Tell us a little about yourself. What does your job at Telefónica involve?
I’ve been with the company for 10 years, specifically since 2015 when Telefónica and Canal Plus merged to become Movistar Plus.
My work began 30 years ago at Canal Plus, I come from a television family. My grandfather was one of the first directors at RTVE, my father was a photojournalist and later director of “Jara y Sedal” and I, after studying Audiovisual Communication, embarked on Canal Caza y Pesca, to date.
I have always been a producer, I still am, I consider it my profession, although I have been the director of the channel since 2018. The job of a leader in a TV channel is exciting, demanding and extremely unpredictable, even more so in the case of a channel specializing in nature.
With a football match you know when and where it is, an interview can be scheduled, and most television formats are planned with practically zero improvisation.
In nature we never know what is going to happen, we can’t summon a roe deer to be filmed, and we never know what is hiding under the water, so we are used to uncertainty and long days in extreme conditions and wonderfully hostile places.
In reality, it is quite similar to the business world, it is still a jungle with hunters and prey, disappointments and joys, practically on a daily basis, pure and simple survival in which patience is fundamental, as is adapting to the environment, in this case the communication environment, and a good backpack of skills that get you out of trouble and allow you to react in time in an unpredictable environment.
How important is in-house production in television in general?
In-house production is vital. TV is a mirror of society and in order to empathise with the viewer, we have to offer them formats and stories with which they can identify.
The big American companies have an infinite capacity to generate content, and their main weapon is the mass production of programmes, series and, lately, films that originate from TV itself.
Other platforms are like audiovisual fast food. Movistar Plus+ is that restaurant you go to with friends or family not only to eat well, but also to chat, laugh and catch up on your experiences.
I very much doubt that anyone will remember El juego del calamar in two years’ time, but La Mesías, Celeste or Gigantes will continue to be talked about for many years to come, because they reflect relatable stories in which any of us could be involved.
The same thing happens in sport, nobody followed the UFC until Topuria arrived, and now it’s trending every week. Local programmes are always more emotive and profound, and they last, which is why it’s a winning bet to invest in in-house production.
And on the Hunting and Fishing channel in particular?
It’s a reflection of what we were talking about before. We started out on a French channel called Seasons. All the content was European and American, very good really, but it wasn’t reaching the expected audiences.
We suggested to the production company that we create a small local window with a magazine programme and a news programme recorded on our Agencia EFE sets, and with just those two programmes the channel began to pick up. Little by little we started producing hunting, fishing and nature programmes in Spain, to such an extent that we became self-sufficient, and Canal Plus decided to create Canal Caza y Pesca in 2003, separating us from Seasons.
In 2005 we reached a figure of 100,000 paying subscribers with a programme schedule of 50% in-house production and the rest from outside. Today we are at approximately 70% in-house production.
We have more than 50 production companies recording daily throughout Spain and the whole world, and our release rate is over 400 programmes a year, more than one a day. It is certainly a success story for a thematic channel to survive for more than 20 years, and one of the reasons is the commitment to in-house production.
How does a niche channel coexist with other more mainstream channels on the same television platform?
We are a lifestyle channel, I like to call it a geek channel, which literally means ‘a person who excessively and obsessively practices a hobby’.
Hunting and fishing are in our DNA, they are part of our species and although it is true that in many of us it may be dormant or we consciously block it out due to ideologies, education or trends, in the end there is a high probability that whoever tries it will get hooked.
It doesn’t matter if it’s cold, hot or if we have to travel for hours, it doesn’t even matter if we fail in our field trips, we enjoy it all the same. It’s something visceral and atavistic, it’s a connection with nature that goes beyond mere observation, but when we are not in the field… we suffer, and a channel that reminds us of our passion on a daily basis and also teaches us to practice it in a sustainable and conservationist way.
Niche media, as long as they are given the right amount of budget and notoriety, are a safe bet, here and throughout the audiovisual world.
How relevant are new technologies in the production of television content related to nature?
Recording in nature is very complicated. It requires much more dedication and effort than other content. We don’t know when what we have to communicate is going to happen, there is no schedule, no calendar to help us plan, and it is very common to lose many days of recording without getting a single shot.
That is why we often have to use technology to help us optimise our opportunities. We are currently broadcasting a wonderful and highly acclaimed documentary, ‘El bosque de Pardomino’ (Pardomino’s Forest).
In this documentary almost 90% of the images have been recorded with camera traps, infrared cameras, motion detectors and drones. Connectivity on these occasions is essential, some of these cameras can be monitored and even controlled from home by 5G connections.
Without this connectivity our work would be much more difficult. Thanks to the great coverage we have today in the Iberian Peninsula we can do things that were unthinkable before. Another example of cutting-edge technology on our channel is the recording of our news programme ‘Al Acecho’ in a virtual set that simulates hyper-realistic scenarios of natural and wild environments. I believe we are the first to design a television set using Unreal technology, the same technology used in the most cutting-edge video games.
What role do social networks play in the dissemination of content from pay-TV platforms?
We are a niche channel, and to reach our community we need to be very active on social media. Communicating our new content, current affairs and the connection with our programming, especially on demand, would not be effective without the help of social media.
On the other hand, we are very lucky to have a magnificent network of influencers who give us coverage on a daily basis. From the beginning of this new phase of the channel, the #indomable phase, we were clear about the need to link social media and TV. I think that has been the secret of our success, offering our #indomable influencers the opportunity to make the leap to TV, creating content and series with them that are broadcast every day on Canal Caza y Pesca. In this way, their level of involvement is enormous and continuous.
If they grow, we grow and vice versa. In reality, social media has existed for as long as man has been man, or as the Zulus say, ‘Ubuntu’: ‘I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am’.
Which people who work at Telefónica do you nominate for this interview that you consider excellent in their work?
My whole team and each and every one of the departments that support us at Movistar Plus+ and who have believed in us and in our #indomable project.
