Television in Portugal was introduced in 1956 (test broadcasts) by Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (now named Rádio e Televisão de Portugal), which held the nationwide television monopoly until late 1992. Regular broadcasting was introduced on March 7, 1957. Colour transmissions were introduced on March 10, 1980.
Digital terrestrial television (DTT) was introduced at a very late stage when compared to other countries in Europe and with limited channels. According to the European Audiovisual Observatory it occupies the last place out of the 34 European countries with the weakest offer on digital terrestrial television. Due to this, most Portuguese are subscribers of cable (HFC) or IPTV (DSL or FTTH) platforms, in percentages higher than in the rest of Europe and these platforms are well developed with many channels. During the transition from analog to DTT, subscription-based television services experienced a 10% increase and reached 72.5% of homes in 2012. Outside of the internet, there are no regional or local television channels - with the exception of the autonomous state TV channels, RTP Açores and RTP Madeira -, although a couple of pay TV channels are partly or wholly dedicated to regional matters. Portuguese television is regulated by the Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (ERC).[1]
In 1953, a group on behalf of Emissora Nacional de Radiodifusão (later RDP) was set up examining the feasibility of a television service in Portugal. The group started preliminary work for a network of television signals, with a budget on the order of 500,000 escudos. A foreign company had a proposal for the setup of the television network, including the possibility by a foreign company, with high foreign capital, making a proposal for the building of the network and having the exclusive rights of the selling of television sets in the country for a determined period of time[2] In July 1954, their report A Televisão em Portugal (Television in Portugal) was published and was built upon the following pillars:
On March 7, 1957 public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) began broadcasting on RTP1, the first television channel in the country. A second RTP channel, RTP2, started broadcasting on December 25, 1968.
By the mid-1980s, satellite television with foreign channels started to become an alternative to the existing monopoly, while the government was opening the bidding process to the private sector.[4] By August 1987, no less than 60,000 satellite dishes were installed.[5] By 1988, with the ongoing discussions for the creation of private television stations, the number of satellite television users arose to 1 million. A number of pirate television stations existed at this time, with rudimentary equipment and limited programming. These stations were shut down by CTT officials.[6]
Private commercial channels were launched in the early 1990s, with SIC on October 6, 1992, and TVI on February 20, 1993.
In 2021, the 24-hour television news channel TVI 24 was revamped and started to broadcast as CNN Portugal. In December 2021, Lisbon-headquartered investment management firm Alpac Capital signed an agreement to buy a controlling stake in the pan-European television news network Euronews from Egyptian telecoms magnate Naguib Sawiris.[7] [8] [9]
Analog broadcasts in Portugal were discontinued on April 26, 2012. There are eight free-to-air channels on Portuguese terrestrial TV: 6 are owned by the public service broadcaster RTP (with 2 being regional channels that broadcast FTA only in the Madeira and Azores Autonomous Regions), two are from private broadcasters (SIC and TVI) and one is owned by the Assembly of the Republic and broadcasts parliamentary sessions (like BBC Parliament).See Digital terrestrial television in Portugal
HD broadcasts in Portugal began around the late 2000s mostly for sports events through temporary channels. During the 2010s, high definition gained more traction as the standard quality for TV broadcasts with by the end of the decade most television channels having an HD feed. However, high definition is still only available through pay TV services since, as of 2023, it has yet to be implemented for Portuguese Terrestrial Digital Television.
Optimus Clix has launched in 2006 a service called SmarTV (rebranded as Optimus Clix TV), provided on Amino and Motorola STBs, with VoD provided by Kasenna MediaBase video servers. The service would be merged into ZON in 2014 to create NOS.
PT Comunicações /Portugal Telecom, now Altice Portugal, has also launched its own IPTV service called MEO, after spuning off its subsidiary PT Multimédia (now NOS) in 2007.
Vodafone also launched an IPTV service called Vodafone Casa TV, now just simply known as Vodafone TV.
All cable providers in Portugal, NOS and Nowo, introduced digital television (DVB-C). However, some providers still offer analog cable.[10]
Digital satellite services have existed since 1998. Currently, the providers are NOS and MEO operating in Hispasat.
All operators had mobile TV under UMTS platforms. It was abandoned in favor of web-TV applications for mobile devices.
Yearly average viewing shares of the five main television channels in Portugal since 1992:[11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]
Monthly viewing shares in November 2024:[22]
| Position | Channel | Group (Owner) | Share of total viewing (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15.4% | |||
| 2 | 13.7% | |||
| 3 | 11.2% | |||
| 4 | 6.4% | |||
| 5 | Media Capital | 2.3% | ||
| 6 | Impresa | 1.8% | ||
| 7 | 1.8% | |||
| 8 | 1.7% | |||
| 9 | 1.6% | |||
| 10 | Impresa | 1.4% | ||
| 11 | Media Capital | 1.2% | ||
| 12 | Disney | 1.2% | ||
| 13 | Disney | 1.1% | ||
| 14 | 1.1% | |||
| 15 | Medialivre | 1.0% | ||
| 16 | Sony Pictures | 0.9% | ||
| 17 | RTP | 0.9% | ||
| 18 | Sport TV | 0.8% | ||
| 19 | Disney | 0.7% | ||
| 20 | Media Capital | 0.7% | ||
| Other Cable / Watched in deferred / Non TV content | 33.1% | |||
[23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32]
| Rank | Show | Episode | Rating | Share | Date | Channel | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portugal vs The Netherlands (semi-final) | 40.9 | 87.2% | RTP1 | |||
| 2 | Portugal vs Spain (semi-final) | 39.5 | 76.0% | SIC | |||
| 3 | UEFA Euro 2004 | Portugal vs England (quarter-final) | 39.0 | 85.1% | RTP1 | ||
| 4 | Portugal vs Wales (semi-final) | 38.4 | 75.4% | RTP1 | |||
| 5 | UEFA Euro 2016 | Portugal vs France (final) | 38.2 | 78.1% | RTP1 | ||
| 6 | UEFA Euro 2012 | Portugal vs The Netherlands (group stage match) | 38.1 | 73.4% | TVI | ||
| 7 | United States vs Portugal (group stage match) | 37.8 | 75.4% | RTP1 | |||
| 8 | UEFA Euro 2004 | Portugal vs Greece (final) | 37.7 | 89.7% | RTP1 | ||
| 9 | UEFA Euro 2016 | Poland vs Portugal (quarter-final) | 37.4 | 69.9% | RTP1 | ||
| 10 | Portugal vs France (semi-final) | 37.2 | 82.3% | SIC | |||
| 11 | A Próxima Vítima | Last Episode (Brazilian telenovela) | 37.1 | 80.2% | SIC | ||
| 12 | UEFA Euro 2012 | Czech Republic vs Portugal (quarter-final) | 36.1 | 71.7% | RTP1 | ||
| 13 | UEFA Euro 2004 | Russia vs Portugal (group stage match) | 35.5 | 81.4% | SIC | ||
| 14 | UEFA Euro 2016 | Portugal vs Iceland (group stage match) | 35.1 | 68.6% | RTP1 | ||
| 15 | UEFA Euro 2004 | Spain vs Portugal (group stage match) | 34.9 | 83.2% | TVI | ||
| 16 | 2006 FIFA World Cup | Portugal vs The Netherlands (round of 16) | 34.9 | 80.7% | SIC | ||
| 17 | Portugal vs Germany (quarter-finals) | 34.5 | 75.6% | TVI | |||
| 18 | 34.1 | 66% | RTP1, SIC, TVI | ||||
| 19 | Sweden vs Portugal (second leg playoff match) | 34.1 | 62.2% | RTP1 | |||
| 20 | SL Benfica vs Chelsea FC (final) | 33.8 | 62.3% | SIC | |||
| 21 | France vs Portugal (semi-finals) | 33.2 | 76.7% | RTP1 | |||
| 22 | 2006 FIFA World Cup | Angola vs Portugal (group stage match) | 32.8 | 80.9% | SIC | ||
| 23 | UEFA Euro 2012 | Germany vs Portugal (group stage match) | 32.4 | 68.3% | RTP1 | ||
| 24 | Monaco vs Porto (final) | 31.7 | 70.5% | RTP1 | |||
| 25 | UEFA Euro 2016 | Croatia vs Portugal (round of 16) | 31.3 | 70% | RTP1 | ||
| 26 | UEFA Europa League | Sevilla FC vs SL Benfica (final) | 31.1 | 61.4% | SIC | ||
| 27 | UEFA Champions League | Real Madrid vs Atlético Madrid (final) | 30.8 | 64.3% | TVI | ||
| 28 | Terra Nostra | Last Episode (Brazilian telenovela) | 30.8 | 64% | SIC | ||
| 29 | 2006 FIFA World Cup | 30.4 | 83.1% | SIC | |||
| 30 | UEFA Europa League | Juventus FC vs SL Benfica (semi-final) | 30.4 | 58.9% | SIC | ||
| 31 | Live eviction show | 30.2 | 72.5% | TVI | |||
| 32 | UEFA Cup | Sporting CP vs CSKA Moscow (final) | 30.1 | 68.4% | RTP1 | ||
| 33 | SL Benfica vs Sporting CP (sixth round) | 29.9 | 62.6% | RTP1 | |||
| 34 | Torre de Babel | Last Episode (Brazilian telenovela) | 29.8 | 77.1% | SIC | ||
| 35 | UEFA Euro 2008 | 29.8 | 71.8% | TVI | |||
| 36 | UEFA Cup | 29.7 | 67.5% | SIC | |||
| 37 | 2006 FIFA World Cup | Germany vs Portugal (third place play-off) | 29.6 | 78.4% | SIC | ||
| 38 | 2006 FIFA World Cup | England vs Portugal (quarter-finals) | 29.2 | 88.1% | SIC | ||
| 39 | Barcelona vs Benfica(quarter-finals) | 29.3 | 65.6% | RTP1 | |||
| 40 | Spain vs Portugal (round of 16) | 29.1 | 75.9% | RTP1 | |||
| 47 | Médico de Família(source: Sociedade Independente de Comunicação) | (Last Episode) Portuguese TV series (Most watched Portuguese TV production - all genres / formats(source: Sociedade Independente de Comunicação) | 27.9(source: Sociedade Independente de Comunicação) | 61.4%(source: Sociedade Independente de Comunicação) | (source: Sociedade Independente de Comunicação) | SIC (source: Sociedade Independente de Comunicação) |