What is known today as ATV started in 1959 as TV El Sol Canal 9 with Alfonso Pereyra as its first manager. El Sol also had relay stations in
Huacho on channel 7 and
Ica on channel 11. After unsuccessful attempts to run it in the early 1970s and subsequent political turmoil in Peru, the station was closed; however, it became a
TV Perú local station for the
Lima metropolitan area. By 1981, the channel was under new leadership. Carlos Tizón Pacheco, who financed the 1980 presidential campaign of President Fernando Belaúnde Terry, and then-president of local auto firm PROMASA, took over the channel frequency with his firm Andina de Radiodifusión, S.A., with test broadcasting commencing on May 9 the same year. After two years the channel returned to broadcasting on April 18, 1983, with President Terry presiding. Since then the station has quickly gained a Peruvian audience by showing foreign films and broadcasting
dramas, usually from Brazil. Until 1992 the station was known as
Canal 9 (Channel 9), after its
Lima,
Peru VHF frequency, up until 1986 it had only been a local station, with national broadcasting starting only in 1987. Canal 9's broadcasts began on April 18, 1983, cwhen it was inaugurated at a house at Arequipa Avenue, in the district of San Isidro by president
Fernando Belaúnde Terry, and by the archbishop of Lima,
Juan Landazuri Ricketts who blessed the new channel after a large advertising campaign and broadcasting a test signal for three months. Canal 9 quickly gained audience and popularity,'''' showing during its initial decade a varied schedule consisting of feature films (after the opening ceremony it aired
American Graffiti), first-run American series such as
MacGyver or
Hunter; successful Venezuelan telenovelas such as Las Amazonas, Cristal or
La dama de rosa and animated series such as
Sandybelle,
The Flintstones,
The Jetsons y
Dungeons & Dragons. Regarding original productions, the channel obtained good reception from the viewing audience, with programs such as
El dedo, current affairs programs
Esta Noche by Gonzalo Rojas,
Documento and
Uno más uno by
Fernando Ampuero, musical program
Hits del Momento by Miguel Millaand its news programs presented by Aldo Morzán,
María Teresa Braschi, Gonzalo Iwasaki, Suzie Sato and the deceased journalist María Claudia Zavalaga. In 1985, the channel was acquired by the Vera Gutiérrez brothers. In 1986, Canal 9 associates with PROA (Productores Asociados S.A.) of
Francisco J. Lombardi producing its first dramatic production, in January: the telenovela
Bajo tu piel (1986), later in the middle of the year
Malahierba (1986-1987). Later
Paloma (1988) and finally
Kiatari, buscando la luna (1989). During 1987, the station started its nationwide expansion by associating with two companies that broadcast television signals in the Peruvian inland: Norperuana de Radiodifusión, S.A (currently
Sol TV, based in Trujillo) and CRASA, whose main station was Canal 8 Arequipa (currently
ATV Sur) and was the owner of several stations in the south of the country. This way, both regional networks aired a large part of Canal 9's programming to the inland region. In 1989, Carlos Tizón sold his shares at Andina de Radiodifusión S.A. to businessman Julio Vera Gutiérrez, who took on the control of Canal 9 in Lima. His wife, Graciela Abad and later the sons of Julio Vera started taking in directive positions at the channel. In April 1990,
Fuego cruzado started, Mariella Balbi and Eduardo Guzmán's original debate program. It was the first Peruvian talk-show which used the modern American format by gathering in the studio set a group of people facing a controversial topic and, live, discussing around it. Invitees had to be functional to the discussion and its production team was no stranger to scandal.
Fuego cruzado, which was on air for five years, enabled the channel's manager, Federico Anchorena, to become a pioneer in the new phase of Peruvian Television with formats ahead of its time. In 1991, Canal 9, alongside
Backus y Johnston, decided to produce miniseries, the first of which being
Regresa, a miniseries based on the life of
Lucha Reyes which caused controversy in the Peruvian artistic scene. It was followed by
La Perricholi in 1992, and in 1993
Bolero and
Tatán, which were the last miniseries produced in this phase. On January 14, 1992, due to the interconnection via satellite at the national level, the then denominated Channel 9 changes its name to
ATV (abbreviation of
Andina de Televisión). The station is among the most watched television stations in Peru, often obtaining high ratings from past TV shows such as
Magaly TV, a magazine and gossip show hosted by Peruvian journalist
Magaly Medina. == ATV HD ==