TVI (Televisão Independente – "Independent Television") is Portugal's fourth terrestrial television channel, launched in 1993. It was the most watched channel in Portugal from 2005 to 2019, and again from 2024 to 2025. It competes directly with SIC and RTP1. It is one of the two private free-to-air channels in Portugal, among the seven terrestrial free-to-air channels broadcasting from the country.
History Plans for a television channel for the Church The Catholic Church of Portugal demanded the end of the television monopoly in Portugal and wanted its channel as far back as the early 80s. At the time, there were only two television channels, RTP1 and RTP2, both owned by the state. In October 1981, Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon António Ribeiro demanded the government to authorize the creation of an exclusive television channel for the church, under Article 41-4 of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, enabling freedom of education for any religion and the use of media for its activities. The plan for such a channel was greenlighted in January 1982, with consultancy from Luxembourgish television. If a plan to use separate frequencies failed, there was the hypothesis of renting airtime on RTP2. An amendment to the law was passed in February, with the government stressing the church's influence in Portuguese society. Observers of the visit of Pope John Paul II to Portugal planned for May 1982 believed that it was part of the campaign of the Church's bid for a television channel. An interview given by Bishop of Évora Maurílio Gouveia to the Catholic radio station Rádio Renascença believed that a channel owned by the Church was a step towards the creation of a more democratic society, having the right to own a TV channel, just like the right it had to own a radio station and a newspaper.
In 1986, with talks in government to limit government influence in media underway, the idea of a Church-owned channel gained momentum again. Creation of TVI The company was founded on 25 March 1991 by a group of 46 Catholic institutions, companies and businessmen, to receive the license for one of the two slots available for private television, that started in December 1990. It was one of the three shortlisted companies between 2 January and 2 April 1991. It also received support from the RTL Group and wanted to follow the example of the Dutch Catholic omroep KRO and Catholic-backed local television stations in northern Italy. Potential foreign investors were ruled out. By the summer of 1991, it was speculated that TVI would start broadcasting in September 1992. The total cost of operating was of six million contos, against eight million from TV1 and twelve million from SIC.
The project was greenlighted on 6 February 1992, as the fourth channel. The operative functions were divided between Cinema Berna, which housed the news operation, and the Altejo building, for the rest of the teams, both in Lisbon. The channel came out of an old claim (as far back as the 1980s) from the Portuguese Catholic Church, and that its initial aim was of being a "Christian-inspired television channel" with a charter of principles defining it as "a moral and cultural enterprise". When the channel gained its license, the channel had withdrawn from its key characteristic of being "the Church's channel".
Priest Vitor Melícias, who despite having a daily slot on the channel (Encontro), was never aligned with the project, as he preferred that the channel would include what would eventually be called "civil society": religious entities, unions, universities and other institutions. Melícias believed that the project was "utopian" whose limitations were faced further by "pressure from viewers and addictions from the staff".
Early years, financial troubles 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 '4' was the sole element in its logo, TVI was initially owned by some prominent Catholic Church institutions, including Rádio Renascença, RFM, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Público, Editorial Verbo and União das Misericórdias; Antena 3 Televisión (which consisted of La Vanguardia, ABC-Prensa Española, Manuel Martín Ferrand (4.3%), Rafael and Manuel Jiménez de Parga, Europa Press and Grupo Zeta), the Luxembourgish Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion, (CLT, now RTL Group), Sonae, the Scandinavian SBS Broadcasting Group and ITV contractor Yorkshire Television were minor stakeholders of TVI.Esfera Pública e Escândalo Político – A Face Oculta do Poder The shareholder structure was also subdivided in many individual personal shareholders. 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.
The first test broadcasts were conducted on 30 January 1993. 40% of the programming output was set to be national, with the remaining 60% being imports.
TVI launched on 20 February 1993, with a special five-and-a-half-hour schedule. The evening began at 8pm with a special program introducing the contents of the channel, followed by the film The Natural (at the time, it was normal for Portuguese terrestrial television to air movies during primetime). The first commercial seen on the network, likely representing the essence of the channel, was for Halls Mentholyptus, where a monk of a church choir had a sore throat. The main news, Informação 4, went live exceptionally later at 10:50pm.
TVI's initial schedule was built primarily by international feature films, with a selection from Lauro António, some foreign television series and a substantial amount of national production. Notable early national productions included Telhados de Vidro, the first telenovela made for a private television station in Portugal, the children's program A Casa do Tio Carlos hosted by Carlos Alberto Moniz, which aired on Sunday mornings, and the Portuguese sitcom Cos(z)ido à Portuguesa on Tuesdays, with Florbela Queiroz.
José Nuno Martins was the first director of programs. Interference of the Catholic Church in the channel's content was at its whole, the aim was to "build a stable station with very familiar programming", but was plagued by difficulties, such as no reception in parts of Lisbon during the channel's first weeks, "extremely violent efforts" from the professionals and "nonsensical management options" given to an "amateur administration". Friars, nuns and other individuals became shareholders of the channel, expecting a return of their money. In its first year, TVI had a share of 6.6%.
Among its earlies scandals was, in March 1993, its refusal of covering a trial of a Catholic father (Frederico) for murder and homosexual relations with a minor.BOSELEY, S. (1993, Mar 11). PEOPLE SARAH BOSELEY ON WOMEN AT THE TOP, TOMMY STEELE'S TRIUMPH, POLAND'S SEX EDUCATION LESSONS, TEARS AFTER WILD NIGHTS. The Guardian (Pre-1997 Fulltext)
In 1994, TVI begins to experience its first signs of crisis that followed in the coming years. In the following year, Rádio Renascença and the Catholic Church withdrew much of their shares from the channel, selling them to a British pensioners' fund. The channel's finances deteriorate, in an advertising market that was seen as "too small" for four channels, it was hard for the channel to receive ad revenue. Despite the entrance of foreign investors, the channel wanted to remain faithful to its founding charter of principles, but, on the other hand, wanted a more attractive schedule to gain ad revenue. Such hesitation between the two formulas turned out to be fatal.
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) and Farmacia de Guardia imported from Antena 3. The agreement with Antena 3, which was seen as a way to mimic SIC's agreement with Globo, fell through when Banesto experienced a financial scandal. Because of that, the line-up changed again to a more low-cost offering, reducing the amount of national content and emphasizing more on imports, especially foreign television series, as a cheaper option. 1996 was marked by the entry of Carlos Cruz as its director of programming, with the goal of trying to achieve an expected 15% share. 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 – higher than RTP2 but lower than the top 2 channels then, SIC and RTP1 – and it entered into deep financial crisis in 1997.
Lusomundo, Stanley Ho, and Cisneros New administration took over in June 1998. Nineteen Catholic institutions that had supported the channel since its founding all left. TVI was taken over by a consortium led by Sonae, Lusomundo and Grupo Cisneros, who overtook the bids by Media Capital and Antena 3, the latter being a former part-owner. Antena 3 Televisión had agreed to subscribe (50% with its Portuguese partner) an increase in capital of 1,300 million pesetas, to ensure control of the channel, which at the time had exclusive of the Spanish Soccer League. The presence of Cisneros caused a political affair, where opposition leader Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa assured that the consortium has been benefited by the government to reduce TVI's debt interest.
Media Capital; on track for leadership TVI's recovery happened when it was totally acquired by Media Capital between 1997 and 1999, one of the most important media conglomerates in Portugal, whereupon it started broadcasting more Portuguese-produced programs, including soap operas.
In March 1999, TVI hired José Eduardo Moniz, former director of RTP. His arrival prompted a change in the programming line, with continuous strategies aiming at attracting audience from other channels. After some experiments with pimba music concerts on specific dates, the channel had the task to premiere a program hosted by Miguel Sousa Tavares on 29 April, aiming at another audience, whose name at the time was still kept in secret. The program was promoted without directly referring its name or contents, but reflected the complicated relations Moniz and Tavares had. Moreover, TVI used the late afternoon slots to premiere an hour-long program, Nossa Gente, produced by D&D Audiovisuais, emphasizing on people with unusual hobbies. For that year's Easter week, TVI reserved its schedule for foreign mini-series. The year ended with TVI revealing itself as the only television channel whose share grew in double digits, citing the success of its national productions, including Todo o Tempo do Mundo, whose average share alone exceeded 30% on weekends, with more than a million viewers tuning in. For 2000 it was revealed that the budget and programming offer would increase considerably. The channel hired Carlos Ribeiro, who hosted Made in Portugal, to make a similar program related to the Portuguese popular music scene in the first trimester of the new year. Marina Mota was also signed, who came from SIC, and was set to premiere her first production on the channel in March. Such growth in ratings and ad revenue consolidated TVI's position as "the great surprise station" of Portugal.
Achieving top ratings for the first time