page_title: Television in Argentina
section_title: Government intervention (1974–1983)
hierarchical_section_title: Television in Argentina / History / Government intervention (1974–1983)
caption_attribution_description: Mirtha Legrand en Almorzando con Mirtha Legrand
context_page_description: Television is one of the major mass media of Argentina. As of 2019, household ownership of television sets in the country is 99%, with the majority of households usually having two sets. Cable television has become the most used type of delivering, with 73.2% of households having a cable provider.
  Argentine television broadcasting officially began on October 17, 1951, with the inaugural of the state-owned Canal 7. It remains as the network with the biggest national coverage, while private broadcasting networks have a big number of affiliates in different cities through all the country. Argentina also became the fourth most important country in terms of export of television formats, only surpassed by the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
  Argentina's broadcast television system inlcludes PAL-N for analog television and ISDB-T for digital television. Half of television sets in Argentina still remain with analog services.
context_section_description: Previously, in 1968, the government expressed that network licenses should be renewed every 15 years, but on October 8, 1973, the licenses expired and were not renewed, so Canal 9, Teleonce, and Canal 13 were in an irregular situation. The private networks were intervened by the government, first partially and then definitively by a decree of the government of María Estela Martínez de Perón on September 26, 1974, arguing that Argentina was not in a position to have commercial networks, and that television had to adopt a model similar to the European, dominated by public institutions.
  Popular shows during the 1970s included variety shows Música en Libertad, Alta Tensión and Grandes Valores del Tango, sketch comedies like La Tuerca, Hiperhumor and El Chupete, competition shows Si lo Sabe Cante and Yo Me Quiero Casar, ¿y Usted? and telenovelas Rolando Rivas, Taxista, Pobre Diabla, Dos a Quererse and Piel Naranja, in which several actors and actresses like Arnaldo André, Claudio García Satur, Claudio Levrino, María de los Ángeles Medrano, Arturo Puig, Soledad Silveyra and Beatriz Taibo became famous.
  After the 1976 Argentine coup d'état and the establishment of the civic-military dictatorship, previously private television channels came to be controlled by the Armed Forces: Canal 9 by the Army, Canal Once by the Air Force and Canal 13 by the Navy. Under the dictatorship, censorship and persecution of various people such as Norma Aleandro, Héctor Alterio, Carlos Carella, Juan Carlos Gené, Nacha Guevara, Víctor Laplace, Federico Luppi, Bárbara Mujica, Luis Politti, Marilina Ross, Irma Roy and David Stivel was exercised, and shows such as El Chupete and Déle Crédito a Tato were removed from the schedule.
  Since Argentina was selected to host the 1978 FIFA World Cup, preparations to launch television in color began, by adopting the PAL system. This led to the change of name of Canal 7 to Argentina Televisora Color (Argentine Color Television), abbreviated as ATC on May 3, 1979. Later, the official inauguration of color transmissions was successfully held on May 1, 1980.
caption: Being on the air since June 3, 1968, Almorzando con Mirtha Legrand (hosted by Mirtha Legrand, in the picture) has become Argentina's second longest-running show and one of the most popular since its premiere.[20]
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