Channel 11 (Salta, Argentina)
| Company type | Television station |
|---|---|
| Industry | Broadcasting |
| Founded | December 9, 1963 in Salta, Argentina |
| Headquarters | Salta , Argentina |
Area served | Salta Province, Argentina |
| Owner | Televisión Litoral |
Canal 11 Salta (call sign LW 82 TV), operating under the brand name elonce, is a television station transmitting on channel 11 in Salta, Salta Province, Argentina. The station features programming from Telefe and is owned by Televisión Litoral.
Initial phase and government involvement
The National Executive Branch granted Compañía de Radio y Televisión S.A. the license to operate channel 11 in Salta on December 9, 1963.[1] Regular transmissions commenced on April 1, 1966, under the designation LW 82 TV Canal 11 de Salta.[2]
On August 31, 1973, Decree 980 approved the inclusion of 44 new shareholders into the Radio and Television Company, the channel's license holder.[3]
Channel 11 began color broadcasting on May 1, 1980.[4] That same year, repeaters were established in Rosario de la Frontera on December 1 and in Tartagal on March 1, 1981.[5]
From 1983 through 1989, several decrees authorized additional investors such as Alejandro Pablo Patrón Costas, Margarita Gómez Rincón de Lecuona de Prat, Martín Patrón Costas, Héctor Cornejo D'Andrea, Horacio Patrón Costas, Gloria Eusebia Urrestarazu de Cabañillas, and Fernando Lecuona de Prat to join.[6]
Transition to private ownership
In 1989, Televisión Federal S.A. obtained the license to privatize channel 11 in Buenos Aires. One of its shareholders, Televisoras Provinciales, was a coalition of regional broadcasters including Emisora Arenales.
Atlántida Comunicaciones acquired the stake held by Televisoras Provinciales in Telefe along with seven of its ten affiliated stations—among them LW 82 TV—in April 1998, completing the acquisition by September. In 1999, Emisora Arenales de Radiodifusión merged into Compañía de Televisión del Atlántico S.A.
During this era, LW 82 TV participated in digital television trials. The Secretariat of Communications authorized tests of the ATSC digital system—the first digital TV standard attempted in Argentina—in February 1999. Channel 11 conducted these trials on VHF channel 10 starting October that year.
The Telefónica era
On November 30, 1999, Spanish telecom firm Telefónica announced it would purchase the remaining 70 percent of Atlántida—including Telefe, seven affiliate stations, and FM Hit radio—for US$530 million. Concurrently, Telefónica intended to acquire a half stake in Azul Televisión—a Buenos Aires station—and its three repeaters such as Mar del Plata’s channel 10. On April 19, 2000, Argentina’s antitrust authority approved both deals with the condition that one of the two Mar del Plata stations be sold within six months.
This sale was postponed. In November 2001, COMFER ordered Telefónica to decide within a year which Mar del Plata station and which network—Azul Televisión or Telefe—it would divest. Telefónica kept Telefe and its affiliate channel 8 due to higher ratings while selling Azul Televisión and channel 10 to a consortium led by Daniel Hadad and Fernando Sokolowicz.
In 2009, Argentina adopted the ISDB-T digital television standard. Canal 11 Salta chose UHF channel 39 for its digital broadcasts. Later, on June 4, 2015, AFSCA granted Canal 11 permission to transmit its high-definition digital signal on UHF channel 20.1.
Transition from Channel 11 to Telefe Salta
On November 3, 2016, Viacom declared its purchase of Telefe along with its associated stations for a total of US$345 million; the acquisition was completed by November 15. The ENACOM gave its approval for the deal on March 30, 2017.
In November 2018, Telefe introduced a rebranding initiative in line with Argentina's shift to digital television, replacing channel numbers with city-specific names. As a result, the historic "Canal 11" adopted the new name Telefe Salta. This change aimed to standardize the brand across regional outlets, improving market uniformity and audience familiarity.
Acquisition by TVL
On September 29, 2023, Grupo Televisión Litoral took ownership of the channel. Following this, on October 2, 2023, the channel underwent a rebranding to become elonceTV.
Repeaters
elonceTV maintains four relay transmitters throughout Salta Province.
| Salta Province Relay Transmitters | |
|---|---|
| Channel | Location |
| 6 | Cerro Cantera/San Ramón de la Nueva Orán |
| 12 | El Tunal |
| 9 | Pozo Verde/Rosario de la Frontera |
| 5 | Tartagal |