RTVC and Atresmedia Partner to Digitize Three Decades of Canary Islands History
Radio Televisión Canaria has partnered with Atresmedia to digitize and preserve 8,000 hours of audiovisual archives documenting three decades of the archipelago's history.
The Canary Islands have taken a major step toward preserving their history following a new agreement between Radio Televisión Canaria (RTVC) and the Atresmedia group. This partnership allows the regional broadcaster to digitize and manage the audiovisual archives produced by Antena 3’s local news team in the islands between 1990 and 2018.
This project rescues nearly 8,000 hours of footage, documenting three decades of the archipelago’s contemporary history. The collection includes both finished news reports and raw footage, capturing key milestones such as the islands' integration into the European Union and the evolution of their unique economic and tax systems. By cataloging these images, RTVC is filling a significant gap in the public record, providing a visual chronicle of the political, social, and sporting events that shaped the region.
The agreement was signed in Madrid by RTVC’s general administrator, César Toledo, and Atresmedia’s corporate general director, Patricia Pérez González, alongside other representatives from both organizations. For Atresmedia, the transfer is a gesture of corporate responsibility, returning this valuable history to the Canarian public after 28 years of reporting in the region.
For RTVC, the project is a significant logistical undertaking, but one that treats the archive as a vital cultural asset. Digitizing these recordings will protect them from physical decay and make them accessible to the public for the first time. This initiative highlights the increasingly important role of regional broadcasters in safeguarding local history that might otherwise be lost or remain hidden in private archives.