And if there's not a two-year window, what about TVE's new Catalan channel?

The fact that Televisión Española is preparing a channel entirely in Catalan is good news for the language, which will gain some market share in a sadly marginalized television landscape. However, I am concerned about the announcement that its implementation will be gradual and that, at the end of the first year, it only requires 60% Catalan in its programming. They are giving themselves until the end of the second year to reach 100%. Assuming they start with the Diada, as they claim, this means that these two years expire in September 2027. And the legislature ends a month earlier, in August. In other words, if there is a change of government in the Spanish government—as all the polls predict—the changing of the guard will come before the deadline, even if there is no early election, as the entire right-wing media machine is trying to force at full throttle.

Among the many questions the channel has raised (What will it ultimately be called? What audience will it aspire to? Will it draw on content from La2?), there's one overriding one that no one dares to ask: What guarantee does it have of surviving under a government hostile to Catalan? This new offering comes with a very modest budget and is the result of a favorable situation in which the Socialists' desire to showcase their model of linguistic coexistence (with the hope of securing a bit of an audience for their narrative and media ecosystem in one of their electoral strongholds) coincides with the desire of the regional council members to demonstrate positive influence. But I fear the channel is being built on weak foundations that any wolf could demolish at the first breath. If its promoters truly believe in the long term, in addition to demonstrating it with investment, they must also do so by strengthening its continuity. Otherwise, there's a risk that we'll have talked about the channel longer than it has lasted on the air.