Portuguese adding two new DTT channels
December 18, 2020
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
The Portuguese government has approved the expansion of the country’s free-to-air DTT offering with the addition of two more channels from public broadcaster RTP.
RTP Africa is a satellite TV channel targeted at Portuguese speaking countries in Africa, while Canal do Conhecimento is a new channel dedicated to science and knowledge, and will feature contributuons from universities.
The measure was anticipated in the 2021 Budget, presented in Parliament by the government in October. At the time, the government said the decision was part of the measures aimed at “promoting and supporting the film, audiovisual and media sectors”.
With the arrival of the two new TV channels, expected during 2021, the national DTT offer will grow to nine TV channels.
Currently, the national DTT offer consists of the following channels: RTP1, RTP2, SIC, TVI, RTP3, RTP Memória and Canal Parlamento (AR TV).
Portugal is due to end the process of migrating the DTT service from the 700 MHz band on December 18th, making it available for 5G mobile telephony.