2007 Venezuelan RCTV protests

2007 RCTV protests
Part of Protests against Hugo Chávez
Venezuelans rally in support of RCTV.
Date	19 May – June 2007
Location	Venezuela
Caused by	Venezuelan government's shutdown of the RCTV television channel
Resulted in	RCTV ceased operations on 27 May 2007 at 23:59:59 (UTC-4) and was replaced by TVes, which launched at 00:20:00 on 28 May
Parties
Venezuelan opposition Government of Venezuela
Number
Tens of thousands Hundreds of journalists Tens of thousands

The RCTV protests were a series of protests in Venezuela that began in the middle of May 2007. The cause of the protests was the decision by the government to shut down Venezuela's oldest private television network, Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV), refusing to renew its broadcasting license and instead creating a new public service channel called TVes, which began operations on 28 May, the same day RCTV's license expired. RCTV had Venezuela's largest viewing audience, with 10 million of the country's 26 million people viewing its shows and soap operas.^[1]