Rádio e Televisão de Portugal
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| Type | Public service broadcasting: Radio, Broadcast television network |
|---|---|
| Country | Portugal |
| Availability | Portugal, Worldwide (via RTP Internacional) |
| Owner | State-owned enterprise (Public) |
| Key people | Guilherme Costa, Chairman of the board |
| Launch date | August 4, 1935 (radio) March 7, 1957 (television) |
| Former names | Emissora Nacional de Radiodifusão (until 1976) Radiodifusão Portuguesa / Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (until 2004) |
| Website www.rtp.pt |
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Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, S.A., commonly known as RTP and Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (Portuguese for "Radio and Television of Portugal"), is the Portuguese public service broadcasting corporation. It operates two terrestrial television channels and three national radio channels, in addition to several satellite and cable offerings.
RTP is a corporation owned by the Portuguese state and funded through television advertising, government grants and the "Taxa de contribuição audiovisual" (broadcasting contribution tax), charged through electricity bills.
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[edit] History
Emissora Nacional de Radiodifusão was established in 4 August 1935 as the public national radio broadcaster, inheriting the previous broadcasting operations of Correios, Telégrafos e Telefones, the national postal service. Five years later, ENR became independent of the corporate arm of CTT.
ENR was one of the 23 founding broadcasting organizations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950. After the Carnation Revolution, ENR was reorganized and changed its name to Radiodifusão Portuguesa (RDP) in 1976. During this process, several private radio stations such as Rádio Clube Português (RCP) were nationalized and reintegrated into RDP.
In 1979, the RCP network was rebranded Rádio Comercial, and was later privatized in 1993. At the same time, RDP launched the youth-oriented radio station Antena 3, and abolished advertising from all of its stations, with the purpose of being funded solely by the aforementioned broadcasting contribution tax.
Radiotelevisão Portuguesa was established on 15 December 1955. Experimental broadcasts began in 1956 from the Feira Popular studios in Lisbon. Regular broadcasting, however, did not start until 7 March 1957, by which time coverage had reached approximately 65% of the Portuguese population. RTP was accepted as a full active member of the EBU in 1959. By the mid-1960s, RTP had become available throughout the country. Robert Farnon's "Derby Day" was extensively used as RTP's fanfare to open the programming since the very first day, and over the decades it has become RTP's official anthem.
25 December 1968 saw the opening of a second television channel, RTP2. Two new regional channels were created in 1972, for the Portuguese archipelagos of Madeira (opening on 6 August) and the Azores (10 August), and colour broadcasts began on 7 March 1977.
Before the Carnation Revolution, RTP was essentially a mouthpiece of the regime, and famously opened the newscast of 20 July 1969 - the day of the first moon landing - with a segment showing president Américo Thomaz opening a concrete factory. However, like many other broadcasters, it did broadcast live the landing og the man on the moon during the night.
The first Colour Broadcast was made in 1975, with the live coverage of the first parliamentary elections after the carnation revolution. But, due to the political turmoil and the economical situation of the country, the colour regular broadcast was delayed several times for nearly 5 years. During that time RTP started to purchase some colour equipment and make the occasional colour recording. But the pressure kept going as the black and white equipment was getting old and very hard to repair, so in 1978 and 1979 a massive investiment supported by a foreign loan, gave RTP the opportunity to replace all the B/W to increase the current amount of equipment and to be updated with the most advanced broadcast technologies available at the time. Despite this, only in February 1980, the government finally authorised the regular colour broadcast and 2 weeksa after, on the 7th of March RTP started the regular colour broadcast, with more than 70% of the programmes being already in colour. Also, RTP moved headquerters to a brand new building. the building was originally built to be converted to a hotel, but the ownwer decided to leave it untouched and reached an agreement with RTP for the purchase and converted the interior for office use. RTP moved to more adequate headquarters andsold the building in 2003 and the new owner converted into what is today the VIP Grand Lisboa.
Until 1991, RTP owned its transmitter network, which was transferred to a state-owned enterprise which, through a series of mergers, became part of Portugal Telecom. RTP held the television monopoly until 1992, the year when the private SIC started broadcasting. Over the years, RTP's audience share has constantly reduced in favour of the private channels. 2007 was an exception to this tendency, and RTP1 became the second channel most watched in Portugal, only behind TVI.
In 2004, RTP and RDP merged and became part of a larger state-owned holding, named Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, and inaugurated the new headquarters near Parque das Nações, in Lisbon. In the same year, the second channel was rebranded as '2:', promoting itself as the civil society service. Later in March 2007, 2: became 'RTP2' again.
Currently, RTP is celebrating its 50 years of television broadcasting, as well as planning the launch of two new television channels on the future DTT platform. One channel will be devoted to knowledge, and the other will focus on children's programming.[1]
RTP has 16 regional offices spread all over the country, as well as international bureaus in Washington D.C., Brussels, Moscow, Brazil and several other locations.
RTP aired the 2008 Olympic Games in HD through the ZON TV Cabo satellite and cable platform.
[edit] Television channels
- RTP1 is the oldest of RTP's channels and also the flagship of RTP. It features general programming, such as news, talk shows, current affairs, drama, national and international movies and TV series.a;
- RTP2 is the main channel for cultural and factual programming, as well as children's programming.a;
- RTPN is the 24 hour news channel b;
- RTP Internacional or RTPi is the international television service. In Macau and East Timor, it is retransmitted locally, together with local programming c;
- RTP África, another international television service directed towards the African communities. In Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé e Príncipe it is retransmitted locally, together with local programming b d;
- RTP Açores, a regional opt-out channel broadcast in the Azores Islands;
- RTP Madeira, a regional opt-out channel broadcast in the Madeira Islands;
- RTP Memória ("RTP Memory"), broadcasts classic RTP shows b;
- RTP HD, a High Definition testing channel which aired the 2008 Olympics. RTP pretends to launch the channel as a 24-hours channel in mid-2009.
a Terrestrial channel available nationwide.
b Available on the Portuguese cable and satellite platforms.
c Available worldwide on satellite and cable platforms.
d Available in several African countries on satellite and cable platforms.
[edit] Radio stations
- RDP Antena 1, news, talk and sports station with a strong focus on Portuguese music a b;
- RDP Antena 2, cultural programming, classical and world music, featuring live performances a;
- RDP Antena 3, an up-tempo, youth-oriented station with focus on contemporary and alternative music a;
- RDP Internacional, the international radio service c;
- RDP África, programming directed towards the Portuguese-speaking African communities a;
- Rádio Lusitania, a digital-only station with focus on Portuguese music.
a Available nationwide on FM, DAB and internet.
b Also available on AM.
c Available on shortwave and satellite all over the world.
The following stations are Antena 1 regional stations:
[edit] News services
Most RTP 1 news programmes are simulcasted with RTP Internacional, RTP África, RTP Açores, RTP Madeira and, sometimes, RTPN. These news programs include:
- Bom Dia Portugal (07-10 am), live from the Lisbon studios;
- Jornal da Tarde (1 pm), live from the Porto studios;
- Portugal em Directo (6 pm), live from the Lisbon studios;
- Telejornal (8 pm), live from the Lisbon studios.
RTP2's only news service is Jornal 2 (10 pm), a more short and objective newscast than the RTP 1 ones.
RTPN features hourly news updates and headlines.
[edit] Organisation
[edit] Chairmen of the board
- Almerindo Marques, 2002 –2008
- Guilherme Costa, 2008 – present
[edit] Programming directors of RTP1
- Nuno Santos, 2002 –2007
- José Fragoso, 2008 – present
[edit] Programming directors of RTP2
- Manuel Falcão, 2003 –2006
- Jorge Wemans, 2006 – present
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- List of Portuguese language television channels
- Festival da Canção
- Television in Portugal
- Digital television in Portugal
- Sociedade Independente de Comunicação
- Televisão Independente
[edit] External links
- Official Site (Portuguese)
- Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP) at the Internet Movie Database (English)
- RTP channel on Youtube
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