Advanced Television

Portugal gets fifth free channel

January 7, 2008

Portugal will auction a free-to-air TV licence for a national channel to compete with the four existing ones. The new channel will be carried on a DTT platform, along with simulcasts from pubcaster channels RTP1 and RTP2 plus commercial webs TVI and SIC.

The announcement of a new general entertainment channel is likely to spark considerable interest in Portugal given that the four incumbents had a combined 84.5 per cent viewing share in 2007, as against a 15.5 per cent share for all cable and satellite channels.

Potential bidders for the new channel include Portugal Telecom, Sonaecom, Abertis and Vodafone.

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, DTT/DSO