RTP Internacional (RTPi) is a Portuguese free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcasterRádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). It is the company's international television service, and is known for broadcasting a mix of programming from other RTP's channels, as well as original productions made for the channel.
The channel is available on several satellites in the clear, on a number of subscription television operators and terrestrially in Macao and East Timor, by means of timeshares with other channels.
History
The former RTP International logo.
RTP Internacional was first planned in early 1992 by José Eduardo Moniz as part of the strategic plan for the 35th anniversary of RTP's first broadcast.[1] The channel was formally created on February 21, 1992, under the management of journalist Afonso Rato, who demanded "active television" for the Portuguese diaspora.[2]
It first started broadcasting via satellite in Europe on 10 June 1992 (Portugal Day), with a visit from then-prime minister Cavaco Silva. The channel, the fifth RTP channel overall to be launched, initially broadcast 39 hours a week (5 hours on weekdays, 7 on Saturdays and 9 on Sundays over two satellites, Eutelsat (Ku band) in Europe and Statsionar-12 (Intersputnik, C-band), enabling the channel's reach to extend to Africa and parts of Asia, including Goa and Macau. On 19 December the channel expanded to North America by means of the Galaxy-6 satellite.[2] The aim of the new channel was to "accentuate the penetration of the Portuguese language and culture and that, taking advantage of technological potential that was unthinkable years ago, will bring us all closer together, making our world smaller". The public presentation took place in Lisbon a week ahead of the launch of the service, in a project that took four months to create. On the eve of the launch, José Eduardo Moniz claimed that the service, thanks to a growing number of national output on the group of the four RTP channels (2 national and 2 regional) showed the desire of the Portuguese diaspora to provide necessary communication. Before, RTP tried - unsuccessfully - to beam its four channels by satellite to Africa, which was made impossible due to technological issues.[3] It soon expanded into Africa, where it reached audiences in Portuguese-speaking countries, as well as Canada, United States, Brazil and into Asia. It is also available on the Internet, via a subscription to the service JumpTV or with Octoshape.
By 1997, the channel was made available to at least 8.5 million subscriber homes, surpassing the one million benchmark in countries with high Portuguese immigration: France, Switzerland, the United States and Brazil. As that year was also its fifth anniversary, the channel celebrated with a week of special programming.[4] A special program for the fifth anniversary of the channel, Aqui Tão Perto: Portugal - Camões - Comunidades was broadcast, simultaneously with RTP2, for a period of approximately fourteen hours. The diaspora groups are connected via satellite in 30-minute slots and featured a report about the Portuguese diaspora in the particular country on those slots. The slots were given to the following countries, all of them with significant numbers of Portuguese diaspora: the United States, Canada, Venezuela, South Africa, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, France and Luxembourg.[5]
On 7 January 1998, RTPi ceased terrestrial broadcasting to Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa, and was replaced by a new separate service, called RTP África, which was available as a terrestrial TV service in some countries, as well as being available via satellite, but RTPi continues to broadcast in Angola and Mozambique. RTPi is carried by satellite television services across Africa in various countries such as South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
In March 2005 it began 'time-shifting' its programming, with three separate schedules for the Americas, Europe, and Asia, so that viewers in different time zones could watch programmes at more convenient times.
It is also available as a pay service via Dish Network in the United States and Rogers Cable and NexTV (IPTV Platform) in Canada.
For years, the channel was carried in Australia and New Zealand via UBI World TV. In 2013, RTP Internacional returned to these countries via Luso Vision, which focuses on Portuguese, Brazilian and Chilean programming.
In 2017, the TV and radio service – RTP Internacional and RDP, respectively – of RTP, as well as the Portuguese news agency Lusa, were suspended from operating in Guinea-Bissau. The measure was announced by Bissau-Guinean minister for the media, Vítor Pereira. He justified the decision with end of the contracts with RTP and Lusa. The Portuguese government considered the decision to be "unacceptable" and an "attack on freedom of expression,[7] while Reporters Without Borders condemned that same decision. Lusa was eventually allowed to operate in the country, but RTP Internacional and RDP were not.[8]
.svg){kind=small}
