Community State television and diversity: analysis of the television programming of the Principality of Asturias

Abstract

This article, posed from the research perspective of the Political Economy of Communication and Culture, analyses the diversity offered by A7, the main television channel of Televisión del Principado de Asturias (TPA), a specific case of public television of proximity. The methodology applied is based on a triangulation of data that includes a documentary analysis, an original proposal of content analysis, and various in-depth interviews with key agents involved in the TPA programming process. The results indicate that A7 offers a public service of proximity that guarantees the dynamisation of the regional audiovisual industry due to the fact that the Asturian contents are predominant. Concerning the diversity of language, despite the fact that the contents broadcasted in the regional language are minority, these are entirely linked to regional production and their presence has gradually increased. Regarding the genre, a high variety of genre is programmed in an unbalanced way: A7 is an informative and fiction television that leaves aside the educational role of public television and the attention to age group minorities.