Sistema Nacional de Televisión (National Television System), sometimes simply known as SNT, is a Paraguayantelevision network which reaches almost the entire population of Paraguay. SNT coverage almost all the Región Oriental, where approximately 97% of the population of Paraguay lives. Currently it has 11 repeaters.
Launched in 1965 by Carlos Moringo Delgado as TV Cerro Corá under the control of local politicians for much of its existence,[1] since 1999, the channel is owned by Albavisión, one of the three main media groups operating in Paraguay, which owns three sister channels: Paravisión and two former relay stations that became independent channels in their own right, news channel C9N and regional channel Sur Televisora Itapúa.[2]
History
Setup
The Paraguayan dictatorship led by Alfredo Stroessner had been studying the introduction of a television channel in the country since at least 1963. During a visit from then-president of Brazil João Goulart over the construction of the Itaipú dam,[3] Goulart said "Will this air on Paraguayan state TV?", to which Stroessner said that there was a station, which, in reality, did not exist at the time. From this episode, Stroesser started plans to set up the country's first television station.[4]
Another version of the same story involved Carlos Morínigo Delgado, close aid of Stroessner[5] and founder of what would become SNT, receiving a visit from Prince Philip of the United Kingdom at Hotel Guarani, who asked the same question in March 1962. This motivated Morínigo to set up the station, after encountering Philip at Segura la Torre.[6]
Unlike other countries, where the first television stations were set up by state companies, the service in Paraguay was being set up by a private company, which was one of the economic pillars of the regime. At the time, nobody owned a television set. Studies were being conducted abroad in Germany, France and Argentina from September 28, 1963,[7] with investigations and support from those countries coming to Paraguay.[7] The company was set up by 1963 by Carlos Morinigo Delgado, with the aim of receiving help from abroad and assist in its creation.[4] While in the Netherlands, Delgado signed an agreement with Philips to provide technical equipment.[8]
Early years
In mid-1965 the first experimental signals of TV Cerro Cora were activated, which launched on September 29 at 7pm.[7] The first program was the inaugural act of the channel presented by Ricardo Sanabria, where Alfredo Stroessner was present. This was followed by the first recorded item, which was about the benefits of television, narrated by Rodolfo Schaerer Peralta. The channel initially broadcast two hours a day.[4] Its facilities were located at the Instituto de Previsión Social (IPS).[5]
The first horoscope program was directed by a Paraguayan astrologer, who was removed after its first broadcast due to the difficulties the host had in speaking on camera. He was replaced by Argentine coach Héctor Moyano, who said he had studied astrology in Buenos Aires and who worked under the name Karim Gestal.
Programming at the time was mainly imported from abroad, with the daily schedule starting at 7pm and ending at midnight.[8]
In April 1966, the station moved to a new facility. TV Cerro Cora produced a five-minute newscast in its beginnings, where the presenters read news in front of the cameras, before adding Sucesos Paraguayos, by Prisciliano Sandoval, and Paraguay al día (produced by Telefilm, 1968-1982), a sort of televised newsreel, with Super 8 footage, concerning mainly official acts of the government. Among initial foreign shows that were carried were Bat Masterson, Lassie, The Aquanauts and The Flintstones. That same year, videotape equipment arrived to the channel, which also enabled the broadcast of international telenovelas.[4]
Among the first national non-news programs, the children's program Tele Nueve Club stood out, hosted by Edith Victoria, paving way for live programming.[8] Prime time entertainment productions included The Jacinto Herrera Show which was presented by the titular actor who was having a career in Argentina; Jueves de Gala was hosted by Mercedes Jané and Mario Prono; and Buscando la letra with Carmen Maida and Rodolfo Schaerer Peralta, were some of the most popular programs. Later, the main news program Hora 20 started, airing at 8pm, hosted by Héctor Velázquez and Susana Ibáñez Rojas. In 1966, the first "live telenovela" was broadcast, which was actually a televised play: Una noche en familia, with Mario Prono, Mercedes and Stella Marys Jané and 12-year old Luis D'Oliveira.[4]
From June 1969, the station started broadcasting at midday, with Humberto Rubín Producciones, created by the Rubín brothers (Armando, Humberto and Arturo), which combined folklore, reports and comedy segments including The Three Stooges shorts. Few people owned a television set by this period.[8]
At the beginning of its existence few people owned a television set, with viewers flocking in to households with a television set to watch movies or local comedy and sketch programs.[8]
SNT built a new building in 1973, located at the Carlos Antonio López Park in the neighborhood of Sajonia. Periodically during the dictatorship, SNT's facilities received visits from Alfredo Stroesser and his secretary Mario Abdo Benítez. Until the fall of the dictatorship in 1989, SNT was essentially a government mouthpiece. Even with the appearance of a second TV channel on channel 13 owned by a businessman with close links to the government, SNT remained in a hegemonical position.[4] SNT was also financed by Stroessner's propaganda, even though it wasn't directly owned by the government. The station received treasury funds and had uncertainties regarding the equipment it had bought, such as filming and transmission equipment as well as outside broadcasting vans.[5]
Forming a network
The channel made its first color tests in 1978 during the World Cup held in Argentina that year, coinciding with the opening of the Aregua Satellite Earth Station, which cemented Paraguay's connections to the outside world.[4] In 1975, SNT started working on the affiliate in Encarnación (Itapúa) on channel 7, which started the following year[9] and in 1980, in Presidente Franco (Alto Paraná) on channel 8. The formal arrival of color television in 1979 led to an increase in the quality of the programming shown.[8] That same year saw the arrival of Mario Ferreiro to the channel's news program Hora 20; he continued presenting news bulletins well into the 2000s.[8]
SNT's logo from 1993 to 2013.Variation of the 1993 SNT logo when the channel was branded as SNT Continental, between 1995 and 2000.
With the end of the dictatorship in 1989, network founder Carlos Morínigo Delgado mortgaged his assets and lost control of the channel.[6] He eventually died on October 17, 1993, at the age of 83.[8] On June 29, 1995, the channel was renamed SNT Continental[10] (being the first Paraguayan channel with international reach) and in the early 2000s it was renamed SNT Cerro Corá.[10] In the 2000s, other channels were created such as Paravisión and C9N, as sister channels.
A tornado knocked down SNT's transmitter on March 21, 1998 during the coverage of the 1998 Miss Paraguay pageant. None of SNT's staff was damaged. With the help of Tevedos' staff, the channel resumed its programming within less than 48 hours.[11][12]
Under Albavisión
Between 1998 and 1999, the former administrations, mostly politicians, left their control over the network, ultimately selling SNT to Mexican businessman Remigio Ángel González of the Albavisión conglomerate.[4] In 2005, at the time the network turned 40, local programming was heavily reduced, but was open for local programming, which was subject to cost-benefit relations. The network was already in a stage of massive consolidation, in both administrative and programming vectors.[8]
In 2003, the government demanded the dismantling of an SNT relay tower at the Carlos A. López park, over safety concerns.[13] The 40th anniversary of the channel was marked on September 29, 2005 with a special ceremony in the channel's facilities, as well as the beginning of a special series of channel and staff memories in its morning program La mañana de cada día.[14]
The network fired journalist Andrés Caballero on January 6, 2012, being accused of persecution by the new administration of the network.[15]
A bomb threat affected the SNT headquarters on the morning of July 23, 2012. There was no evacuation and police investigation was underway.[16] Said threat was later confirmed to be a false alarm.[17]
Following the conversion of PTV and Sur TV into independent channels within the same group, SNT's Asunción feed started broadcasting in Presidente Franco and Encarnación in frequencies adjacent to the existing channels.[18] On November 12, an agreement was signed between SNT, Paravisión, radio stations and ABC Diario to cover the internal elections of the Colorado Party on December 9.[19]
In 2013, the channel adopted its current logo, with a more "solid" approach and with a logo that was less diluted in colors, as the logo used since the 90s was already deemed outdated and out of phase.[20] SNT has been transmitting in high definition (HD) since April 2017, in a process that started with an experimental service on cable with the CONMEBOL qualifiers, which was followed by the terrestrial launch on channel 20.1.[21]
SNT conducted its digital test broadcasts in April 2017, at a time where the network was starting plans to convert to HD. The channel picked physical channel 20.1 for its broadcasts.[22] On June 13, 2017, it premiered Verdades Secretas.[23]
An official app (SNT Play) featuring live streams of SNT and C9N, among other functions, was made available in September 2019.[24] Chiche Corte, who had been with RPC in the past, rejoined SNT in January 2020, where his television career started in 1995. He joined the team of La mañana de cada día, replacing Carlos Troche.[25]
In March 2024, the station won the Top of Mind award for the most recognized TV channel in Paraguay.[26]
