Background
Originally, channel 2 in Santiago was used by the high-power repeater station of Televisión Nacional de Chile operating from Cerro El Roble (border between the Metropolitan Region and the Valparaíso Region) to relay its signal to other localities. This had to be technically modified to give frequencies to the broadcasts of a new channel in Santiago.
The eventual winner became Compañía Chilena de Comunicaciones, who, by associating itself with Estudio Visión (as CCC had no resources to produce content for television), began Canal 2 Rock & Pop, based on the existing radio station of the same name. However, the channel started facing a series of financial crises and lack of ratings, as well as the sale of the license in 1998 to Canal 2, S.A., which in 1999, began broadcasting VidaVisión, an evangelical channel, during daytime hours. On the early hours of December 1, 1999, Rock & Pop's programming on the station closed, facing moments of tension between employees and staff, and a replacement service (Canal 2) took over with a minimal eight-hour schedule and slots from the VidaVisión network.
VidaVisión was an evangelical channel created by Christian media professionals led by Alejandro Martínez (born Santiago in 1965 and became a born-again Christian in 1984),[11] who created two local Christian stations, Gospel TV (first Christian television station in Chile), RTV (La Roka TV) and a kids channel on VTR, Rainbow Club (first Chilean kids channel, later renamed The Fun Channel). Around early 2001, VidaVisión rented over 100 hours per month on Canal 2's frequencies.[12]
In August 2001, the station was renting from 5pm to midnight. Alejandro Martínez said that the station was "not an evangelical channel" but a general profile station. Due to its beliefs, it had to omit the promotion of gambling from its programming. It initially did not aim to have a newscast in a first phase, but would offer one by 2002. The channel also aired safe, violent-free cartoons and planned a children's program similar to Cachureos but avoiding all acts of violence. There were also programs dedicated to the evangelical music scene, and Grupo Cooperativa went to the United States on purpose to obtain know-how from Christian television stations there.[13] VidaVisión started to rent studios from Edu Comunicaciones (now Televisión Interactiva), who at the time controlled Vía X, Zona Latina, and ARTV to remain on the air for at least 8 hours per day by law to avoid forfeiture of its signal. As a result, religious programming ended up coping with the full extent of daily transmissions.
On February 17, 2004, VidaVisión lost its studios at Alameda 2520 under the grounds that it lacked the technical conditions to operate as a television station. Work evaluated at CL$100 million to continue operating from its extant facilities was made, but its staff was unaware that its operations were on the verge of closing. As consequence, the staff had to start producing its programming from the streets.[14]
Launch (2005–2010)
In July 2005, Compañía Chilena de Comunicaciones, the owner of the frequency, announced that it would sell the channel 2 concession to Inversiones Alfa Tres SA, led by Jaime Cuadrado (former commercial manager of Canal 13 and personal friend of Don Francisco) for CLP 2.7 million.[15] The VidaVisión programming had left Canal 2's signal and was replaced by color bars.[16]
The sale became final in September of that year. That same month, Telecanal began its test phase, in which it only aired corporate promotions for the channel, as well as revealing the channel's logo and slogan for eight hours a day (especially overnight), to comply with the Chilean regulations. In that video, the faces of the channel and the planned programming were revealed, which was different than the one that was planned. On October 27, Alfa Tres acquired the frequencies formerly used by the Telenorte network which operated between Arica and La Serena.
The channel began its official broadcasts on Monday, December 5, 2005, but only on terrestrial television. Negotiations with VTR were underway in order to enable the channel to be seen by its subscriber base of 750,000.[17] Its broadcasts through cable television began on January 1, 2006, through the networks of VTR and on January 10 on Coltrahue TV, in June, the channel began broadcasting on satellite through Telefónica TV Digital and in December through Gtd, on 23 March 2010, it reached Claro TV's cable network.
Early 2010s
In early January 2010, Telecanal dispatched a journalist, Sergio Molleda, for Anatel's presidential debate. A few days after the debate, the news service "En Línea" stopped broadcasting. In late February, "Influencia Humana" was canceled and weeks later, the same thing happened with "Only They", and again, the programming focused on canned foreign content.
In September 2010 it began to build a sports area for the transmission of the UEFA Europa League,[19] replacing La Red that broadcast it in the previous season, and Monday through Friday at midnight Hello sports, covering other disciplines issued other than football, like basketball, volleyball and rugby.
In November of that same year, businessman Jaime Cuadrado, then owner of the sign, closed an agreement to sell Telecanal the Mexican, a former executive of Grupo Televisa and former director of Mega Guillermo Canedo White.
In 2011, Telecanal broadcast the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which was held in Denmark, for the first time on Chilean over-the-air television.
In June-July 2012, Telecanal aired that year's European Championships, held in Poland and Ukraine, shared with Chilevisión. The live broadcast of the match between England and Ukraine on June 19 caused at least five Twitter trending topics and had better ratings than Chilevisión, who preferred to use the airtime to air content for women (La Jueza and Maid in Manhattan) and air the match on delay.[20]
Mid 2010s
In 2013, Telecanal ended with an annual rating of 0.43 rating points, even being surpassed by UCV (which reached 1.3 annual viewing points), the channel less seen in Chilean television. The poor results are explained only in issuing nullspaces packaged programming and live.
In December 2013 a new slot of Mexican telenovelas opened at 21:00, with the premiere of A Family Lucky. With this decision, Telecanal decided to take NCIS, which is issued only on weekends.
Since 1 January 2014, José Manuel Larraín assumed the new executive director of the station.
During May of that year, every Saturday the "Specials of Telecanal" transmitted the national series Picaflor Effect.
Since January, Telecanal began broadcasting "A3D" infomercials from Monday to Sunday, occupying the block from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Following the departure of its programs "A las 11" and "Teletiempo", Telecanal is dedicated only to its "Entertainers" program.
ADN TV
At the beginning of March 2016, national media reported on the project being developed for an open news television channel under the name of the informative radio signal of Ibero Americana Radio Chile - a subsidiary of the Spanish multimedia conglomerate Prisa -, in conjunction with Telecanal and La Red. To the first, I would rent 12 hours of airtime; to the second, a studio and physical, technical and human resources in its television center in Quilín. The channel would operate under the threshold of the company Multimedios GLP, controlled by the radio consortium and Albavisión, which then served only as a joint-venture for the sale of advertising in the media that both companies operated in the country.[21]
The new channel would have information as its forte, with central and current newscasts; in addition to spaces for investigative journalism, interviews, and some for entertainment and culture, all independent of ADN Radio's radio programming, which would not see its programming modified. It would be editorially led by Gerson del Río, and the anchor news conduction would be in charge of Mauricio Hofmann and Mirna Schindler; Its executive director would be the person who held the same position at La Red, Javier Urrutia. Despite this, Telecanal would not disappear completely, since it would transmit the remaining 12 hours (until noon) giving way to ADN TV broadcasts from that hour onwards.
It was made public that, thanks to its alliance with La Red, the new channel would own the rights to broadcast Chilean soccer goals, and given the presence of Telecanal on pay TV, ADN TV would be available on most of the operators. .
ADN TV debuted on 10 June 2016 with the broadcast of Euro 2016 by the radio's sports team: Víctor Cruces or Ignacio Salcedo hosting; stories by Alberto Jesús López "El Trovador del Gol", Patricio Barrera "El Grillo del Gol" and Manuel "Manolo" Fernández; and comments by Danilo Díaz and Sergio Vargas. The matches significantly improved Telecanal's audience, which hovered between 0 and 1 point, finally consolidating by achieving a historic index with peaks of 16 points and an average of 13 points on July 10, during the final match between France and Portugal, surpassing all the competition, even the leading channel of the moment, Mega.
High-definition signal and entrance to digital terrestrial television
The channel began transmitting in high definition in 2016 through channel 7 of the cable operator Coltrahue Digital of Santa Cruz, stretching its 4:3 signal to this format. On 6 September of that year, Telecanal carried out a broadcast test in 16:9 aspect and 720p resolution – unlike the rest of the Chilean open channels, which broadcast in 1080i – through the Amazonas 4A satellite that covers all of South America. South; Along with the HD signal, a 4:3 SD signal was added and the "1seg" that is used for reception on mobile devices.[26]
It was not until 28 September 2021 that Telecanal officially began broadcasting on TVD through virtual channel 2.1, on the UHF 31 multiplex in Santiago.[27][28] That same month, the channel began broadcasting the competitions of WWE Raw and SmackDown, after its previous stint on La Red.[29] It also broadcasts International Boxing.
In September 2023, the National Television Council began the administrative sanctioning procedure against Canal Dos S.A, the channel's operating company, due to non-compliance for not starting broadcasts on open digital television of the Telecanal signal in the cities of: Arica (11.1 - 26 UHF), Iquique (12.1 - 41 UHF), Antofagasta (4.1 - 21 UHF), Chuquicamata (8.1 - 23 UHF), Copiapó (5.1 - 41 UHF), San Pedro de Atacama (12.1 - 26 UHF), La Serena and Coquimbo (5.1 - 35 UHF), San José de Maipo (2.1 - 21 UHF), Panguipulli (4.1 - 32 UHF) and Los Muermos (12.1 - 26 UHF).
Relaying RT en Español
On 16 June 2025, Telecanal started relaying RT en Español permanently, although the channel is still obliged to continue airing CNTV-mandated cultural programming (airing El Conciertazo and Reino Animal) and electoral campaigns.[32] The RT en Español website also mentioned its coverage on channel 2.1.[33]
On June 17, UDI representatives Natalia Romero and Gustavo Benavente sent a letter to regulator CNTV showing their concern for the RT relays, as well as its ban in European countries at the onset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and possible ideological issues. Additionally, there is a lack of publicly-accessible information concerning the relays, especially with Telecanal being an Anatel member. The letter also suggests that RT does not respect the Chilean laws regarding journalistic independence.[34] The Russian Embassy in Chile defended its stance under supposed claims of "diversity of expression and opinions", and being comparable to networks such as the BBC, France TV, Deutsche Welle, ABC, NHK, CBC and others.[35]
Political and civil society reactions
Representatives of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) — of the right-wing coalition Chile Vamos — and the Republican Party (far right)[46] They expressed their rejection, arguing that RT is a propaganda outlet for the Kremlin, and its presence on Chilean free-to-air television represents a risk of disinformation and foreign interference. Parliamentarians from both parties even requested that the Chilean National Television Council (CNTV) review whether the rebroadcast complies with current regulations regarding media pluralism and freedom of expression.
On the other hand, figures from the academic and media fields have warned about the lack of transparency in the agreement between Telecanal and RT, pointing out that citizens have the right to know the terms of the agreement, especially if it is a channel financed by a foreign government.[46][47][48]
Human rights organizations have expressed concern about the possible dissemination of content that downplays international conflicts or human rights violations committed by the Russian government led by Vladimir Putin.
Reactions from the CNTV and complaint from Canal 13
In response to the public outcry, on June 20, 2025, the National Television Council (CNTV) issued a statement reminding everyone that it does not exercise prior censorship, but does exercise subsequent oversight, and that the broadcasting of foreign content is not prohibited as long as it complies with Chilean legislation and editorial responsibility is guaranteed.
In an extraordinary session, the CNTV requested information from the Undersecretariat of Telecommunications regarding Telecanal's current concessions and summoned its executive director, Rodrigo Álvarez Aravena — a lawyer and partner in the Chilean office of DLA Piper. [55]– to explain the agreement with RT. He also noted that he had received citizen complaints and parliamentary letters, pledging to act in accordance with the law and to safeguard pluralism and democracy.[56]
By the end of June 2025, Canal 13 He filed a formal complaint with the CNTV accusing Telecanal of illegally ceding its signal to RT, marking the first time in the history of Chilean television that one network has directly denounced another for alleged violation of the law.[57] Canal 13's complaint argues that Telecanal replaced almost all of its regular programming with content produced by the Russian government in Moscow, without national intervention or authorization from the CNTV; this, in the channel's opinion, seriously violates Chilean laws on television concessions, editorial responsibility and national ownership of the signals, which would represent a structural transfer—and not a "temporary agreement"—that violates article 16 of Law No. 18,838 on television concessions.
Disciplinary proceedings against Telecanal by the National Television Council
Chile's National Television Council (CNTV) initiated administrative sanction proceedings in mid-August 2025 against Canal Dos S.A., the concessionaire of Telecanal, due to multiple legal and technical infractions detected during 2025. This action stems from a series of serious breaches of the regulations governing digital television in the country, as documented in the records reviewed by the authority. The situation calls into question Telecanal's compliance with its obligations as a concessionaire and raises doubts about the continuation of its license, given that the irregularities could compromise the principles of autonomy and pluralism in television media.[59]
According to the Chilean public broadcaster, Telecanal airs up to 23.5 hours of RT content daily, relegating its own programming to a mere 30 minutes per day. This contract, which absolves Telecanal of responsibility for the content and allows Unimedios to manage the retransmission, has led the CNTV to conclude that the channel is effectively ceding control of its signal to a third party, a practice prohibited by Article 16 of Law 18.838. This situation suggests that Telecanal is primarily acting as a repeater of foreign programming, compromising its autonomy as a broadcaster.[59]
In addition to programming irregularities, the CNTV and the Chilean Undersecretariat of Telecommunications have identified significant technical failures. Telecanal has not achieved the minimum digital coverage required by Law 20.750 in several of its concessions, especially on secondary signals which, in many cases, only broadcast colored bars without actual content. Discrepancies in transmitter power have also been detected in cities such as Arica, Iquique, Antofagasta, and Copiapó, as well as the misuse of the retransmission rights granted in Chuquicamata.
