RTVE has named journalist and documentary executive Ana Peláez as Director of its Arts and Knowledge area, tasking her with launching and running the public broadcaster’s new cultural channel, due to begin transmissions in June 2026.
Peláez has led La 2’s documentary strand for almost a decade and is currently executive producer of RTVE Documentaries. The new management structure will report into the Director of Televisión Española and the content production division led by Ana María Bordas. RTVE has also appointed Ignacio Elguero as Director of Cultural Initiatives within the Arts and Knowledge directorate.
RTVE said the channel’s editorial strategy will be built around five main pillars, with documentary programming a core element. As part of that, the Corporation is working on extending its collaboration agreement with Franco-German cultural channel ARTE, while leaving the door open to other partnership models.
Other pillars include performing arts and theatre, with RTVE planning to revive classic titles from Estudio 1 alongside new commissions, and Spanish cinema through its existing catalogue of co-participated films and themed cycles. Classical music and opera will also feature prominently, with RTVE pointing to a major role for the RTVE Orchestra and Choir and partnerships with Spain’s leading opera houses. A fifth strand will focus on “new trends”, intended to showcase output associated with Radio 3 through Radio 3 Extra.
RTVE sees the move as addressing a gap in its portfolio, noting that it is one of the few large European public broadcasters without a dedicated culture channel, pointing to ARTE in France and Germany and similar cultural propositions supported by the BBC and RAI.
Peláez has more than 30 years at RTVE, starting at RNE in 1996 before moving to TVE news and factual output. She also ran the documentary strand Los oficios de la cultura and spent 2013-2021 as director of Imprescindibles, which received Spain’s Premio Nacional de Televisión in 2019.
