TV & Internet in Madrid

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TV and Radio service in Madrid

The standards for television reception in Spain aren't the same as in some other countries. Due to the differences in transmission standards, television sets and video recorders operating on the British (PAL-I), French (SECAM) or North American (NTSC) systems won't function in Spain. Spain (along with most other continental European countries) uses the PAL-BG standard.

There is no TV licence in Spain.

Tv Channels in Spain

Radio y Televisión Española (RTVE) is the national state-owned television broadcaster in Spain. Its activities were earlier financed by a combination of advertising revenue and subventions from the national government. However, since January 2010 it has been supported only by public subsidies. RTE has responsibilities to deliver public service programmes in Spain.

In the rest of the channels broadcasted, adverts are very frequents, sometimes doubling the length of the film or program content.

There are several Tv channels in Spain. Between the most important, we can highlight:

  • National Tv channels
    • RTVE1 - Main RTÉ national station. "La 1" is a generalist channel which mainly broadcasts news reports and programmes, documentaries, magazine programmes, Spanish and Hispanic Latin American TV series, films (particularly Spanish and American films) and some popular sports competitions.
    • RTVE2: La 2 mainly broadcast cultural programming, North American TV series, documentaries, Spanish and European films, news reports, debates and musicals.
    • Clan: Clan is a children's channel, but also offers some programming aimed at teenagers during the evening and repeats TVE content from other channels during the early hours.
    • TeleDeporte: Teledeporte broadcasts major Spanish and international sporting events.
    • 24h: It broadcasts news reports, debates, analyses, interviews as well as rolling news. It was Spain's first 24-hour news channel.
    • Autonomic (regional) channels. TeleMadrid is broadcasted in Madrid
  • Rest of the most popular and private channels

Cable TV in Spain

If you wish to have access to a wider range of programs, you can subscribe to a monthly cable service. Most of the properties are already wired for cable service, but you can also set-up a connection when you subscribe for service as well. Average price is around 300€ a year.

The Cable system main providers are:

Satellite TV in Spain

A satellite receiver should have a built-in Videocrypt decoder (and others such as Eurocrypt, if required) and be capable of receiving satellite stereo radio. With a 1.2 or 1.5 meter motorized dish, you can receive hundreds of stations in a multitude of languages from around the world. If you wish to receive satellite TV on two or more TVs, you can buy a satellite system with two or more receptors. To receive stations from two or more satellites simultaneously, you need a motorized dish or a dish with a double feed antenna (dual LNBs).

The Satellite system main providers are:

Internet in Spain

Internet is available in all populated areas of Spain, although it might be less available in rural areas.

The maximum speed that you can reach in Spain is 60Mbps (4G). However, offers for higher speed are dependent on the quality of the line, such as length of the wire, attenuation, and noise.

Providers

The majority of providers offer service packages that include a phone line and interactive TV in addition to an Internet connection. The speed and price of the Internet connection depends on the infrastructure available at your address. Commonly the price of a router is included in the contract, however you can choose to buy your own.

Services and prices vary from provider to provider. The main Spanish broadband providers are:

WiFi in Madrid

WiFi is being offered around the city for free and it is available 24/7 at various hotspots. Grupo Gowex, in collaboration with Madrid government, offers wi-fi connexion in some newspaper kiosks (kioscos de prensa), municipal buses, shops and cafés, etc.

Moreover, the connection on the buses is totally free, as are many of the other hotspots, although with a limited bandwidth.

To connect to the hotspots, you will have to register on Gowex.com website and look for a hotspot named "GOWEX WiFi" or "Madrid WiFi".

A map of the Gowex wi-fi hotspots can be found here

Update 8/06/2018


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Comments

 saracovar

09/10/2019

MovieBox
I use MovieBox (https://movieboxprofession.com/) to watch movies and TV shows for free. When using MovieBox, there is no charge for the service.

 dmanning1972

02/10/2010

Free US TV
I have started using a new free US TV service from USTVNow http://www.ustvnow.com
They give you all of the major networks live in full screen. It really is completely free and I didn't have to give my CC or even download any software! They don't IP block but require you to authenticate that you are an American Citizen or resident (takes 30 seconds). There is a very cool network DVR so I can record shows even if they are not in my time zone. I may upgrade to one of their paid plans with more channels but you can just use the free plan. After a quick registration, you have instant access. I also like that the paid plans have no setup fee and require no contract. They say they will soon have a set top box available that they say should work with any kind of TV. This is great!

 Tyler_D

11/01/2010

I live in rural area of Spain
and it was a real pain to get internet access.

Hence, I had to sign up to a satellite internet service.

I used a UK based company who also work within Europe http://www.broadbandwherever.net

They offer 2 way satellite internet which is really quick and reliable.

 dmanning1972

09/09/2009

US TV in Spain
When I go overseas, I have been using a service from a company called NationPhone&TV called USATVAbroad. The website is http://www.usatvabroad.com I get a 200 channel US Cable subscription with all major networks plus HBO and Showtime streamed live via internet and use their set top box to watch on my TV.

 bk_man

18/11/2006

English TV in Spain
The people at smart2check.com sell receivers for the purpose of UK tv abroad for all of Europe and can arrange installer in some parts of Spain including costa-del-sol and lanzarote

 Philip

03/03/2003

UK TV by satellite
UK / American TV is also available by satellite from dave@skyeurope.tv

 Angela C Le Pera

24/01/2003

TV licence in Spain?
Hello, just to let you know that I have lived in Spain for the last 32 years and you don't need a TV licence. Of course we have Channel + (canal +) and other private channels but it does not work as here in the UK. You don't need a TV licence.

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