TV channels Costa Rica

Costa Rican television grew around two private groups in San José that still divide the national audience between them, and the capital also became an unlikely centre of Spanish-language Christian broadcasting for the whole continent. Add music channels owned by radio groups, a sports outlet, and local stations from Alajuela and the provinces, and the country's small screen has more layers than its size suggests.

The private networks of San José

Teletica - Canal 7 - has been the country's most-watched station for decades, running news, drama, sport and variety from the capital. Its long-standing rival is Repretel 6, the Canal 6 network, with news, entertainment and sport of its own. Canal 13 Costa Rica carries general programming, Canal 9 - also known as Multivision - is a private general-entertainment channel, and Extra TV 42 is the television arm of the Extra Group. TeleSUR Costa Rica broadcasts general programming under the TeleSUR name.

A capital of Spanish-language faith television

Enlace TBN Canal 23 was born in San José in 1988 and grew into the Spanish-language arm of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, reaching viewers across Latin America from Costa Rica. EJTV - Enlace Juvenil is the youth signal of the same family, and Extrema TV adds further faith-based programming. Two Christian channels in the Costa Rican offering come from abroad: Telegracia, the gospel broadcast of the Colombian Centro de Estudios de Gracia ministry, and Canal Cristovision, also Colombian.

Music owned by radio

CDR Canal 2 is the country's channel 2, a music-led station owned by Central de Radios, the San José radio group. VM Latino Canal 29 mixes Latin music with series and entertainment for family audiences.

Sport and local reporting

MZ Sports is devoted to sport, with matches and sports programming for Costa Rican viewers. Outside the capital, Telered started in Alajuela in 1999 and remains one of the oldest local stations in the country, still carrying its own regional reporting, while Tele Uno TV programs everything from children's shows to documentaries, series and films.