| RBS TV | |
| Network Type: | Broadcast television network |
| Country: | Brazil |
| Available: | Rio Grande do Sul |
| Founder: | Maurício Sirotsky Sobrinho |
| Key People: | Claudio Toigo Marco Gomes Marta Gleich |
| Foundation: | 29 December 1962 |
| Launch Date: | 29 December 1962 |
| Past Names: | TV Gaúcha (1962-1983) |
| Callsign Meaning: | Rede Brasil Sul de Televisão |
| Groups: | Grupo RBS |
| Affiliations: | TV Globo (1967-) |
| Former Affiliations: | Emissoras Unidas (1962-1963) Rede Excelsior (1963-1967) |
| Website: | http://redeglobo.globo.com/rs/rbstvrs/ |
| Headquarters: | Porto Alegre |
RBS TV is a Southern Brazilian television network owned by Grupo RBS, and one of the oldest Rede Globo affiliates. The acronym originally stood for Rede Brasil Sul de Televisão (English: "Brazil South Television Network"), but currently the network never uses its full name on-air.
RBS TV owns 12 television stations in Rio Grande do Sul. RBS TV Porto Alegre is the flagship network.
RBS TV stations produce an average amount of local and regional programming, composed mainly of news, but also drama series, documentaries, sports, variety and youth programming.
TV Gaúcha was created in 1962 in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, and would later become RBS TV Porto Alegre. The following year, TV Gaúcha affiliated itself with Rede Excelsior. Rede Globo was launched in Rio de Janeiro two years later, but TV Gaúcha would only become its affiliate in 1967.
The first inland stations signed on in 1969, in Santa Maria and Caxias do Sul.
In 1979, it started to operate in Florianópolis, the capital city of Santa Catarina. This new purchase obliged the network to change its name to something less Rio Grande do Sul-related (as the word "Gaúcha" was), and it was rebranded RBS TV that same year.
| Station | Analog channel | Digital Channel | City | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RBS TV Porto Alegre | 12 (34 UHF) | Porto Alegre | ||
| RBS TV Bagé | 34 UHF | Bagé | ||
| RBS TV Caxias do Sul | 8 (33 UHF) | Caxias do Sul | ||
| RBS TV Cruz Alta | 3 VHF | 33 UHF | Cruz Alta | |
| RBS TV Erechim | 2 VHF | 33 UHF | Erechim | |
| RBS TV Passo Fundo | 7 VHF | 34 UHF | Passo Fundo | |
| RBS TV Pelotas | 4 (34 UHF) | Pelotas | ||
| RBS TV Rio Grande | 9 (33 UHF) | Rio Grande | ||
| RBS TV Santa Cruz | 6 (33 UHF) | Santa Cruz do Sul | ||
| RBS TV Santa Maria | 12 (33 UHF) | Santa Maria | ||
| RBS TV Santa Rosa | 6 VHF | 34 UHF | Santa Rosa | |
| RBS TV Uruguaiana | 13 VHF | 34 UHF | Uruguaiana |
The RBS Group is being investigated by the practice of oligopoly / monopoly. In 2008, the Federal Prosecutor of Santa Catarina has filed a public civil action (Case No.. 2008.72.00.014043-5) against the company oligopoly Rede Brasil Sul (RBS) in southern Brazil. The MPF requires the company, among other measures, to reducing its number of TV and radion stations in the states of Santa Catarina (SC) and Rio Grande do Sul (RS), so that to be in according to the Brazilian law; and the cancellation of the purchase of the newspaper A Notícia from Joinville, consummated in 2006 - which resulted in a virtual monopoly over the relevant newspapers in the state of Santa Catarina.[1]
In 2009, the Federal Prosecutor in Canoas (RS), Pedro Antonio Roso, asked the chairman of the RBS Group, Nelson Pacheco Sirotsky, among other informations, the number of TV and radio stations that the company owns in Rio Grande do Sul, "as well as its affiliates, stations and repeaters." The request is part of an administrative proceeding brought by federal prosecutors "to determine possible occurrence of monopolistic practices and irregularities in granting Radio and Television to the RBS Group in Rio Grande do Sul".[2]