| Instituto Nacional de Radio y Televisión | |
 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1964 (1964) |
| Dissolved | 2004 (2004) |
| Superseding agency | |
| Type | Decentralized body |
| Headquarters | Bogotá |
TheInstituto Nacional de Radio y Televisión (Inravisión) wasColombia's nationalpublic broadcasting organization between 1964 and 2004. It was created by Decree 3267 of 20 December 1963, which declared that from 1 April 1964 the country's public radio and television broadcasting service would be provided by Inravisión, "a public company with financial, administrative, and legal autonomy".
Among Inravisión's functions were to organize contracts with theprogramadoras, the companies who produced programs and aired them on the national networks; develop and execute the plans and projects adopted by the Colombian Ministry of Communications; and offer official educational, cultural and informational services through the country's radio and television infrastructure. In 1993, it also assumed the duties of screening programs, whichprogramadoras were required to send 72 hours in advance, for purposes of determining if the programs were suitable for viewing by minors.[1]
In the 1990s, Inravisión was wracked by continual technical problems, which included a 30-minute nationwide outage of all three channels in June 1995, described at the time as "the biggest rough patch in Inravisión's 41-year history";[2] commercials that did not air in correct color; signal reception deficiencies, even in major cities such asCali; poorly calibrated cameras; leaks in the studio buildings; commercials airing for the incorrect newscast; and a 77-minute outage of all three channels in December 1995.[3] On March 21, 1995, both Cadena Uno and Canal A started delivering a 24-hour service, investing over CO$12 billion. However, theprogramadoras became aware that there was little commercial return in overnight slots, as well as enabling the two networks to simulcast the output between 2 and 6am to cut costs. Infomercial providers lost revenue because of low rating (0,3 points), which did not cover operating costs. A Nielsen study released in 1995 showed that, with the Inravisión experiment, Colombians with cable andsatellite systems preferred watching their channels over the two networks after midnight.[4]
Inravisión's website moved in January 2001 from a commercial domain to a government domain.[5] Inravisión's radio stations, later taken over by its successor, were Frecuencia Joven (Bogotá 99.1, culture and rock), a folk music station on AM 570 and a classical music service on 95.9.[6]
Inravisión wasliquidated at the end of 2004,[7] during the first administration (2002–2006) ofPresidentÁlvaro Uribe Vélez. Contributing factors to the decision included the company's growing pension liabilities (600 billionColombian pesos),[8][9] its out-of-date technology, and theprogramadoras crisis, which leftCanal Uno in a failed financial state and forced the state to operate Canal A asCanal Institucional. At its closure, Inravisión had 411 employees.Audiovisuales, the stateprogramadora, was also liquidated.
It was succeeded byRadio Televisión Nacional de Colombia (RTVC).