Cuatro (stylized as cuatro°, "Four") is a Spanish
free-to-air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...
television channel that was launched in November 2005. Owned by
Mediaset España
Grupo Audiovisual Mediaset España Comunicación, S.A.U. (formerly Gestevisión Telecinco, S.A. and Mediaset España Comunicación, S.A.) is a Spanish media company, controlled by the Italian-based company MFE – MediaForEurope N.V., which i ...
, the Spanish subsidiary of the Italian
Mediaset
Mediaset S.p.A. is an Italian mass media and television production and distribution company that is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE – MediaForEurope (the original ...
group, it is broadcast on TV frequencies licensed to the previous owner
PRISA TV
PRISA Televisión, S.A.U (PRISA TV) is a pay TV company in Spain.
History and profile
PRISA TV was established in 1989 and controlled (as of 2007) by PRISA. It was amongst the pioneer companies in the market to introduce interactive systems ...
in 1990 and previously used by them for the analogue transmission of its subscription channel
Canal+
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...
.
History
In 1990, Canal+ began broadcasting in Spain, however, due to their license conditions, they could only broadcast six hours on free-to-air television, while to access the programming for the rest of the day it was necessary to pay a monthly fee. 15 years later, Sogecable, the company that owned the channel at that time, began efforts to change its transmission licence and be able to broadcast 24 hours a day for free. In July 2005, the Government of Spain approved the request.
On November 7, 2005, at 8:44 p.m., Cuatro began broadcasting, replacing Canal+. After the launch program , the first edition of followed.
In 2006, Cuatro scored a massive coup by striking a deal with the
Royal Spanish Football Federation
The Royal Spanish Football Federation (; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. Founded on 29 September 1913, it is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas de Madrid, Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid.
RFEF organizes the natio ...
and Spain's
national football team allowing it to show all of the team's matches, and it also agreed with rival channel
LaSexta
La Sexta (; ; stylised as laSexta) is a privately owned Spanish free-to-air television channel that was founded on 18 March 2001 as Beca TV and began broadcasting on 1 April 2001. By 21 July 2003, the channel ran into debt and was shut down, bu ...
to share the rights to broadcast the games of general interest in the
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...
. It snatched this licence from
TVE, who had held the rights to the national team's matches for years. In 2008, together with satellite platform Canal+, owned by the same company, Cuatro secured the rights to broadcast the
UEFA Euro 2008
The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...
championship, scoring the highest ratings in the history of Spanish television (since 1992). The two broadcasters also achieved rights for the
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...
.

On 18 December 2009,
Mediaset
Mediaset S.p.A. is an Italian mass media and television production and distribution company that is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE – MediaForEurope (the original ...
, the controlling shareholder of
Mediaset España
Grupo Audiovisual Mediaset España Comunicación, S.A.U. (formerly Gestevisión Telecinco, S.A. and Mediaset España Comunicación, S.A.) is a Spanish media company, controlled by the Italian-based company MFE – MediaForEurope N.V., which i ...
and
PRISA, proprietor of
PRISA TV
PRISA Televisión, S.A.U (PRISA TV) is a pay TV company in Spain.
History and profile
PRISA TV was established in 1989 and controlled (as of 2007) by PRISA. It was amongst the pioneer companies in the market to introduce interactive systems ...
, presented an agreement to merge their television channels (
Telecinco
Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially laun ...
and Cuatro). After the merger, Cuatro and its broadcasting licence Sogecable separated, and the company -
Sogecuatro
Sociedad General de Televisión Cuatro, S.A.U. (Sogecuatro) was a Spanish media company that operated the Spanish television channel Cuatro. It operated as a subsidiary of the audiovisual division ( Sogecable) of the Spanish media conglomerate P ...
- was purchased in full by Mediaset España. Along with this act, PRISA bought newly issued shares of Mediaset España, 18% of the equity of this company. This agreement makes Mediaset España the largest television network in Spain by audience share. In total the group has a total of seven channels, in Terrestrial Television in Spain:
Telecinco
Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially laun ...
, Cuatro,
LaSiete
LaSiete ''()'', formerly known as ''Telecinco 2'', was a Spanish digital terrestrial television channel, operated by Mediaset España. It began its broadcasts on 18 February 2008, replacing Telecinco Sport. On 18 May 2009, Telecinco 2 changed its ...
,
Factoría De Ficción
Factoría de Ficción (; formerly Telecinco Estrellas and then FDF Telecinco) is a Spanish free-to-air television channel owned by Mediaset España. It is a 24-hour channel and airs both acquired and original television series and films. It is a ...
,
Boing, Canal+Dos,
CNN+
CNN+ is a defunct subscription streaming service and online news channel owned by the CNN division of WarnerMedia News & Sports. It was launched on March 29, 2022 and was later shut down on April 28, 2022. Designed as an offshoot of the CN ...
, Telecinco HD and Canal Club.
The president of the resulting string (which will keep the brands and editorial of both chains) is Alejandro Echevarria, with two CEOs who are Paolo Vasile (Contents) and Giuseppe Tringali (Advertising). PRISA also has two CEOs and holds the vice presidency of the operator.
Before this agreement, formalized the entry of Mediaset in the shareholding of Canal+, with 22% of the shares.
Programming
Cuatro's programming is general, however, it is mainly aimed at a male audience, which is why the spaces for information, sports, entertainment and reality shows stand out, as well as films and series. Since the merger with Telecinco, the channel has become the group's second in importance, so its programming is more experimental and alternative, intending to compete Atresmedia's
LaSexta
La Sexta (; ; stylised as laSexta) is a privately owned Spanish free-to-air television channel that was founded on 18 March 2001 as Beca TV and began broadcasting on 1 April 2001. By 21 July 2003, the channel ran into debt and was shut down, bu ...
. Occasionally the channel also broadcasts some live events such as sports or news coverage.
''Cuatro'' programming includes ''
Supermax
A super-maximum security (supermax) or administrative maximum (ADX) prison is a "control-unit" prison, or a unit within prisons, which represents the most secure level of custody in the prison systems of certain countries.
The objective is to ...
'', ''Las mañanas de Cuatro'', ''
Cuarto milenio
''Cuarto milenio'' is a Spanish television program directed and presented by journalist Iker Jiménez and Carmen Porter. The program has been broadcast weekly on television channel Cuatro since November 2005, being the channel's longest running ...
'', ''Tulli'', ''
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...
'', ''
9-1-1
911, sometimes written , is an emergency telephone number for Argentina, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Fiji, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Maldives, Palau, Panama, Iraq, the Philippines, Sint Maarten, the United States, and Uruguay, as well as ...
'', ''
SpongeBob SquarePants
''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...
'', ''
Siren'' and ''
Castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
''.
Production
''Cuatro'' currently broadcasts in 16:9 for most of the programmes, but in 4:3 for a minority of programming including films and older TV series.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuatro (Tv Channel)
Channels of Mediaset España Comunicación
4
Television channels and stations established in 2005
Spanish-language television stations