8tv: Catalonia's only private TV station ends broadcasts

Catalonia's only private TV broadcaster, 8tv, stopped broadcasting four minutes past midnight on Tuesday. The telivision channel and Verdi Clàssics, the other broadcaster from the same company, went black. 

8tv and Verdi Clàssics entered creditors competition in August and did not announce the new programming in September. On Tuesday, the shutdown was finally completed after being delayed some days. On October 4, the Catalan Audiovisual Council (CAC) had already started the process to shut down the channel. 

During its last weeks on air, the network had only been broadcasting movies and reruns of old television shows as the economic situation of Emissions Digitals de Catalunya (EDICA), the managing company of 8tv and Verdi Clàssics, worsened. This was preceded by BarçaTV and Fibracat, another private TV broadcaster, ceasing their own emissions earlier in the year. Both channels rented part of the audiovisual spectrum owned by EDICA to be able to broadcast, according to digital outlet Principal. 

EDICA has also seen a drop in advertising due to lower consumption of traditional television, and had complained to Kantar Media, the company behind television audiences' ratings, of having an "obsolete" system affecting small channels such as 8tv, which never surpassed the 1% of monthly share. 

"If 8tv is not economically viable, it has not been because of the audiovisual content, the outstanding professionals, or a project-driven team with the utmost austerity," Nicola Pedrazzoli, the manager of 8tv, told news outlet Principal. 

In September 2022, 8tv started broadcasting with a €10 million budget, employing around 320 people. Pedrazzoli took over the channel in 2021, purchasing it from media corporation Grup Godó, the channel owner since 2001. 

Catalonia currently has several private broadcasters (among them Antena 3, La Sexta, Cuatro and Telecinco), but all of them are managed by companies based in Spain (Atresmedia and Mediaset). TV3 is the only public Catalan channel managed by the Catalan Broadcasting Corporation (CCMA).