Evolution of the television programming of debates and interviews facing the Spanish audiovisual liberalization (1980 – 2010)

Abstract

Spanish television changed forever January 25th 1990 due to the arrival of the first private TV networks. To that day, current events on television had been controlled exclusively by a public entity (RTVE). The primary goal of this paper is to know how the liberalization of the audiovisual market influenced on the programming strategy of the main shows based on current events (consistent on debates and interviews). The method used in this paper consists on a cuantitative analysis of the content programming schedules of the Spanish most-viewed television networks from 1980 to 2010, as well as the viewing of those shows. The results show that these programmes became fundamental in the schedule strategies all along that period. Besides to that, the irruption of private TV stations implied a great change in the focus of these shows and helped the political current events becoming popular.