Costa Rican television is small-market, Spanish-language and deeply shaped by a two-network duopoly that lasted for decades. The state broadcaster runs cultural and educational programming alongside a general channel, while a handful of commercial networks carry the bulk of entertainment, telenovelas and imported series. Cable and satellite fill out the rest of the dial, but the national conversation still happens on the terrestrial channels. What makes Costa Rican TV distinctive is how it sounds. Ticos speak a Spanish full of local slang and diminutives, and local productions lean into that rather than neutralising it for export. News bulletins are formal and anchor-driven, closer to the Mexican or Colombian model than to the shoutier panel formats further north. Sports coverage is intense but concentrated: domestic league football dominates weekends, and international tournaments empty the streets. Subtitling versus dubbing breaks along genre lines. Imported series often arrive dubbed, but film and prestige drama tend to keep their original audio with Spanish subtitles, a habit partly inherited from cinema culture and partly from a bilingual middle class that prefers it. Primetime starts around 19:00 with a telenovela, then a local comedy or magazine show, then a late bulletin. Regional programming matters too, especially in Guanacaste and along the Caribbean coast, where local news and music slots reflect identities that national channels flatten. Music television retains a loyal following and doubles as a window into the country's tropical, Latin pop and rock scenes. Compared with neighbours, Costa Rica's market is less dominated by a single state voice and less fragmented into dozens of niche channels. It is a compact, practical schedule built around a few strong generalist players.