Canal180 is a
Portuguese editorial platform,
digital cable
Digital cable is the distribution of cable television using digital data and video compression. The technology was first developed by General Instrument. By 2000, most cable companies offered digital features, eventually replacing their previou ...
and
open source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
TV channel entirely dedicated to culture, arts and creativity.
Launched on 25 April 2011 by the media company OSTV, Canal180 was founded by João Vasconcelos, its current executive director, and by Nuno Alves. Rita Moreira, who previously worked at Portuguese radio channel
Antena 3 Antena 3 may refer to:
* Antena 3 (Portugal), a national radio channel produced by the Portuguese public broadcasting entity Rádio e Televisão de Portugal
*Antena 3 (Romania), a Romanian television channel owned by Intact Media Group
*Antena 3 (Sp ...
, is the channel's announcer. Available on Portuguese cable TV on position 180, the channel is distributed by
NOS,
MEO and
Vodafone TV.
Starting as a TV channel, Canal180 has over time morphed into an ecosystem of broadcast, social media content, and content production not dedicated for TV.
Part of the funding for Canal180 came from the Creative Industries National Award, an award appointed by
Unicer
The Super Bock Group, SGPS, SA is a brewing company, headquartered in Leça do Bailio (Matosinhos), in the metropolitan area of Porto, Portugal. The company was founded in 1890 as the CUFP, being restructured and renamed Unicer in 1977. In Novemb ...
and
Serralves Foundation, in 2010. The
ident of the channel was awarded the Bronze Lion at
Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2012. Canal180 introduced several innovations never seen before on Portuguese TV: it's the first national channel completely dedicated to culture and creativity. Based on a
low cost business model, the transmission of Canal180 consists on video blocks. There are no studios or ''régies''. Also, the channel reclaims the title of being the first open source TV channel in the world. The daily TV grid is composed of national content produced by Canal180, like the daily ''Mag'', a series that goes through
Portugal's cultural agenda, and also international series such as Focus Forward, The Avant/Garde Diaries, Fubiz TV, Gestalten TV and Like Knows Like, among others. Several of these contents are funded by well-known brands like
Mercedes-Benz,
GE or
Orange.
Another original project produced by Canal180 is ''180 ID'', a series of short documentaries featuring artists like David Wilson, Hiro Murai, Andreas Johnsen, Kirsten Lepore,
Nico Casavecchia,
Kristoffer Borgli
Kristoffer Borgli (born 1985 in Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegian film director and screenwriter known for writing and directing the critically acclaimed feature ''Dream Scenario'' (2023), starring Nicolas Cage.
Career
Borgli's first feature film was ...
, and Layzell Bros. In 2014, the channel extended the open source model to a short film on
Optimus Primavera Sound Porto 2013, ''Driving Without License'', a collaborative work between the audience and Canal180's team.
The channel, based in
Porto, regularly covers popular music festivals like
Optimus Primavera Sound and
Vodafone Paredes de Coura. In 2012, Canal180 was also a partner of the
Guimarães
Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga.
Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCWorld Heritage Sitesince 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved and a ...
European Capital of Culture initiative.
References
{{Portuguese television stations
Portuguese-language television stations
Television channels and stations established in 2010
Television stations in Portugal
2010 establishments in Portugal