The CNTV expires the analog television concession of Chonchi

The National Television Council (CNTV) applied the sanction of expiration to the free-to-air television broadcasting concession, analog VHF band, channel 7, in the town of Chonchi, Los Lagos Region, for failing to meet the deadlines for migration to digital television. The decision is contained in exempt resolution No. 963, dated October 16, 2025, published in the Official Gazette No. 44,555 on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, Section II, pages 1 to 4 (CVE 2872784). The concessionaire must immediately cease its transmissions in analog technology.

The framework for the measure is the special technological migration regime of Law No. 20,750, which regulates the introduction of Terrestrial Digital Television, in relation to Law No. 18,838, which creates the National Television Council. The seventh paragraph of the second transitory article of Law No. 20,750 provides that failure to comply with digital coverage deadlines is sanctioned according to article 33, numeral 4, letter a) of Law No. 18,838, namely, with the expiration of the concession. The act was signed by Mauricio Alberto Muñoz Gutiérrez, president of the CNTV, and orders the recording and notification of the interested party and the Undersecretariat of Telecommunications.

The concession and its holder

The analog concession in the VHF band, channel 7, of Chonchi belongs to Radiodifusión y Telecomunicaciones Alex Nahuelquín Nahuelquín EIRL, RUT No. 76,709,710-7. It was granted via CNTV resolution No. 14, dated April 8, 2008, recorded by the Comptroller General of the Republic on April 24, 2008, with formal validity until April 24, 2033.

In the digitalization process, the concessionaire exercised its right of option under the first transitory article of Law No. 20,750 and expressed its intention to migrate. Consequently, the Undersecretariat of Telecommunications, via exempt resolution No. 1,683, dated July 19, 2016, reserved channel 33, UHF band, for the migration to be carried out.

The missed deadlines

The second transitory article of Law No. 20,750 set a maximum term of five years from the entry into force of the modification to the Television Broadcasting Plan, on April 15, 2015. That term was extended by supreme decree No. 95, dated June 22, 2019, from the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications, for a supplementary period of four years. The key dates of the file are:

• April 15, 2015: entry into force of the modification to the Television Broadcasting Plan.
• July 19, 2016: reservation of UHF channel 33 for the concessionaire.
• June 22, 2020: expiration of the twelve-month deadline to submit the technical migration projects.
• April 15, 2024: final deadline to achieve full digital coverage.

After that final deadline, the record does not show that the concessionaire obtained the digital UHF concessions nor that it submitted the technical migration project to the Undersecretariat of Telecommunications.

The sanctioning procedure and its effects

The CNTV opened the administrative sanctioning procedure in an ordinary session on June 9, 2025, materialized through exempt resolution CNTV No. 505, dated June 25, 2025, notified to the concessionaire on August 8, 2025. Once the legal period of five business days had expired, the company neither filed a defense nor requested an evidentiary period.

In an ordinary session on Monday, September 1, 2025, the Council unanimously agreed:

• To declare the sanctioning procedure for violation of digital coverage deadlines terminated.
• To apply the sanction of expiration of the Chonchi concession, analog VHF band, channel 7.
• To disqualify Radiodifusión y Telecomunicaciones Alex Nahuelquín Nahuelquín EIRL from holding free-to-air television broadcasting concessions for ten years, counted from the date the act becomes final.
• To order the immediate cessation of analog transmissions.

The act itself specifies that the sanction does not alter the formal validity of the original concession title until its natural expiration on April 24, 2033, but prevents continued transmission in analog technology as the maximum migration period has expired.

Impact on the area

The resolution leaves Chonchi, in the Los Lagos Region, without the television signal that was broadcast on channel 7 in the VHF band, as the migration to UHF channel 33 was never completed. The case also sets a precedent regarding the mandatory nature of digitalization deadlines and the ten-year disqualification imposed on the concessionaire, in a process in which the CNTV invoked the efficient use of the radio spectrum and the modernization of the national television system.

Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile, No. 44,555, Tuesday, September 22, 2026, Section II, pp. 1-4 (official reference: CVE 2872784).