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Television

Television is the communication medium of choice in urban Guatemala, leading all other media formats. As a weekly source for news, television is clearly the most popular medium, used by 97 percent of adults. This compares with 83 percent for radio and 71 percent for newspapers.

Cable penetration is quite high in urban Guatemala. Nearly 64 percent of urban Guatemalans surveyed said they have access to cable, providing them a wide range of national and local television channels.

Chart 1

Private operators dominate the media scene. Four of the six national TV channels share the same owner, Angel Gonzalez Gonzalez and his ALBAVISION media house, holding a virtual monopoly in TV broadcasting. Currently the government possesses two broadcast licenses but is not transmitting.

Channel 7 (“Televisiete”) was not only the most popular television station in the AudienceScapes survey but respondents also listed it as their most important source for news and information, followed by Channel 3. Interestingly, the next most important TV news source was the international channel CNN en espanol, yet it only garnered 8 percent. However, this percentage is much higher among those with a university education or a high-income.

Chart 2

Cognizant of the large indigenous population in Guatemala, the government issued a TV broadcasting license (Channel 5) to the Academy of Mayan Languages of Guatemala (Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala), an autonomous state agency. Channel 5 seeks to promote and develop knowledge of the Mayan language.

Other somewhat popular niche religious outlets Channel 21 (Enlace) and Channel 27. Channel 21 broadcasts programming representing multiple denominations and has an international presence. Channel 27 broadcasts exclusively in Guatemala and features evangelical Christian programming. According to the AudienceScapes survey, 30 percent of respondents said they watch Channel 27 at least weekly.