Launch in Brazil
The Portuguese language version debuted in October 1997 on the DirecTV Brasil line-up.[12] Initially, it had about 12 hours of programming in Portuguese; the rest of the broadcast day was covered by CBS news programs.[13] With the creation of the Portuguese language version of the channel, the cable operators NET and Multicanal, at the time owned by Grupo Globo, decided to remove the channel from their programming to avoid competition with GloboNews.[1][14][15] In addition, the channel's launch was delayed several months as the satellite that was to transmit CBS Telenotícias, PanAmSat 5 – which went into orbit in August 1997 – did not become fully operational until October 12, and cable providers obtained satellite receivers to receive the signal beamed from PanAmSat 5 later than expected.[16]
CBS Telenotícias scored an early coup. Beginning on December 15, 1997, it took over production of Jornal do SBT, the main newscast of SBT.[17] The Brazilian network and CBS, also began sharing content.[17] Eliakim Araújo and Leila Cordeiro hosted the news program from Miami, while Hermano Henning hosted the program from the SBT studios, located in Osasco, in the Greater São Paulo.[17][18] This deal was similar to the Noticiero Telemundo production agreement.[19]
TVA (currently Vivo TV) began including the channel in their line-up from February 1, 1998, in their basic package.[12][13]
In March 1998, SBT started to broadcast five hours of programming from CBS Telenotícias through the night, known as SINAL (Sistema de Notícias da América Latina; Latin American News System in English).[18] Telenotícias also established content sharing partnerships with Band and TV Cultura, but their contributions could not be shown on SBT.[20][21]
