Telefónica and RTVE will digitize and market the Corporation's documentary collection

Both companies ratify a strategic agreement to develop, among other matters, the digitalization, exploitation and commercialization project of the RTVE Corporation's documentary collection. The Telefónica Group companies will broadcast through their channels on IPTV, mobile, Internet, Internet TV…. the contents of the RTVE commercial catalog.

RTVE and Telefónica, in their capacity as exclusive technological partner, will develop the implementation, start-up and execution tasks of the RTVE Content Digitization Project, which will fundamentally consist of the transformation of formats, digitization, storage of digitized content and management, use and maintenance of all assets. The work will be carried out over a period of approximately 4 years, to digitize more than 800,000 hours of TVE's Documentary Fund.

Likewise, Telefónica will collaborate with RTVE in the distribution and exploitation of the contents of the RTVE Documentary Fund, either through their consumption by the Group's companies through its channels -IPTV, mobile, Internet, Internet TV...-, or through collaboration formulas through its commercial network.

The Strategic Collaboration Framework Agreement signed by both companies has now been developed through a specific agreement approved a month ago by the RTVE Board of Directors. Telefónica and RTVE Delegations have practically finalized the definitive model of the process to follow, as they have explained today to the Presidents of the two corporations.

Alierta's visit to RTVE

All this has become evident during the visit that the President of Telefónica, César Alierta, made to the RTVE facilities, where he corroborated these commitments before the president of RTVE, Luis Fernández. The representatives of the work teams, who specify the objectives and conditions under which the project must be executed, have explained the progress made and the upcoming completion of the work.

The president of Telefónica, César Alierta, has highlighted his satisfaction at participating in the full enhancement of the most important audiovisual Documentary Fund in the Spanish language and, in particular, for the fact that Telefónica can use these materials on its different platforms and in its new initiatives. He also highlighted the importance of contributing to the RTVE Documentary Fund contributing to a greater dissemination of Information and Culture from the Spanish perspective, through the 24 Hours and Cultural•es Channels, as well as to the image of Spain abroad, through the TVE International Channel.

For his part, the President of RTVE has highlighted that the agreement with Telefónica aims to highlight the profound transformation undertaken within Spanish public radio and television. "We are proud to have as a partner, he said, the most important technology company in Spain, one of the first in the world, because we aim for an excellent objective: to make available to citizens, in the best possible conditions, through all the means and supports that society offers us, the Documentary Fund that collects the past of all Spaniards. But with the conviction that this past also constitutes our future, our memory and even our emotions."

The bases of the agreement

Telefónica will develop its enormous experience in audiovisual services, designing and launching new audiovisual services, based on digitalization and interactivity, new resources and new training, while RTVE will offer content in Spanish for the development of new opportunities and the use of emerging technologies and supports.

Telefónica is a supplier to RTVE of communications services and ICT solutions, and a client of RTVE advertising spaces, and both parties have been collaborating for years in other fields, such as the preliminary definition of a methodology for the preservation of RTVE's Documentary Fund and the implementation of the comprehensive digital production system for Information Services.

RTVE and Telefónica consider the joint exploration, definition and implementation of new audiovisual services, based on digitalization and interactivity, and projects related to R&D&I and personnel training, with business models already known, or to be defined, that allow increasing the value of both RTVE content and Telefónica services to be key.