Televisão de Cabo Verde

Televisão de Cabo Verde
Country Cape Verde
Broadcast areaCape Verde
Programming
Language(s)Portuguese
Picture format16:9
HDTV
Ownership
OwnerRádiotelevisão Caboverdiana
History
LaunchedMarch 12, 1984; 40 years ago (1984-03-12)
Links
Website[1]

Televisão de Cabo Verde is the oldest television channel in Cape Verde, owned by public company RTC. TCV airs local and international programming; since 2013, its local output became available abroad on TCV Internacional.

History

Early experiments

Long before the first regular television broadcasts started in Cape Verde, the first attempts at bringing television came at the mercy of Chibeto Faria, a bank manager, who lived in the island of São Vicente. Since Cape Verde had no television station at the time, the closest television stations were from the Canary Islands (broadcasts started 1964) and Senegal (broadcasts started 1965, regularized around 1973). To receive these signals, Chibeto had to transport his television set by donkey to Monte Verde (approximately 5 kilometers). The television viewers at the time preferred feature films and football matches.[1]

With a growing number of viewers and followers of Chibeto, he decided to look for assistance from technicians to study the feasibility of a television service covering Mindelo with assistance from a French technician. With no money to start work, he started a fundraising campaign to set up the service. This also included the installation of a television transmitter at Monte Verde. Few households had a television set.[1]

Shortly afterwards, in 1975,[2] Hilário Brito, executive director of Cabo Verde Telecom, decided to implement a plan for the introduction of a television service in Praia, the national capital, with the aim of improving the newly independent country's communication infrastructure. The television transmitter at Monte Tchota was his first experience in telecommunications. In his first attempts, he received television signals from the Canary Islands. Like what happened before in Mindelo, the experiences in Monte Tchota had triggered the same effect: potential viewers went there on purpose to watch television. Locals later bought their television sets, with Hilário beginning a process to distribute the signals between Mount Tchota and Praia. Viewers were enticed by the programs coming out of the TVE station in the Canary Islands, but the schedule wasn't fixed, depending on the condition of the reception.[1] Hilário's television station, dubbed "TV Hilário", started producing some content of its own, mixed with pirated content. His television station had no license and the international content was in violation of international property rights.[3]

TEVEC

In the early 80s, RTP signed a protocol with the Cape Verdean government to supply equipment and trained staff for TEVEC, with its launch scheduled for 1983. Corsino Flores set up the project for the television service, beginning investments in equipment and obtaining staff. Studies were being made for the installation of television transmitters in three islands, Sal, São Vicente and Santiago.[4] The national television corporation was given the name Televisão Experimental de Cabo Verde or TEVEC, it started on March 12, 1984, nine years independence and started operating its regular service on December 31, 1984. It had 22 professionals and broadcast three days a week for several hours.[5]

Over the years, TEVEC grew and increased its frequencies and transmissions. In its early years, the station broadcast four hours a day, from 8pm to midnight, using the SECAM-DK system.[6]

Some years before the foundation, poet Corsino Fortes, then Deputy Secretary to the Prime Minister and titular Minister of Social Communications, inspired a television model of Iceland in which television stations existed and operated in small cities and proved the experimental mode for the country's model. The model worked even in its early years, below and above. In some shows, the signals abruptively interrupted. The station was known for its frequent transmission breakdowns[7]

TNCV

On June 1, 1990 (June 23, according to some sources[1]), the name TNCV (Televisão Nacional CaboVerdiana) marked a new era in Capeverdean television and no longer became experimental, it consolidated the idea of a national television that reflects culture and the making by its people. A second studio started construction and added several operators and capacitors began.

RTC and TCV

In March 1997, the former radio and television corporations were merged under the current Rádio Televisão de Cabo Verde e Empresas Públicas (RTC-EP).[1] The network was founded in May 1997 by the Minister of Social Communications José António dos Reis. It merged with Radio Nacional de Cabo Verde (RNCV) and Televisião Nacional CaboVerdiana (TNCV). The radio station was named RTC FM and the television channel, RTC.[8] The current name for the channel was adopted in 1999.

The network was the first to broadcast elections, the 2001 federal elections, parliamentary and the presidential.

It had broadcast the World Cup games in which is one of the few international games seen, there were no international coverages except for the African sporting events until the 2000s. The network also broadcasts the FIBA World Championship games.

Excluding RTP África, it was the only local television channel in Cape Verde until the launch of TIVER and Record Cabo Verde in 2007.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Influência da telenovela brasileira no cotidiano de Cabo Verde (Estudo de caso telenovela "América")" (PDF). Federal University of Juiz de Fora. February 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  2. ^ "Faleceu Hilário Brito, um dos fundadores da Televisão em Cabo Verde". Expresso das Ilhas. 23 October 2013. Archived from the original on 17 July 2024. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  3. ^ "Políticas de Comunicação e Liberdade de Imprensa – Análise da Situação Cabo-verdiana entre 1991 e 2009" (PDF). University of Minho. June 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 August 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  4. ^ "A RTP aos 25 Anos, as primeiras telenovelas portuguesas". RTP. 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  5. ^ "RTC - Rádio Televisão Cabo-verdiana".
  6. ^ "Cape Verde, Post Report". Google Books. 1986. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  7. ^ "Televisão e democracia em Cabo Verde: Entre a expectativa da cidadania e as investidas políticas" (PDF). University of Minho. 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 March 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  8. ^ "Short history of Televisão de Cabo Verde" (in Portuguese). TCV ( Televisão de Cabo Verde). Archived from the original on 19 January 2010. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  9. ^ "Governo anuncia licenciamento de novos canais televisivos". Governo.cv. 2007-01-29. Retrieved 2023-06-13.