Twelve Grapes on television in Spain

The transmission of the bells usually starts at 23:40 - on Antena 3 and Telecinco taking over from a New Year's music show beforehand - and presenters will fill the time with light entertainment.

At 23:59:32, a ball will drop while a carillon sounds. After that, at 23:49:42, four cycles of two bells sound (in Spanish referred to as the cuartos, "fourths"). It is relatively common for the presenter of the broadcast to remind the audience that the cuartos are not part of the New Year bells and do not herald the arrival of the new year. There is an interval of four seconds in between each.

After the final cuarto, there is a 4-second pause before the twelve bells sound, with one grape being eaten for each. Most channels will load comedy graphics for each one relating to their sponsor, which usually changes once the twelve bells are complete to reveal "Feliz año ?+ year".

An experiment in 2017/18, following an agreement between the Autonomous Communities of Madrid and the Canary Islands saw the broadcast done twice from the Puerta del Sol for the first time, as the Canary Islands are one hour behind mainland Spain, using the Canary Islands' time zone. Since 1983/84, broadcasters had done an extra programme for the Canaries, however this was the first time that the Canary Islands' time zone was represented on the mainland. Since 2018/19, the traditional method has been used.

Until 1990/91, the commentary on TVE had been done by voiceover only, including by Matías Prats Cañete for many years. Antena 3's test transmission in 1989/90 saw Mayra Gómez Kemp become the first presenter to host the bells in vision. TVE followed suit from 1990/91, with comedy duo Martes y Trece being the first to run the show on TVE, and Laura Valenzuela being the first to do so on Telecinco.

Carmen Sevilla and Carlos Sobera are the only TV personalities to have hosted the bells on all three major networks. Since Cuatro now simulcasts Telecinco's coverage, Sobera is the only one to have hosted them on four different channels.

The ubiquitousness of the bells has made them a figure of parody in some circles, as well as being rather accident-prone.

TVE's coverage for 1989/90 was notable for co-host Marisa Naranjo confusing the cuartos for the bells.^[4] This is not exclusive to TVE, with Antena 3 host Irma Soriano making the same mistake in 1993/94.^[5]

A rather infamous incident took place in 1996/97: after renovation works had taken place on the Post Office building, the bells' interval was removed, with clockmaker Vicente Rodríguez agreeing on TV networks that he would put weights on the levers to force a three-second interval. However, the Madrid Agriculture and Living Ministry's architect, Juan Blasco, overruled him for fear of causing further damage to the clock. This meant that the bells were complete in just 17 seconds.^[6]

Telecinco's coverage in 2002/03 caused a notable stir: the novel idea was to use twelve boats off the coast of Galicia in the formation of a clock, one lighting up for each stroke.^[7] However, strong winds on the night meant that the boats could not go out. Producers resolved to broadcast the previous night's dress rehearsal, and the fact that the bells were pre-recorded was made obvious as Telecinco's broadcast rang in 2003 a few seconds before the other channels'.^[4]