Antena 3's April audience share fell to worst ever

MADRID May 3 (Reuters) - Spanish TV firm Antena 3 (A3TV.MC) lost audience share in April to rivals and thematic digital channels to record its lowest ever monthly rating, data released by consultancy Barlovento showed on Monday.

Antena 3's audience share dropped to 11.5 percent from 12.2 percent the previous month, remaining below Spain's regional channels for the third month in a row and behind its larger listed rival Telecinco (TL5.MC) which rose to 14.6 percent from 14.5.

Antena 3 last week called off talks with smaller free channel La Sexta whose audience share rose to 7.5 percent from 7.1 in March.

Rival Telecinco will soon be able to court potential advertisers by combining its audience share with that of merger partner Cuatro's (PRS.MC) 6.9 percent.

State TV channel TVE1 clung on to the top spot even though its audience share slipped to 15.7 percent from 16.6 in March.

Many of Spain's traditional television channels are being hit by the arrival of new channels and by the analogue switch-off which happened on April 3.

Many viewers can now watch thematic channels like the Disney Channel and the Spanish version of the news channel CNN+ for free with digital TV. (Reporting by Sarah Morris; Editing by Greg Mahlich)