La Séptima signs Alba Carrillo as the channel fills up with presenters
La Séptima adds Alba Carrillo to its line-up after her exit from Ten, and the channel run by Javier Ruiz and Sarah Santaolalla is filling up with well-known faces before it even starts broadcasting.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
La Séptima signs Alba Carrillo and its line-up fills up with high-profile presenters
The new digital terrestrial channel being launched by Javier Ruiz and Sarah Santaolalla has added Alba Carrillo to its line-up. She tearfully left her show on Ten last Thursday and had to be replaced on the spot by one of her collaborators to finish the broadcast. The signing was announced even before the channel goes on air, and comes after Santaolalla herself announced on social media the presentation of the project at the Universitat de València. With regular broadcasts still pending, the line-up is already generating more talk for the profile of its presenters than for its editorial stance.
Who's who on the new digital terrestrial channel
The project is presented as a left-wing digital terrestrial channel, led by Javier Ruiz and Sarah Santaolalla. Alba Carrillo, coming from entertainment television, has joined the roster, and the name of journalist Ben Yessef, of Jordanian origin, is also being mentioned, according to circulating reports. The line-up mixes news anchors with faces from celebrity and gossip shows, a combination that some read as a play for ratings and others as a simple lack of available talent.
The detail of Carrillo's signing is telling: she does not come from a news programme, but from an entertainment format from which she left in tears and was replaced as an emergency measure. In other words, the channel that sells itself as a news alternative has signed a presenter who has just made a messy exit from a mainstream TV show.
A channel competing for ratings, not prestige
The economic reading is simple: a brand-new channel in 2026 needs an audience, and audiences are bought with familiar faces. La Séptima's line-up, pending official confirmation, points to a low-cost, high-visual-impact television model, with presenters known for their media profile and current-affairs panel shows. The problem is that mainstream channels and content platforms are already exploiting that model, and competing there requires budget.
Some argue that the channel is targeting a specific niche: left-wing viewers who consume entertainment television. Others see it as more of an image operation than an industrial project. What nobody disputes is that the line-up, as it is being leaked, looks more like a catalogue of faces than a newsroom team.
The paradox of a left-wing channel with celebrity-show presenters
Carrillo's signing has peine a debate about coherence: a channel that presents itself as a left-wing alternative while signing figures from media entertainment. The most repeated criticism is that the project confuses plurality with audience, and that the editorial line takes a back seat to the showcase of presenters.
The opposite argument also has merit: television is a business, and the business requires faces that draw viewers. The left also has the right to compete for the remote control. The question is whether that model can sustain the advertising bill, or whether the channel will end up depending on investors with interests far from television.
With the line-up only half confirmed and no regular broadcast date, La Séptima faces the challenge of proving that its project is more than a showcase of faces. Will the audience stay once the novelty of the signing wears off?
The new digital terrestrial channel being launched by Javier Ruiz and Sarah Santaolalla has added Alba Carrillo to its line-up. She tearfully left her show on Ten last Thursday and had to be replaced on the spot by one of her collaborators to finish the broadcast. The signing was announced even before the channel goes on air, and comes after Santaolalla herself announced on social media the presentation of the project at the Universitat de València. With regular broadcasts still pending, the line-up is already generating more talk for the profile of its presenters than for its editorial stance.
Who's who on the new digital terrestrial channel
The project is presented as a left-wing digital terrestrial channel, led by Javier Ruiz and Sarah Santaolalla. Alba Carrillo, coming from entertainment television, has joined the roster, and the name of journalist Ben Yessef, of Jordanian origin, is also being mentioned, according to circulating reports. The line-up mixes news anchors with faces from celebrity and gossip shows, a combination that some read as a play for ratings and others as a simple lack of available talent.
The detail of Carrillo's signing is telling: she does not come from a news programme, but from an entertainment format from which she left in tears and was replaced as an emergency measure. In other words, the channel that sells itself as a news alternative has signed a presenter who has just made a messy exit from a mainstream TV show.
A channel competing for ratings, not prestige
The economic reading is simple: a brand-new channel in 2026 needs an audience, and audiences are bought with familiar faces. La Séptima's line-up, pending official confirmation, points to a low-cost, high-visual-impact television model, with presenters known for their media profile and current-affairs panel shows. The problem is that mainstream channels and content platforms are already exploiting that model, and competing there requires budget.
Some argue that the channel is targeting a specific niche: left-wing viewers who consume entertainment television. Others see it as more of an image operation than an industrial project. What nobody disputes is that the line-up, as it is being leaked, looks more like a catalogue of faces than a newsroom team.
The paradox of a left-wing channel with celebrity-show presenters
Carrillo's signing has peine a debate about coherence: a channel that presents itself as a left-wing alternative while signing figures from media entertainment. The most repeated criticism is that the project confuses plurality with audience, and that the editorial line takes a back seat to the showcase of presenters.
The opposite argument also has merit: television is a business, and the business requires faces that draw viewers. The left also has the right to compete for the remote control. The question is whether that model can sustain the advertising bill, or whether the channel will end up depending on investors with interests far from television.
With the line-up only half confirmed and no regular broadcast date, La Séptima faces the challenge of proving that its project is more than a showcase of faces. Will the audience stay once the novelty of the signing wears off?
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (71 replies).
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