TVC , formerly Televicentro , is an Ecuadorian television channel owned by Grupo El Comercio, itself owned by Remigio Angel Gonzalez 's Albavision conglomerate. The channel exists in its current form since 2016, when Gonzalez bought two frequencies without prior government control, but has a history dating back to 1984, when it was a separate operation from channel 4 in Guayaquil.

History [ edit ]

Ortel was founded in early 1984, and its broadcasts on VHF channel 5 started in August of that year. In 1991, the channel was acquired by Remigio Angel Gonzalez, who had owned Telesistema (channel 4) in Guayaquil since at least 1983. Under his management, the channel was renamed Maxivision. ^[1] The company merged with Telecuatro Guayaquil in 1993, effectively ceasing local origination of content, becoming a relayer of Telesistema.

Ortel continued to exist as a separate company. Thanks to revisions in the Ecuadorian media law in 1997, Telecuatro and Ortel were acquired by Panamanian company Prolasa (de facto predecessor of Albavision) and Belleville Investment, a companyseated in the Bahamas , a tax haven. Gonzalez is the head figure of both companies. ^[1]

El Comercio was acquired by the group on December 30, 2014, by means of Teglovision, a company owned by Gonzalez's nephew. On August 4, 2015, Arcotel assigned two new VHF frequencies for Quito and Guayaquil, both on channel 11. These frequencies would be instrumental for Televicentro to begin its operations. ^[1]

The channel launched almost without prior warning on February 1, 2016, on channel 5 in Quito (displacing RTS to channel 11) and channel 11 in Guayaquil. ^[2] Early on, on February 3, journalist Andres Carrion left the channel after receiving a warning from "hidden forces" and criticism from Rafael Correa . Carrion later moved to Canal Uno. ^[3]

References [ edit ]

External links [ edit ]

• official website