RCTV

RCTV

Radio Caracas Televisión Internacional (RCTV Internacional) is a Venezuelan cable television network headquartered in the Caracas neighborhood of Quinta Crespo. It was sometimes referred to as the Canal de Bárcenas. Owned by Empresas 1BC, RCTV Internacional was inaugurated as Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) on 15 November 1953 by William H. Phelps, Jr.. Its radio counterpart was Radio Caracas Radio.

On 27 May 2007, RCTV made headlines when the Government of Venezuela decided not to renew their radio broadcast license for what it said was the station's role in the 2002 coup which briefly overthrew Venezuela's democratically elected government. The Supreme Court of Justice (Tribunal Supremo de Justicia or TSJ) upheld the decision by the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL) not to renew RCTV's broadcast license. RCTV continued to broadcast via satellite and cable as RCTV International.

In January 2010 RCTV was sanctioned with temporary closure for failing to respect Venezuelan media law. It rejected the Venezuelan media regulator's finding that it was a domestic media provider, and refused to broadcast speeches by Hugo Chávez.