Canal 13 (Colombian)
Canal Trece (stilized as Trece.) Is a Colombian free-to-air television network with regional coverage, specialized in cultural programming. Being a public television station, it is owned by the Colombian Government and its operations are managed by the RTVC Public Media System. The headquarters of the channel are located in Bogotá.
Conceived originally as part of a project to assign a departmental public television channel to the Boyacá department, the channel was officially launched on September 1, 1998 under the name of Teveandina.It was available in Bogotá and 14 other Colombian departments: Amazonas, Arauca, Boyacá, Caquetá, Casanare, Cundinamarca, Guainía, Guaviare, Huila, Meta, Putumayo, Tolima, Vaupés and Vichada.
At first, the channel was limited to the broadcasting of programming blocks acquired by third-party companies on their own signal, who rented space to sell their productions. After the inauguration of the first private channels in the country in 1998, the channel went through a great economic crisis due to the fall in the audience that brought the opening of signals. Due to this, several production companies migrated to Caracol and RCN as main clients, so Teveandina started issuing infomercials to keep their signal on air. However, in 2000 the channel declared bankruptcy. But Telecom Colombia (currently Movistar Colombia), the majority shareholder of the channel, contributed 700 million pesos to maintain the company, and the National Television Authority (ANTV) contributed 200 million pesos more to pay the salaries of employees.