The World: Insider's View - Spain.

Sogecable is set to shake up the Spanish TV market by transforming Canal+ into a free-to-air digital channel, Jesus Olivar writes.

The Spanish television market is bracing itself for a series of changes this autumn that will introduce a new analogue channel, a number of digital terrestrial stations and, most importantly, launch Cuatro TV, a 24-hour, open-access channel from the pay-TV group Sogecable.

Sogecable is no stranger to Spanish television. However, its Canal+ channel, which it is rebranding Cuatro, has never been available free to air. It was only able to broadcast for six hours a day, the remainder of the signal being encrypted and only available to subscribers.

Sogecable applied to the government in February to change its Canal+ licence. Canal+ will be moved to Socecable's digital platform, Digital+, as a premium channel broadcasting sport and films.

The application was not made without prompting objections, mainly from the national commercial broadcasters, Antena 3 and Tele 5. For them,Cuatro is a threat. They fear it will fragment audiences and eat into their advertising revenue.

Sogecable is investing heavily to ensure Cuatro's success, pulling in a number of professionals from other companies in the group to run the project. One of the biggest gambles has been to hire Inaki Gabilondo as the anchorman for Cuatro's primetime news programme. Gabilondo is the presenter of the leading Spanish radio show, Hoy por Hoy (At the Present Time). His move to TV shows that Sogecable wants Cuatro to stand out ...