La Séptima will launch on 5 November with daily polls before the 29 November vote

Channel launch

La Séptima will begin broadcasting on digital terrestrial television (TDT) in Spain at 12:00 on Thursday, 5 November. The channel is a new national general-interest station promoted by José Miguel Contreras, founder of LaSexta, and its editorial director Javier Ruiz will front the nightly programme. The first evening opens at 21:00 with an interview with Carlos Cuerpo, who took over the transport portfolio after the resignation of Óscar Puente. Verónica Sanz is set to present the noon start, according to El Mundo. The project carries an investment of 20 million euros and 400 jobs linked to it, while the studios in San Sebastián de los Reyes were still under construction at the press presentation on Wednesday, 4 November.

A daily poll for the campaign

The channel's central feature is a daily electoral survey run by SW Demoscopia, which will be published every day at 21:00 from the first day until the general election on 29 November. Ruiz said the tracking would be analysed in "La recta final", a 15-minute segment from 21:00 to 21:15 hosted with Cristina Cañedo, before the nightly show "La última hora" runs from 21:15 to 01:00. The starting base is 3,500 cumulative surveys, and Ruiz said the sample size would trail only the CIS. He described the aim as measuring how each news item affects voting intention and mobilisation.

“We intend to change the electoral campaign.”

Contreras considers the poll will become the "dominant topic" of the campaign, and the channel plans to publish the results at the same time every evening.

Interviews and programming

The channel has invited the leaders of all parties to appear, including Alberto Núñez Feijóo of the PP and Santiago Abascal of Vox. Ruiz said some of them had not yet replied, and that the channel does interviews rather than "massages". Pedro Sánchez will be interviewed once La Moncloa confirms the date. This week the schedule also includes Minister of Digital Transformation Óscar López on the weekend show Fin de Semana, presented by Luján Argüelles, and singer Víctor Manuel on Sobre la Mesa with Rocío Delgado. Contreras described the poll's purpose in terms of the viewing public.

“We want everyone, even those who do not want to see us, to watch the real state of the polls and campaigns in Spain every night at 9.”

Positioning and competition

Contreras told El Mundo that the project aims to occupy the progressive space he says has largely disappeared from Spanish private television. He argued that the public sector has more pluralism than the private one.

“The progressive space in the audiovisual world has practically disappeared.”

La Séptima will compete with Atresmedia and Mediaset, which Contreras said had accumulated about 3,000 million euros in profits over the last ten years, according to figures he presented. Contreras has named Andrés Varela as the main economic backer of the project. El Confidencial reports that the channel has a budget of about 10% of a usual one, and that many doubt it will make money given the decline of traditional television. Ruiz told El Periódico that the channel has faced many obstacles before its launch.

Audience target and next steps

ABC reports that Contreras set a goal of 1.8% screen share in the first two months, with Cuatro and LaSexta named as the main rivals. The first daily poll result is due at 21:00 on the launch day, and the tracking will continue until the general election on 29 November. Whether the channel reaches its audience goal and how the interviews with party leaders turn out remain open questions for the first weeks of broadcasting.