BRAZILIAN TELEVISION

Yahoo! category: Brazilian TV channels

The first TV channel in Brazil (and Latin America) was Rede Tupi (Tupi is the name of a large Brazilian indian tribe), which first broadcasted on September 18th 1950. For financial reasons, TV Tupi closed down in 1980. Click to read more about Rede Tupi (in Portuguese only).

Although there are a few Educational TVs, most channels in Brazil today are commercial.
Commercial TVs depend on authorization from the government; there are no official subsides to commercial TVs.

Most important Brazilian TV channels:
Rede Globo The Globo Organizations is the largest media group in Brazil. Besides the TV, Globo operates radio, newspapers, cable TV and internet sites. Globo was founded by Roberto Marinho, who died in 2003 at age 98; Marinho was a tycoon with influence over all major politicians in recent History of Brazil.
TV Globo is number one in audience practically everyday, everytime, with every audience. The most watched program in Brazil is Jornal Nacional, the daily night news (around 20h30, Mo-Sa).
Also from Globo are the most important Brazilian soapbox operas (the most well accepted exporting item of Brazilian television); Brazilian actors and actresses are said to reach stardom after appearing on Globo soapbox operas.
Globo is the biggest producer of content in Brazilian television; several documentaries, sitcoms, musicals and other programs are made in house, either in series or just one program. Many Hollywood hits are bought by Globo (but some other channels are able to compete with Globo at this field), as well as the major sports competitions.
People who demand higher standards than Globo's (and used to stick to the Educational TVs) are migrating to cable TVs.

SBT Sistema Brasileiro de Televisao. SBT has been holding a second place in the audience meters, but it looses the position at a few periods. SBT is owned by Silvio Santos, a very rich self made man (he started by selling gadgets on the streets, and moved up, stories say, because of his ability in convincing people by talking) who keeps control on every detail of the programs exhibited on his channel.
Silvio Santos has been host (for more than 30 years) of his own show, Sundays. He used to work with TV Globo, but when Rede Tupi failed, he used his good relations with the (by then) military government to get the charter transferred to him. Silvio Santos uses his popularity to drive audience to his other programs.
SBT programs mirror Globo's, but at lower standards: older movies (with a few hits now and then), secondary football tournaments, soapboxes imported from Mexico, older and younger artists (who move to Globo, when they become famous).

TV Cultura Educational channel maintained by the government of the State of Sao Paulo. The most important educative TV in Brazil; several States maintain a cultural channel, which usually share their programs.
Despite of all dificulties (official TVs can't get funds by merchandising), TV Cultura has managed to produce high quality programs, awarded in Brazil and abroad (for example, a former version of Ilha Ra Tim Bum won awards a few years ago). TV Cultura is excellent with interviews, programs for children and Historic programs. Unfortunately, educative TVs don't have a large audience in Brazil.

Rede Band A few TVs compete for the third place, behind Globo and SBT, Band is one of them. Occasionally, they hit a #1 or #2, with some specific event. Because of lower budgets, programs are of lower quality. Because of the low production costs, there is a profusion of programs of extreme popular appeal, exploring violence, misery and other themes which attract the poor population. This is the case, also, of TV Gazeta and Rede TV

MTV Brasil Brazilian version of MTV.

These are the most important TVs in Brazil. In every State, there are local channels which produce some content, but rely heavily on one of the majors for most programs.
Recently, some religious groups have either obtained charters or purchased time on other established channels to transmit the preaches of their church leaders (none was mentioned here.
Last, it's worthy noticeable the existance of TV Camara and TV Senado , which transmit the sessions of the Chamber of Representatives and the Federal Senate, respectively.

Marketing on Brazilian Television. This guy is an student of journalism, and created this excellent site (in Portuguese only) with information on the History of Marketing on Brazilian Television


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