Kids making TV
in Catalonia
Albert Cuesta, RTV Cardedeu
Corecom, Milano 22 nov 2008

Cardedeu

Public vs. Private
• 80% of TV content for children is produced
and broadcast by public channels
• DTTV situation not defined yet, but hints
suggest there won’t be much local content
for children
• Private channels broadcast mostly
animation, while public channels try to add
value by targeting education issues

General vs. Local
• Stations with a wide coverage area, both
generalists and children-focused, produce TV
content without interacting with their
audience, looking for massive impact
• Proximity channels can cover much more
closely the desires and interests of their
viewers of any age, because many of them
are not anonymous and able to interact right
away

Challenging
conventional wisdom

Who can make TV?
• In 1980, only the Spanish State could make
TV
• Cardedeu, a village of 7,000 people, starts
the second TV station in Spain
• Regional and private stations came later
(TV3 in Catalonia in 1983)

Broad / Narrowcasting
• In the year 2000, audiovisual production
was targeted exclusively to TV sets.
• Internet changes the rules in:
• Formats
• Interactivity
• Viewing habits / hours

Production costs?
• Good TV does not have to be expensive
• Almost everyone is a volunteer
• Civic association (200+ members)
• City Council provides the building + small
budget.
• Interesting TV can be made without big studios, big
productions and big budgets
• Advertising by local shops

Who is making TV?
• TV does not have to be made by
professionals
• Quality amateur TV is possible
• TV as an expression medium can be made
available to everyone, both for watching it
and for making it
• Children are not only viewers, but also
involved in production

Getting involved?
• Historically, TV has approached children as
passive subjects of their programming
• Beyond local TV, few have invited children
to take part in production, either specific
or general
• We aren’t making specific children’s
programming

Kids making TV
RTV Cardedeu and CanalSET

RTV Cardedeu
• Broadcasting since June 2001: 27 years
• Hundreds of kids involved in TV
production, doing work in camera, mixing,
reporting, presenting...
• Most people currently making TV Cardedeu
happen are 13 to 18 years old.
• ‘Digital natives’: photologs,YouTube, social
web

Learning TV by making it
• More than 200 young people who started in RTV
Cardedeu are now working in major national and
regional TV stations. Some recent examples:
• The news director of RTVE, the Spanish state
broadcaster
• The technical director of Gestmusic Endemol in
Spain
• The presenter of the late night show on TV3

TV School
• TV production is being adopted as a part of
the curriculum in local secondary schools
• Pan-european cooperation between
schools in TV production
• Intend to provide formal A/V training

CanalSET
• Santa Eulàlia de Ronçana
(pop. 7,000)
• El Cargol Noticiari
newscast
• More than 10 years
• Made quarterly by
students of the local
school

Thank you!
Albert Cuesta
acuesta@gmail.com
RTV Cardedeu
http://cardedeu.tv
tele@rtvc.cat