Televisão Independente

Televisão Independente
Launched	20 February 1993 (1993-02-20)
Owned by	Media Capital ( PRISA )
Picture format	Resolution: 576i (PAL) Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Audience share	23.2% (March '16, )
Slogan	"Juntos, criamos a sua televisão" (Together, we create your television)
Country	Portugal
Broadcast area	Portugal
Headquarters	Queluz de Baixo (Oeiras)
Formerly called	4 (1993-1995)
Sister channel(s)	TVI 24 TVI Ficção TVI Reality TVI Internacional TVI África
Website	www.tvi.pt
Availability
Terrestrial
TDT	Channel 4
Satellite
NOS	Channel 4
MEO	Channel 4
Cable
NOS	Channel 4
Nowo	Channel 4
IPTV
MEO	Channel 4
Vodafone	Channel 4

Televisão Independente (TVI) ("Independent Television") is Portugal's fourth terrestrial television channel, launched in 1993. It has been leading audience ratings since 2005.^[1] It competes directly with SIC and RTP1.

History

TVI was the second private Portuguese TV channel to be launched, SIC having been launched five months before, and the fourth channel in all. Already under the name TVI, but marketed as 4, in which the '3' was the sole element in its logo, TVI was initially owned by some prominent Catholic Church institutions, including Rádio Renascença, RFM, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Editorial Verbo and União das Misericórdias; Antena 3 Televisión (which consisted ofLa Vanguardia, ABC-Prensa Española, Manuel Martín Ferrand (4,3%), Rafael and Manuel Jiménez de Parga, Europa Press and Grupo Zeta), Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion, (CLR, under Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion, now RTL Group), Sonae, SBS Broadcasting Group, ITV contractor Yorkshire Television and many other media enterprises were minor stakeholders of TVI. This majority-Catholic ownership pushed TVI's programming in the direction of Christian values. In the first years of its existence, TVI assumed the role of an 'alternative' television broadcaster, dedicating segments of its airtime to distinct target audiences, with part of the morning dedicated to housewives and the elderly and part of the afternoon to the young. Broadcasts were initially experimental, before upgrading to regular status in October the same year.

During this period, TVI was known for its American series and movies, including X-Files and Baywatch, and most notably the Spanish show El gran juego de la oca (translated as O Jogo do Ganso) imported from Antena 3. TVI also brought in some prominent names in Portuguese television, including Manuel Luís Goucha and Artur Albarran, but the viewing figures had were always lower than expected and it entered into deep financial crisis.

TVI's recovery happened when it was totally acquired by Media Capital in 1999, one of the most important media conglomerates in Portugal, whereupon it started broadcasting more Portuguese-produced programs, including soap operas. This helped to increase its audience significantly, but it was in September 2000, when Big Brother started, that the channel gained a boost in popularity.

Now the most watched station in the country, TVI is known for having a large number of national reality shows and soap operas. It broadcasts a mix of local productions, such as soap operas, family series and reality shows, news programs and international movies and series (mostly American). It is currently owned by Media Capital, which is owned by Grupo Prisa. Until February 2007, Media Capital was co-owned by RTL Group and Grupo Prisa. The station works with Media Capital-owned production company Plural Entertainment to produce its national fictional content.

Like public service broadcaster RTP and unlike commercial rival SIC, which have always shown foreign programs in the original language with subtitles, TVI tried, unsuccessfully, to dub foreign programs into Portuguese after achieving marginal success with Latin American Spanish-language soap operas dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese. Experiments of dubbing included the US series Dawson's Creek and other shows directed at younger audiences.

• 
  TVI's first logo, used until February 1995
• 
  TVI's second logo, used from 1995 to 1996
• 
  TVI's third logo, used from 1996 to 1999
• 
  TVI's fourth logo, used since 1999

Criticism

In July 2010, TVI censored a kiss between two male characters on the youth TV series Morangos com Açúcar, due to pressure by a fundamentalist far-right organization, "National Resistance".^[2] This cut has led to a major outcry, and has been widely perceived as an occurrence of homophobia. At least 10 civil society organizations called for the reinstatement of the cut scene.^[3] As of 2015, TVI no longer censors homosexual scenes and has become an important symbol of it in Portugal.^[4][5]

TVI had still broadcast in 4:3 as of 2015, even though, on its early days, it received European funds to promote and broadcast in 16:9 PAL-plus.^[6][7] However, the network's board of directors announced in September 2015 that its channels will move to the widescreen format, starting with the premiere of Santa Bárbara on 28 September ^[8] and finalizing the move on 3 October, one day before the general elections.

Some viewers criticized the channel as it broadcasts US television series after midnight. TVI's prime time is reserved for in-house programming, mainly soap operas, viewer-participation quizzes and reality shows, in a similar manner to its direct competitor SIC.

Programs

Regular

National

Soap operas currently airing

• A Única Mulher - The Only Woman
• Santa Bárbara - Saint Barbara

Previous soap operas

• Jardins Proibidos - Forbidden Gardens
• Mulheres - Women
• O Beijo do Escorpião - The Kiss of the Scorpion

TV Series

• Massa Fresca - Fresh Pasta

News

TVI cameraman

• Diário da Manhã - Morning Diary
• Jornal da Uma - News at One
• Jornal das 8 - News at Eight

Talent shows

• MasterChef Júnior (Portugal) - MasterChef Junior

Reality shows

• Love On Top

Talk shows

• A Tarde é Sua - The Afternoon is Yours
• Você na TV - You, on TV
• Somos Portugal - We're Portugal

Sports

• Taça de Portugal Placard^{Only the final}
• Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira Vodafone
• Portugal national football team friendly matches
• Portugal national under-21 football team qualifying and friendly matches

International

Series currently airing

• Hawaii Five-0
• Castle

Previous series

• Chigado Fire
• Castle
• Glee
• Grimm
• Hannah Montana
• Heroes
• Homeland
• House
• Knight Rider
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
• Lipstick Jungle
• Modern Family
• New Girl
• Psych
• Suits
• Surface
• Terra Nova
• The Chicago Code
• The Office

Movies

Movies from the following studios/distributors:

• Paramount Pictures/DreamWorks Pictures (rights co-shared with SIC)
• 20th Century Fox/Blue Sky Studios (rights co-shared with RTP and SIC)
• Universal Studios/Focus Features (rights co-shared with SIC)
• DreamWorks Animation

Former broadcasting rights

• Columbia Pictures/TriStar Pictures (rights currently fully owned by SIC)

Other

• Sunday Eucharist and 8° Dia (8th Day) - Sunday Christian Catholic mass and religious show broadcast on Sundays, before the lunchtime news block.
• Cartaz das Artes (Arts' Poster) - weekly cultural agenda show, displayed in the first hours of Friday, hosted by João Paulo Sacadura.
• EuroMillions - the lottery draw that gives its name to the show, is broadcast on Tuesdays and Fridays after News at Eight.

References

External links

• (Portuguese) Official Site
• TVI's first moments and the first news service
• Media Capital
• Rádio Renascença
• Grupo PRISA
• Genérico TVI

Wikimedia Commons has media related to TVI-Televisão Independente.