Television As the Most Dominant Medium in urban Peru

Television is the most accessible and most widely used ICT in urban Peru (98 percent of survey respondents said they have household access and 99 percent report weekly use). In addition, more than 50 percent said they have access to international channels through cable and satellite television. Ninety three percent of urban Peruvian respondents also reported watching television daily.

According to 2009 figures from the Ministry for Transportation and Communication (MTC), there were more than 895,000 cable subscribers in Peru, of which slightly more than 667,000 were in Lima and Callao. [1] The cable market is dominated by Cable Magico, which belongs to the Telefonica Group. Illegal cable connections are reportedly very common in Peru. According to the Cable Magico website, there are three illegal connections for every 10 legal ones.

Chart 1

Urban Peruvians have a variety of television channels to choose from. According to the Ministry of Communication and Transportation (MTC), there were 1,042 licensed television stations in the entire country in 2009, of which 680 are VHF and 362 are UHF.

America TV is the most popular TV station in the country among urbanites with a weekly reach of 90 percent among the urban survey respondents (see chart TV 1). America TV offers a variety of programs and is known for its analytical newscasts, such as those on. “Cuarto Poder”, the most popular Sunday newscast. The show’s reports focus on corruption practices of government officials. The station also hosts daily morning shows such as Laura Huarcayo's Lima Limon and other popular TV shows "Habacilar", "Cinescape" and "Recargados de Risa". America TV produces popular soap operas such as "Luz Maria", "Pobre Diabla", "Isabella: Mujer Enamorada", and a reality show, "El Desafío del Inca".

Andina de Radiodifusion y Television (ATV) which had a weekly reach of 81 percent in our survey, is the second most popular TV station (see chart 2). It has become popular for its Brazilians soap operas, gossip programs and international movies, attracting large audiences of women and young urban dwellers in particular.

Frecuencia Latina, with 77 percent weekly reach, (see chart 1) has always aligned itself with opposition interests. Its news programs often report investigations of government wrongdoing and the station is perceived by the public as the opposition channel.

Table 1

Television is also the most important source of news and information among the urban survey respondents in Peru.

America TV leads In terms of trustworthinessin the news and information provided (see table 1).

The second most popular channel, ATV had a much lower rating for its perceived trustworthiness (14 percent) and indeed, all other channels had much lower ratings.

There is some government presence in the media with one state-run TV channel (National Television of Peru TNP, Canal 7). However this station was not as popular with urban Peruvians (number 5 on Chart TV 1).

Although, international channels were available in urban Peru, they popularity or trustworthiness (for information) did not rival those of the Peruvian channels as seen in Chart TV 2.

Chart 2

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[1] Ministerio de Transportes y Comunicaciones – MTC. Accessed from http://www.mtc.gob.pe