TVS was founded by Daniel Diez Castillo in 1993 and is located in the small town of San Pablo de Yao, in the Buey Arriba territory.
Before Castillo came along, the rest of Cuba portrayed Sierra Maestra as the "producers of staples; nothing was said about their dreams, their conflicts, their culture" [5] .
[7] The crew of TVS consists of “three cameramen, three directors, two editors, two producers, two sound assistants and three drivers [8] who also set up the lighting when needed.
A video letter is a reportage that captures the people of Sierra Maestra’s experiences, lives and dreams through their own perspective.
A majority of the training workshops were given through El Centro de Estudios para la Comunicación Comunitaria (CECC), created in 1996.
TV Serrana along with the help of supporting institutions provides training and services through seminars that help locals with communication and community building skills through the use of media.
[9] Other services accessible through TVS is the ability to transfer and copy video-cassettes from and to Beta and S-VHS which allow people within the communities to share their stories.
The people of Sierra Maestra felt the newcomers were intruding onto their land, interrupting their daily lives and thought the intentions of the crew were to give the locals a bad image.