TV Libera Pistoia

TV Libera Pistoia, commonly known as TVL, is an Italian regional television broadcaster headquartered in Pistoia, Tuscany. It was founded on 1 January 1976 as Pistoia TV Libera, a non-profit civic association of volunteer members, with its first premises in via Spontini 1 in Pistoia and studios in the Franciscan friary of Giaccherino. From the outset the channel combined sport, entertainment, religious features, information and a local newscast, and it also pursued a social mission of giving a voice to the marginalized, working with the world of disability and with operators of A.I.A.S. (Associazione Italiana Assistenza Spastici). In the early 1980s the publishers of TV Libera Pistoia took over the competing Pistoia station Canale 60 and merged the two into a single larger channel renamed TVL – Tv Pistoia Libera, moving its headquarters to via Sant'Andrea 1 in Pistoia. Through the 1980s the schedule included the newscast renamed TG FLASH, entertainment shows such as Il ribaltone and Il telebustone, and La tombola. The channel rooted itself in its territory and beyond provincial borders while keeping an exclusively local schedule, without affiliating to any national network. During the 1990s and 2000s, to meet legal requirements and to achieve a more efficient structure, the association was transformed into a joint-stock company (società per azioni) and moved its headquarters to the hamlet of Barile, on the outskirts of Pistoia. The schedule remained broadly similar to previous decades. TVL is a network inspired by Christian values and strongly characterized by self-produced programming, which exceeds 70% of output. The operating company, TVL S.p.A., is affiliated with the Corallo association (Consorzio delle radiotelevisioni locali di ispirazione ecclesiale), which gathers more than 270 Catholic radio and television stations across Italy and whose president is TVL's director, Egidio Luigi Bardelli, long the inspirer, creator, director and publisher of the channel's programs. Programs in recent years have included Canto al Bali, hosted by Bardelli himself, Ora verde, an ecological-agricultural program, Balla che ti passa, a dance-music program hosted by Serena Magnanesi, the sports features Giovedì sport and Assist, matches of the Pistoiese football team and Pistoia Basket 2000, horse racing, cycling and rally coverage, and culture and faith features such as Ora insieme and Shekina. Since 2022 the show Il Salotto del Calcio, a sports program dedicated to Serie A with particular attention to ACF Fiorentina, has aired on TVL, hosted by journalist Marco Mordini and model Alessia Lotti. Before the digital switchover TVL broadcast in Pistoia, Prato and Florence on UHF 25, in Montecatini Terme, Lucca, Pisa, Livorno and Massa on UHF 30, in San Marcello Pistoiese on UHF 58 and in the Gavinana-Maresca area on UHF 61, covering central-northern Tuscany. It now broadcasts on the Mux Locale 1 Toscana (UHF 41) and streams on its website. The company is registered as TV LIBERA S.P.A., based at Via Monteleonese 95/21, 51100 Pistoia (PT), and operates the website tvl.it.

TV Libera Pistoia was founded on 1 January 1976 as Pistoia TV Libera, a non-profit civic association of volunteer members. Its first headquarters were at via Spontini 1 in Pistoia, with studios in the Franciscan friary of Giaccherino. The early schedule offered sport and sports features, entertainment (including in local dialect), religious features, information segments, a newscast, the program Superclassifica Show hosted by Maurizio Seymandi, Caffè Break, a weekly current-affairs discussion program broadcast live with studio guests and telephone interventions from the public hosted by Giuseppe Totaro and Attilio Guardincerri, Tea Break, the feature Dov'è tuo fratello?, and the religious feature La domenica del Signore curated by Don Lorenzo. Other collaborators included Mario Rafanelli and Rita Boratto, head of programming. From its beginnings TVL also sought to "give a voice to the least" through its commitment to the world of disability, work already carried out by the founding directors and by some A.I.A.S. (Associazione Italiana Assistenza Spastici) operators who were the first "signorine buonasera". In the early 1980s the publishers of TV Libera Pistoia took over the competing Pistoia station Canale 60 and merged them into a single larger TV renamed TVL – Tv Pistoia Libera. The headquarters moved to via Sant'Andrea 1, Pistoia. Among the programs aired in the 1980s were the newscast, renamed TG FLASH, Il ribaltone, an entertainment program featuring singers, poets, musicians, dancers, imitators and cabaret artists, Il telebustone, a game and prize show hosted by Luigi Bardelli that offered a Giulietta Alfa Romeo sponsored by the program, service and in-depth features, and La tombola, a prize game inserted into the evening Tg60 to intersperse news and sport (the tombola cards were distributed in city shops). The channel rooted itself in its territory and beyond provincial borders but maintained an exclusively local schedule, without affiliating to any national network. During the 1990s and 2000s, in the need for a more efficient structure and to respond to specific legal norms, the association was transformed into a joint-stock company and moved its headquarters to the hamlet of Barile, a village on the outskirts of Pistoia. The schedule continued broadly to be the same as in previous decades. It is a network inspired by Christian values, strongly characterized by self-productions, which exceed 70%. The operating company, TVL S.p.A., is affiliated with the Corallo association (Consorzio delle radiotelevisioni locali di ispirazione ecclesiale), the association that gathers more than 270 Catholic radio and television stations across the national territory, whose president is TVL's director, Egidio Luigi Bardelli, long the inspirer, creator, director and publisher of the channel's programs. Among the programs of these years are Canto al Bali, hosted by Bardelli himself, Ora verde, an ecological-agricultural program, Balla che ti passa, a dance-music program hosted by Serena Magnanesi, the sports features Giovedì sport and Assist, matches of the Pistoiese football team and Pistoia Basket 2000, horse racing, cycling, rally, and culture and faith features such as Ora insieme and Shekina. Since 2022 the show Il Salotto del Calcio, a sports program dedicated to Serie A with particular attention to ACF Fiorentina, has aired on TVL, hosted by journalist Marco Mordini and model Alessia Lotti. Before the switchover TVL broadcast in Pistoia, Prato and Florence on UHF 25, in Montecatini Terme, Lucca, Pisa, Livorno and Massa on UHF 30, in San Marcello Pistoiese on UHF 58 and in the Gavinana-Maresca area on UHF 61, thus covering central-northern Tuscany with its signal. It now broadcasts on the Mux Locale 1 Toscana (UHF 41) and streams on its website. The company is registered as TV LIBERA S.P.A., based at Via Monteleonese 95/21, 51100 Pistoia (PT).

• Founded as Pistoia TV Libera, a non-profit civic association of volunteer members.

• Took over competing Pistoia station Canale 60 and merged into TVL – Tv Pistoia Libera; headquarters moved to via Sant'Andrea 1.

• Transformed from association into a joint-stock company (S.p.A.) and moved headquarters to Barile, Pistoia.

• Il Salotto del Calcio, a Serie A-focused sports show, began airing on TVL.

A locally rooted, Christian-values-inspired regional broadcaster with a high proportion of self-produced programming, serving Pistoia and central-northern Tuscany.

• TG 60

  Main newscast with editions at 13.45, 14.15, 20.15 and 20.30.

• Giovedì Sport

  Sports feature program.

• Canto al Bali

  Program hosted by Egidio Luigi Bardelli.

• Ora verde

  Ecological-agricultural program.

• Balla che ti passa

  Dance-music program hosted by Serena Magnanesi.

• Il Salotto del Calcio

  Serie A-focused sports show hosted by Marco Mordini and Alessia Lotti, on air since 2022.

• Notizie in corso

  Newscast at 6, 9, 10.45 and 12.50.

• Rassegna stampa

  Information program at 8.05.

1. 1TVL - TV Libera - Il tuo networktvl.it
2. 2Tv Libera Pistoia - Wikipediait.wikipedia.org
3. 3TV Libera Pistoia - Wikidatawikidata.org