Quiero Television
 | |
| Industry | Digital Terrestrial Television services |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2000 |
| Defunct | April 2002 |
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
| Headquarters | Spain |
Quiero Televisión SA, commonly known as Quiero TV (Spanish for "I-Want TV"), was a pay television service over digital terrestrial television (TDT) in Spain in the early years of the digital television transition. It launched in 2000,[1]
Quiero TV received its digital television license in 1999, and operated from 2000 to 2002, with 14 channels, at a time when the only other digital terrestrial channels were TVE 1 and La 2, the two main channels of Spain's public broadcaster.[1] Quiero TV was 49% owned by Auna/Retevisión;[2] other investors included Planeta of Spain, Carlton Communications of the UK, and the MediaPark investment firm of Catalonia.[3]
Having to compete aggressively with satellite and cable for the pay TV market, Quiero TV provided set-top boxes and antenna servicing to subscribers. Expenses ended up being far higher than planned. By early 2001, Quiero had 200,000 subscribers, but afterwards, customer counts decreased.[1] Losing 24 million euros a month, and failing to find anyone to buy the company, it shut down in April 2002, having lost around 600 million euros total.[3] Another Carlton pay television service, ITV Digital in the United Kingdom, also shut down a month later.
References
- ^ a b c Suárez Candel, Roberto. "DTV in Spain". In Van den Broeck, Wendy; Pierson, Jo (eds.). Digital Television in Europe. Brussels: VUBpress. pp. 199–200. ISBN 9789054875413.
- ^ "Quiero TV may be shut down, says Auna CFO". telecompaper. Houten: Telecom.paper BV. 8 April 2002. Retrieved 2012-12-09.
- ^ a b "Quiero DTT service falls under debt burden.(digital terrestrial television company shuts down)". Screen Digest. April 1, 2002. Archived from the original on October 18, 2016. Retrieved 2012-12-09.