as contemporary because it is in accordance with the advances experienced by this means of communication in the country. Within this regulation, what concerns television requires self-regulation of the stations themselves, relating to their internal organization, based on their needs and experiences and freely formulated and consented to by them, is maintained.

As the field of television grows throughout the world, our country is advancing steadily and the level of television technology is not far behind. And it is that the tough competition for the tune, forces the local channels to innovate permanently in all their areas, since the public is more demanding every day.

Under the idea of establishing new concepts and opening other markets, the directors of Si-TV (Channel 12) implemented some novelties. His biggest challenge was to install the first satellite in the country, giving it some advantages and arousing great interest from the viewing public. According to Carlos Icaza, vice president of Si-TV, it was about creating a different profile within television, for which the most modern technical equipment was acquired and installed. Their acceptance has been so high that in just two years they managed to cover much of Ecuadorian territory. Its signal reaches 28 cantons and, thanks to the satellite, the programming is the same for all corners of the country where it is received.

Its greatest achievement is to be the only channel that is broadcast in the Galapagos Islands, which has allowed this young media to further increase its audience. In addition, Si-TV is creating expectations in the other television stations that are broadcast by microwave, in trying to also reach that beautiful geographical point of Ecuador, considered a world heritage site.

Mr. Icaza also indicated that having the satellite has allowed them to meet important goals such as broadcasting live and live the Ecuador-Peru border conflict, thanks to the installation of the appropriate equipment in the upper Cenepa region. Thus they provided the opportunity for the entire Ecuador to observe directly the incidences of the undeclared war with Peru.

It should be noted that in terms of news, the rise of Ecuadorian television is notorious. In the production of news and research programmes, channels and producers spare no effort to achieve a respectable technological structure, suitable for competition and, above all, to capture human material, that is, the group of professionals who can produce and broadcast the news, the interview or the opinion with solvency.

The national newscasts have a high standard of quality, with a good level, which have nothing to envy to any other country, even in some aspects they are superior to our Latin American neighbors.

However, in the field of national production, Ecuador has not advanced much, despite the existence of a large number of stations. This competition has led to the diversification of programming rather than an increase in local creativity.

In Ecuador, successful telenovelas and miniseries are made, produced mainly by the Ecuavisa network, whose managers have made a gigantic economic investment so that in international records Ecuador is listed as a producer of dramatic works, despite the fact that this genre, according to some, be the most difficult. According to the national director of marketing of Ecuavisa, Mariano Merchán, "all the efforts made within the dramatic genre are valid as long as it is intended to raise the level of production of our medium, hence it is encouraging to observe how other companies such as Teleamazonas and TC Television, they have also ventured into this field, although their creations are limited, perhaps due to the little existence of producers-filmmakers in the medium, not to mention the lack of writers and directors. All this makes it difficult to get the necessary support to carry out a project of this nature."

Within the small local production that exists, the programs – contest are the ones that predominate; one of them is Aló, qué tal América, broadcast by Telesistema, which can be admired throughout America thanks to the link with the SUR network and whose characteristic is that the contests are carried out by phone, through the calls of the viewers.

There are several cable companies in Ecuador. The largest and most important in the Cable TV system, in charge of introducing this alternative in the country in 1988, starting its operations in Quito and then extending to Guayaquil and Cuenca. Later he would do it to Ambato, Loja Manta, Portoviejo, Ibarra and Salinas.

The success of this company is undeniable, which is reflected in figures, having doubled in 1995 the number of customers to 60,000 subscribers. The manager of Tv Cable, Eng. Diego Puente Morla, explained that there are 3 types of services: basic with 12 channels, premium with 30 and super premium with 40 channels, whose costs vary from each other. In the same way they offer the aerial or aerocable cable service with 20 channels at a very reasonable price.

Puente told TV&VIDEO Latin America that its growth is based on good service and excellent coverage, as well as the sophisticated technology they have. Currently, the main cities have installed state-of-the-art technology – fiber optics – with which existing networks are being replaced, being on par with the United States. This in turn will allow in the immediate future to offer new types of services to users.

As far as legislation is concerned, regulations for cable services are now being introduced within the Telecommunications Law, since until now only typifications were contemplated for aerial cable television.

We must continue to apply the state-of-the-art technology and the high quality that Ecuadorian television has achieved. We have faith that in the short term we will achieve the professionalization of directors, producers and filmmakers that allow us to compete internationally, making our product optimal and therefore exportable.