Rádiotelevisão Portuguesa SA (RTP)
www.rtp.pt
rtp@rtp.pt

Sociedade Independente de Comunicação SA (SIC)
anasemiao@sic.pt

Televisão Independente SA (TV1)
www.tvi-online.com
email@tvi.aol.pt

Portugal (population: 10,400,000) 

Rádiotelevisão Portuguesa SA (RTP)

RTP started broadcasting regularly in 1957, and in 1968 RTP-2 was born. Madeira received regular broadcasts from 1972, and the Azores followed suit in ’75.

After the late ‘80s decision to allow private broadcasting (local radio was also legalised after many years of illegal operation), SIC took charge of the third national stations (1992), and TV1, which boasted a strong association with the Catholic Church, took a fourth.

Today RTP is in big trouble, and due for a massive shake-up and possibly even imminent closure, as SIC continues to prolong RTP’s demise. SIC struck an exclusive deal with Globo re: Brazilian telenovelas in ’95, and if it had not done so, perhaps SIC would not still be around today itself.

TV1 was a minority channel from the onset, but with the arrival of Big Brother in 2001, it managed to usurp SIC’s domination of the market. Today, SIC and TV1 are level-pegging.

62% of Portuguese households have cable access, despite only 23% subscription and thematic and Pay-TV are on the up. Terrestrial digital will soon follow, and both RTP and SIC are involved.