Television
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 a 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, tasking up 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.[4] In July 1954, their report A Televisão em Portugal (Television in Portugal) was published and was built upon the following pillars:
Without suspending the activity of the Television Studies Group (while entering a new phase of activity, evolving naturally on the data set gathered), it was nevertheless necessary to wait 6 months for a decisive impulse given to the preliminary work for the installation of the national TV network: a Commission, appointed by Order, was responsible for coordinating and commenting on the studies carried out or to be carried out and defining the scenario in which future broadcasts should take place. This Commission was made up of:[5]
Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP) was established on 15 December 1955 as the national television service, under Article 1 of Decree nº 40 341, as a government limited liability company, under the name of RTP – Radiotelevisão Portuguesa, SARL, with the minimum capital provided for by law, in the amount of 60 million escudos, divided into thirds that fell to the State, the private broadcasters and to the public – this part to be subscribed in shares of 1 000 escudos, for which several banking institutions immediately became responsible.
The following radio stations had shares in RTP (values in thousands of escudos):[6]
Experimental broadcasts began on 4 September 1956 from the Feira Popular (an entertainment park) experimental studios in Lisbon.[7] Twenty monitors were installed in the park, but crowds gathered in shops around the city. The broadcast was received within a range of about 20 km. Around 1,000 TV sets are sold within a month. The first broadcast was made in association with the O Século newspaper.[8] Intense work was done in the two weeks leading up to the first experimental broadcast.[9]
On 5 December 1956, a contract was signed for the installation of the five transmitters to be built in the first phase of the national television network (dates implied are date of first operation):[10]
RTP's first yearly report (in 1956) stated that there were difficulties in receiving the terrain to install the television transmitters, a goal RTP wanted to achieve by March 1957.[11]
Regular broadcasting, however, did not start until 7 March 1957, by which time coverage had reached approximately 65% of the Portuguese population. By the end of 1958 the total number of sets in Portugal was around 32,000.
RTP was accepted as a full active member of the European Broadcasting Union (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.
A second television channel, RTP2, began operation on 25 December 1968. Two new regional channels were created in 1972 and 1975, for the Portuguese archipelagos of Madeira (opening on 6 August 1972) and the Azores (10 August 1975).
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 of 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. However, due to the political turmoil and the economic 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 investment into colour broadcasts, 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 two weeks after, on 7 March, RTP started the regular colour broadcast, with more than 70% of the programmes being already in colour. Also, RTP moved its headquarters to a brand new building. The building was originally built to be converted to a hotel, but the owner 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 and sold the building in 2003 and the new owner converted into what is today the VIP Grand Lisboa.
The introduction of private television caused great concern within RTP, as it was believed that by losing the monopoly, the corporation was going to lose ad revenue.[12] Numerous female presenters (Maria Elisa, Margarida Marante and Maria Antónia Palla) were fired and caused huge repercussions in the media industry.[13]
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 (backed by Impresa, TSF, Rádio Comercial, Lusomundo, Expresso, Impala Editores, and the largest commercial TV network in Latin America TV Globo) 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 most watched channel in Portugal, only behind TVI, a rarity which occurred again in 2009 and 2010.
In 2004, RTP and RDP were organized under a new company and became part of a larger state-owned holding, named Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, SGPS, 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. In February 2007 Radiotelevisão Portuguesa SA (the former RTP) and Radiodifusão Portuguesa SA (RDP) were merged into the new Radio e Televisão de Portugal SA,[14] ceasing to be independent entities.
Due to the financial crisis Portugal faced, RTP was to be heavily restructured as part of the Portuguese government's austerity plan between 2011 and 2015 and would have included the sale of one of the free to air channel licenses. However, due to pressure from the public and other organisations, the planned channel privatization never came into effect, although some restructuring took place, namely the phasing out of the international shortwave radio channels.
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. On 30 September 2009, RTP 1 HD returned in an experimental broadcast.
As full member of the EBU, RTP is eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest representing. It took part in the contest for the first time in its ninth edition in 1964. RTP stages Festival da Canção every year to select its entry for the international contest. It has won the competition once: in with "Amar pelos dois", written by Luísa Sobral and performed by Salvador Sobral. Following this win, RTP staged the, at the Altice Arena in Lisbon on 8, 10, and 12 May 2018. RTP also took part in fifteen (1979–1982 and 1988–1998) of the thirty seasons of the EBU's competition Jeux sans frontières with mixed teams from towns across the country. It won the competition five times: in 1980, 1981, 1988, 1989, and 1997; and staged many heats in outdoor locations around Portugal.
RTP was also member of the Organização da Televisão Ibero-americana (OTI), so it was eligible to participate in the OTI Festival representing Portugal. It took part in the festival for the first time in its first edition in 1972, and participated in twenty-two of the twenty-eight editions. Although it never won the competition, it staged the 16th edition at Teatro São Luiz in Lisbon on 24 October 1987.
- 1) The current status of TV and the opportunity for its introduction in Portugal
- 2) The operating system to be adopted
- 3) The solution that seems possible
- 4) Outline of an initial plan and related charges
- 5) Economic study
- 6) List of work already carried out by ENR.
- Brigadier Luís de Pina (former military attaché to the embassies in Washington and London), who presided over it
- António Eça de Queirós
- Engineer Manuel Bivar
- Dr. Stichini Vilela, for Emissora Nacional
- Major Jorge Botelho Moniz, for the private radio stations
- Engineer Carlos Ribeiro
- Dr. Fernando Elói, for the General Administration of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones
- Rádio Clube Português: 9,260
- Rádio Renascença: 4,630
- Emissores do Norte Reunidos: 2,310
- Rádio Clube de Moçambique: 2,310
- Emissores Associados de Lisboa: 1,400
- Rádio Ribatejo: 30
- Rádio Pólo Norte: 30
- Posto Emissor de Radiodifusão do Funchal: 20
- Rádio Clube de Angra: 20
- Monsanto (3 December 1956)
- Monte da Virgem (31 December 1957)
- Lousã (23 November 1957)
- Monchique (25 April 1958)
- Montejunto (10 March 1958)
