Before the 80s, there were only two TV channels in Spain. “The First” and “The Second”, which are still existing, and belong to the Spanish State.
In the mid 80s, after the transition from the dictatorship to democracy, the Government of Catalonia created it’s own TV channel, called TV3. This channel won great acceptance among the Catalan speakers, while it was entirely in this language.
But, what is Catalan?
The Catalan language is one of the four major languages in Iberia (there are actually 8 native languages in Iberia: Asturian, Aragonese, Basque, Catalan, Occitan, Spanish, Galician-Portuguese and English, which is spoken in Gibraltar). It’s spoken in the eastern coast of Iberia, and the Balearic islands in the Mediterranean sea.
Catalan is official in Catalonia, Valencia (former Reign of Valencia), and the Balearic Islands, as well as in the so called “Aragonese Strip”. It’s also spoken in some villages in Murcia and the french departement of Languedoc-Rousillon, where it’s not official at all. It’s also spoken in the italian village of Alghero (catalan: L’Alguer) in Sardinia. All in all, there are 7 million Catalan speakers.
As we were saying, this Catalan TV had a great acceptance throughout the Catalan speaking territories. Many people were shocked when they first saw Hollywood actors and actresses speaking their same language, even using their everyday expressions and idioms.
The people from Valencia, decided they wanted to be able to see this TV, and paid, with private donations to a cultural association called ACPV, the antennas required to get the Catalan signal into the Valencian territory.
ACPV, which stands for Acció Cultural del País Valencià (that is, Cultural Action of the Valencian Land) then installed a series of repeaters throughout the Valencian land, so the Catalan TV could be enjoyed by everybody in the southern territories.
Then, a few years after TV3 appeared, the Valencian Government decided to create its own TV channel. And inforced the law for the creation of a Valencian TV also in Catalan language. But they did a wrong thing: they decided to occupy the frequency of the Catalan signal, so everybody would automatically see the Valencian TV instead of the Catalan signal. This was done due to political reasons. The Valencian TV was born a few weeks before the Valencian elections, and the socialist politics needed to show their TV, so every valencian would see their “results”.
ACPV accepted to change frequencies, and then, the Catalan TV channel could be seen again in the Valencian cities.
In 1995-1996, the Valencian elections gave the power to the PP (wich stands for Partido Popular, the Popular Party) the Spanish catholic liberal party. This party governed thanks to the alliance with a pseudo-regionalist party called UV (Unio Valenciana, Valencian Union), which defended the idea of Catalan and Valencian as different languages (while all universities and scientific institutions claim that Catalan and Valencian are different branches of a same language). The idea relying under UV is simple: divide and conquer, divide the language, so its speakers will feel confused then quit it.
This party introduced a series of laws, and elliminated others, such as the one which made it possible for Catalan professors to teach in the Valencian schools and high schools with a Catalan language certificate from the Government of Catalonia. Only those professors with a language certificate expedited by the Valencian Government were recognized to know Valencian.
Inside the sinus of this party, also existed (and yet exist) many people which are against the Catalan TV, because it mentions the Valencian territory as a “land” and not a “former reign” or simply “spanish region”, as well as it recognizes the unity of the language (accepted, as said above, by each and every university both nation-wide and world-wide, as well as by all serious academic institutions, and the Justice Court of Valencia, the Upper Spanish Court (Supreme Court), as well as the highest of the Spanish courts, that is the Constitutional Court of Spain).
Now, after 20 years of Catalan TV in the Valencian cities and villages, the PP, taking refuge in the Valencian Audiovisual Act, has started a trial against the ACPV (the cultural association above mentioned), to close each of the repeaters that take the signal from Catalonia into Valencia.
The repeater in Xixona (Alacant/Alicante), has been yet closed, and so will the other two big ones near the city of València/Valencia and also in Castelló/Castellón. Also, ACPV has been condemned to pay a fine of three hundred thousand euros (300,000).
ACPV, by the other hand, has also started a trial against the Valencian Goverment, to stop it from ceasing the signal. The Upper Valencian Court, is studying the case, to determine whether or not the freedom of speech and free information should be heavier than the Valencian Audiovisual Act. In this way, the Courts of Valencia and Castelló have ruled against the Valencian Goverment, and so stopped, by now, the signal cease.
But the Court of Alacant/Alicante has ruled against ACPV, so the Valencian Government has closed down the repeater in Xixona.
Also, the European Union has claimed that the Valencian Government with its behavior is infringing the Letter of Minority Languages of Europe, which was signed by Spain, and in which stands that the Goverments should make it easy for the minorities to achieve the TV channels in their language, even among regional or national borders.
Please do help ACPV and the Valencian people pay the enormous fine. Write to the Valencian politicians and tell them you are against their antidemocratic behavior, which we cannot understand in the 21st century, when TV and radio stations from around the globe are invading our homes, and we cannot see the TV of our northern neighbours.