was established on 18 August 1953 by the Corporación Radiofónica de Venezuela (more commonly known as Coraven, a subsidiary of the Grupo Phelps and RCA), whose mission was that of launching a television network.

[3][9] In the month of September, Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) began test broadcasts on channel seven using the call sign YVKS-TV, and on 15 November, the network was officially inaugurated at 7:30 pm.

[3][10] The official inauguration of RCTV took place at its studios located between the corners of Bárcenas and Río in Quinta Crespo, and had the presence of the Minister of Communications, Colonel Félix Román Moreno, the proprietors of the network, and a small group of special guests.

At the start, Francisco Amado Pernía hosted the then new news program from Monday to Saturday and on Sunday the newscast had Cristóbal Rodríquez Pantoja as presenter.

[3] RCTV's first board of directors included José Marcano Coello, Peter Bottome, Armando Enrique Guía, Guillermo Tucker Arismendi, William H. Phelps, Jr., and Antonio Ortol.

[3] In 1962, RCTV, in a resolve to demonstrating a technological advancement for the network, began producing its programs electronically through a locally manufactured editing machine for camera footage.

[3] Also in 1962, RCTV began broadcasts to the state of Táchira and the Norte de Santander Department in Colombia from a transmitter located in the high barren plain of El Zumbador.

Written by Alfredo Cortina, starred by the Peruvian actor Luis Muñoz Lecaro (Simón Bolívar), directed by José Antonio Ferrara, and presented by Ruben Darío Villasmil, El Ocaso de un Sol made its mark by being one of the first productions by RCTV recorded on videotape.

Armando Enrique Guía, Hernán Pérez Belisario, and Gustavo Rada were in charge of the transmission which counted a satellital antenna, a channel of microwave transmitters and a submarine cable.

[10] The 600-episode telenovela El Derecho de Nacer, created by Félix B. Caignet and starring among others Raúl Amundaray, Conchita Obach and Amalia Pérez Díaz [es], which debuted in 1966, would help define the network's drama programming in the latter half of the decade.

In just 48 episodes each lasting two hours, José Ignacio Cabrujas brought to television the classic novel authored by Rómulo Gallegos in 1929 and later creating into a trilogy with Canaima and Cantaclaro.

Under the direction of the Argentine producer Juan Lamata and with César Bolívar in charge of photography, eighty percent of this production was filmed outdoors (mainly in the llanos of the Apure State).

Shortly after Luis Herrera Campins assumed the presidency in 1979, Alerta was taken off the air as a result of a highly controversial report that was conducted on the children's mental hospital located in Catia La Mar.

[3] On 31 March 1976, RCTV's transmissions were suspended for 72 hours by the first government of Carlos Andrés Pérez for issuing "false and tendacious news", in regard to the kidnapping of the American businessman William Niehous, then president of Owens-Illinois Venezuela.

[9] According to an article published in the Caracas daily newspaper, El Nacional, dated 27 September 1981, RCTV was admonished by the national government for having announced prematurely the death of ex-president Rómulo Betancourt.

Among the most highlighted were La Madamme (with Mimí Lazo), Cuerpos Clandestinos (with María Conchita Alonso), Volver a Ti (with Ruddy Rodríguez), and Buen Corazón (with Coraima Torres), among many others.

[18][19] On 1 August 1991, the Venezuelan government forced RCTV not to air a sketch in Radio Rochela, called "La Escuelita", due to its controversial nature.

[10] That same year, it was the first Venezuelan TV network to take part in the trials of digital television as the government originally planned to adopt the American ATSC standard.

Gustavo Cisneros, owner of Venevisión, stated that the alleged news blackout was a result of threats received from pro-Chávez demonstrators and callers who claimed to be members of the Chávez government.

On his weekly television program Aló Presidente and in other forums, he regularly referred to the leading private media owners as "coup plotters", "fascists", and "the four horsemen of the apocalypse".

[40] RCTV may continue broadcasting over cable or DTH systems (DirecTV Latin America) when its license expires, but the government will take over the equipment, studios and even the master control for their use in the new station it has created on 27 May 2007.

On 24 May, the Supreme Court ordered RCTV to stop broadcasting as soon as its license expires and approved the government's takeover of its equipment, though it would review the station's appeal of the decision.

One poll, conducted in April 2007 by the Venezuelan company Datanálisis, found that 13% of the population agreed with the revocation of RCTV's license, while 70% rejected the government's decision.

[68] The U.S. State Department,[69] the European Union,[70] the senates of Chile[70][71] and Brazil,[72] and the legislatures of a number of other Latin American countries also expressed concern over the incident.

[citation needed] Costa Rican President Óscar Arias Sánchez stated that any media closing was a deathly strike against any democratic system.

[79] Chávez said that presidents Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and Evo Morales of Bolivia have phoned to show support to his decision and that Álvaro Uribe from Colombia said that his country would not involve itself in Venezuela's internal affairs.

[86] In March 2009, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) concluded two cases brought against Venezuela by the private Venezuelan TV stations Globovisión and RCTV.

In the wake of the loss of its terrestrial licence, RCTV announced plans to continue broadcasting its main news program El observador on popular internet video host YouTube during 2007.

TV Chile, an international channel of Chilean state television network TVN, had failed to respond to a January 14 deadline for clarifying the nature of its content.

It uses Streann Media's content streaming solution,[102] and it's available on Android and iOS/iPadOS phones and tablets, Roku devices and desktop web browsers as a free service with no geoblocking.