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Sogecable, S.A., former Sociedad de
Televisión Canal Plus, S.A., was created on April 12th, 1989. On August
25th 1989 it was awarded by the Goverment in a public tender, one of the
three new private channels. On June 8th 1990, CANAL+ began its
test broadcasts and on September 14th it began broadcasting its regular
programming.
On
March 1st, 1993, Sociedad de Gestión de Cable, S.A. (whose main activitie
until that date was the renting of the CANAL+ decoders to the CANAL+
subscribers) began broadcasting a DTH satellite platform called
CANALSATÉLITE with two thematic channels: Cinemanía (movies) and
Documanía (documentaries). Later that same year, on December 31st,
Cineclassics (black and white movies) and Minimax (children´s programs)
were added to the offer.
On
January 25th, 1995 CANAL+ broke the one million suscribers´s barrier and
on January 2nd 1996 Sociedad de Televisión Canal Plus, S.A. bought
Sociedad de Gestión de Cable, S.A. changing its name to Sogecable S.A. on
June 1st 1996. On April 1st 1996 CANALSATÉLITE launched Sportmania (sports).
On
January 31st, 1997 CANALSATÉLITE DIGITAL (CSD), a DTH digital satellite
service, began its broadcasts and on September 15th Vía Digital, a DTH
digital satellite service, began broadcasting. In July 1999, Sogecable was
floated on the Madrid Stock Exchange and on October 26th 2000, CSD broke
the one million suscribers´s barrier.
On
April 3rd 2002, CANAL+ (along with TVE, Antena 3 and Telecinco) began
broadcasting on digital terrestrial and on April 17th it moved its
headquarters to Tres Cantos (Madrid). On May 8th, Sogecable and
Telefónica, the largest shareholders of CSD and Vía Digital, signed an
agreement to merge Vía Digital in Sogecable. On July 3rd 2003, Vía
Digital was absorbed by Sogecable and on July 21st DIGITAL+, the new
digital satellite service formed from the merger of CSD and Vía Digital,
began broadcasting.
More
information in the Sogecable, S.A. section.
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