SX3

SX3 (Catalan pronunciation: [ˌsupəɾˈtɾɛs]), styled Super3 until 2022, is a Catalan public television channel owned by Televisió de Catalunya in Catalan language. It started broadcasting on 18 October 2009. The channel's programs are aimed at children and teenagers. It is based on the programme Club Super3, that started on 11 February 1991 on TV3 and has been seen on El 33 and on K3.[1]

SX3
CountryCatalonia
Broadcast areaCatalonia Balearic Islands Andorra Valencian Country La Franja
Programming
Language(s)Catalan
Picture format576i SDTV
Ownership
OwnerTelevisió de Catalunya
Sister channelsTV3, 33, 3/24, TV3CAT
History
Launched
  • 11 February 1991 (1991-02-11)
  • 18 October 2009 (2009-10-18)
ReplacedK3
Former namesK3, Super3

In contrast to K3, which broadcast children and youth programming, SX3 airs series aimed at an audience younger than 14 years. A mix of live-action originals and animated series from a wide variety of countries, including Japan, are aired, all in the Catalan language.

The schedule is not differentiated by specific blocks, so programs for preschoolers, older kids and teenagers all air throughout the course of the day.

SX3 broadcasts on DTT from 6 am to 9:55 pm, sharing the channel frequency El 33 for cultural and alternative programming. However, SX3 is broadcast online 24/7, where some programs are broadcast exclusively, because the CCMA sought to prioritize online consumption over traditional TV.[2] It replaced K3.[3]

Super3's fan club has more than 1.5 million members.[4][5] The channel was rebranded as SX3 on October 10, 2022.

History

The Club Super3 brand started on February 11, 1991, as a programming strand on TV3 and later Canal 33. Following the growth of the slots dedicated to children's programming on 33, TVC announced a restructuring of its two channels. Therefore, on April 23, 2001, K3 started broadcasting, timesharing with Canal 33.

The channel rebranded in December 2006, with its digital slot timesharing with Canal 300, allowing El 33 to broadcast 24/7 on the digital terrestrial platform (the analog version still timeshared with El 33).

The 2009 Festa dels Súpers led to the rename of K3 to Canal Super3, thus unifying it with the branding of Club Super3. Among the priorities of the rebranded channel were the usage of English and interaction with the viewer, aiming for viewers to send their drawings or show their pets to the channel.[6] The channel ended its analog broadcast on February 15, 2010, with the analog frequencies broadcasting El 33 for the whole day.[7]

The channel was losing ratings from the late 2010s onward, achieving a record low in October 2019: a negative share of 0,6%, a small fraction of the ratings the three national terrestrial kids channels (and Super3's competitors) have in Catalonia.[8] TVC, facing rating and financial issues, started to draw strategies to keep the brand afloat.[9] The channel cancelled La família dels Súpers in June 2021. The decision also coincided with the aggravation of the factors that led to the Super3 crisis: half of the supposed target group no longer watched television, leading to problems in buying content, while rethinking Super3 with a digital-first structure to continue offering content in the language across all platforms.[10]

In September 2022, CCMA announced the rebrand of the channel as SX3, divided in two strands: S3 for pre-schoolers and X3 for school-aged kids and preteens. The channel broadcasts 24/7 online, yet the terrestrial service still timeshares with El 33 after 9:55 pm.

References
  1. TV3: TV3 will broadcast a new channel (in Catalan)
  2. "El Super3 reneix, més digital que mai amb el nou SX3 i els mons S3 i X3". CCMA (in Catalan). 10 October 2022. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  3. 3alacarta: Canal Super3 (in Catalan)
  4. "El Club Super3 arriba al milió i mig de socis" (in Catalan). Ara. April 4, 2021. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
  5. "El 'Club Super 3' llega al millón y medio de socios" (in Spanish). April 4, 2021. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
  6. "Comencen les emissions el nou Canal Super3, que es pot veure al mateix lloc de la TDT on se sintonitza el canal 300". 324. 18 October 2009. Archived from the original on 29 September 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  7. "El Canal Super3 diu adéu al senyal analògic". Comuniació21. 12 February 2010. Archived from the original on 15 February 2010. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  8. "Mínim històric al canal Super3: radiografia d'una renúncia". Ara. 10 December 2019. Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  9. Bettonica, Toni Polo (10 December 2019). "El Super3 busca estratègies per pal·liar la falta de pressupost". El País. Archived from the original on 2 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  10. "Adiós a la 'Família del Super3' tras marcar a varias generaciones en Catalunya: "La mitad de niños ya no ven la TV"". Ver Tele. 18 June 2021. Archived from the original on 19 June 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
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