Given the information published about the future of 8TV, the company in charge of its management has officially entered bankruptcy, some of the best-known faces of the chain are getting off the boat. The first of them is Frank Blanco, who is currently replacing Emma García on Telecinco's Fiesta, but who until this summer presented El Circ every night.
Emissions Digitals de Catalunya, EDICA, has not been able to find new investors in recent years to promote its television project, which will lead 8TV to end its broadcasts after 22 years under different names.
On April 23, 2001, CityTV, what we know today as 8TV, reached the screens of Catalonia. A new chain that tried to differentiate itself from the offer broadcast by TV3 or the rest of the local and regional television stations. To do this, it drew on star presenters such as Jordi González, Alfonso Arús or Àngel Llàcer, managing to be the first private Catalan channel in 2003. From then on, it amassed a long career and multiple formats of success and repercussion.
However, this trajectory is nearing its end after the official entry of the chain into bankruptcy. This abrupt end occurs after a series of drastic changes in recent months, which have seriously affected the economic situation of EDICA.
Since the sale of the Godó Group to the new management, the parent company had four different channels in its private Digital Terrestrial Television multiplex: two owned by it, 8tv and Verdi Classics; and another two rented, Fibracat TV and Barça TV. A puzzle that broke with the arrival of the new year.
Fibracat broke its contract with EDICA and ended its channel's broadcasts on January 1, 2023, while the economic situation of Fútbol Club Barcelona forced the club to end the management agreement it had with Movistar for a value of thirteen million euros. The 8TV parent company, which had rented the space from the Barça channel since 2008, was also affected by the end of Barça TV broadcasts, which took place on July 1.
Along with this significant loss of income, EDICA has also had to face a change in trend in the market that they have not been able to stop. This caused the group to stop receiving investments from large companies and brands for advertising. All this valued at an amount close to 400 million euros.
Now a bankruptcy administrator will be responsible for reviewing the company's finances and assessing whether there is a possibility of creating a viability plan or whether 8TV should enter the liquidation process. And while this is happening, some programs on the network begin to be cancelled.
One of its most successful formats for two seasons, El Circ, presented by Frank Blanco, will no longer return in September as planned. As confirmed by the presenter himself through his social networks, the economic situation of the chain makes it unfeasible.
“I announce that due to the current situation of @8tvcat, and although both parties had the will, T3 of @elcirc8tv will not return in September. Thanks to the team that made it possible, to the guests and collaborators who participated, and to the spectators”, published the journalist.
