Television & Radio Stations in Portugal

Getting to grips with TV standards, digital TV, Portuguese public and commercial television and what's available to the TV viewer in

Although there are obviously very few nationally produced TV programmes in English in Portugal, a lot of programming is imported from the UK and the USA, particularly British comedies, drama and documentaries, and these are generally shown in English with Portuguese subtitles, rather than dubbed.

Television

There are three main television/video standards in use throughout the world.

The system used in the US, Canada, Japan and some other countries is called NTSC
Most of Western Europe (including Portugal), Australasia and Southern Africa use a system called PAL
Eastern Europe and France use SECAM

The three standards are not compatible with each other. This means that a TV signal (or video) produced for one system will not work on machinery that's been designed for another.

The Portuguese system is PAL, therefore a non-PAL compatible television will not receive a signal or be able to broadcast sound and picture.

Multi-standard European TVs, VCRs and DVD players with automatic switching circuitry are available from electronics suppliers.

TV Licence

Portuguese state television is funded directly from taxation, and no further licence is necessary.

Television: National Terrestrial Channels

Note: Portuguese TV does not have regional television.

Radio Televisão Portuguesa or RTP is the state-owned and funded national station. It has two channels:

RTP 1: the general interest channel
RTP 2 (a dois): documentaries and political-style programmes
A programme guide is available here

There are also two commercial TV stations:

SIC: the first of the private TV channels to be launched in Portugal. It shows mainly films and soap operas
TVI: showing reality shows and investigative news features

Those subscribing to cable TV (TV Cabo) will also get its sister channels SIC Gold, SIC Mulher (a channel targeting women) and SIC Radical (for a younger audience).

Television: Cable Channels

Many people in Portugal subscribe to cable TV supplied by a company called TV Cabo which offers a full package at a reasonable price.

TV Cabo
Tel: 808 200 400
Tel: 707 299 499 (General information and bills)
Tel: 707 266 466 (Technical help)
e-mail
Website

The package includes about 100 TV channels, which automatically include the four national terrestrial TV stations RTP 1, RTP 2, SIC and TVI and a number of documentary channels (with content usually dubbed in Portuguese): Canal Historia, Discovery Channel, People & Arts, Odisseia, Biography Channel, Travel Channel, Civilization.

It also provides SIC Comedia (comedy channel), BBC Prime (which shows the best of British TV from the last five years), Sky News and BBC World.

Also included in the package are two film channels: Canal Hollywood which has US, British, French and Spanish films (all subtitled in Portuguese) and TCM (Turner Classic Movies) which shows mainly older films.

By paying a bit extra a number of special film channels are available with more up-to-date films. These are Lusomundo, Luso Gallery and Premium.

Several music channels are also included in the package including VH1, MTV, VH1 Classic and more.

How to get Cable TV

Call 808 200 400 and verify that the residential area is covered by cable or satellite TV
Book an appointment for a technician to come to the premises to install the Cabo TV Box (Decodificador)
It will be necessary to fill out a form (Formulário de Adesão) with all relevant details. The client may be required to supply details of Passport/Identity Card, Residency Card, show utility bills and/or bank statements.
The client must sign up to a contract lasting at least 12 months
A Portuguese Tax Number (NIF) (Numero Identificação Fiscal) will be needed

Paying for Cable TV subscription

TV cable is paid on a monthly basis. There are a number of ways to pay:

Using the ATM Multibanco System. At the bottom of each bill (Factura) is a detachable slip with a box (MB – Pagamento por Multibanco). At the ATM choose Select Payments (Pagamentos dos Serviços), key in TV Cabo's Reference Number (Entidade) and Reference Number (Referência), then type in the Total (Montante)
At the Post Office (Correios de Portugal - CTT)
At any TV Cabo Shop (Lojas). For a list: Click here
Via a cheque/bank transfer to: CATVP – TV Cabo Portugal, A/c Direcção Financeira, Apartado 2644, 1501-001 Lisbon