NOS,
SGPS S.A. is a Portuguese
telecommunications
Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...
and
media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Interactive media, media that is inter ...
company which provides
mobile and
fixed telephony,
cable television
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
,
satellite television
Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...
and
internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
. The company resulted from the merger in 2013 of two of the country's major telecommunications companies: Zon Multimédia (formerly known as PT Multimédia, a spun-off media arm of
Portugal Telecom) and
Sonae
Sonae is a multinational business group headquartered in Maia, Portugal. It operates in 90 countries, working in various sectors, among which retail (food, electronics, and fashion), real estate, media and telecommunications, technology investme ...
's Optimus Telecommunications,
NOS owns
premium movie channels
TVCine and has a 25% stake in the
Sport TV television network. It also operates 6 thematic channels with
Dreamia, a joint venture with
AMC Networks International Southern Europe.
NOS Audiovisuais (formerly ZON Lusomundo) is a
home-video and cinema film distributor and operates Cinemas NOS, the largest cinema chain of Portugal.
History
NOS was founded as TVCabo in 1994, becoming the third cable operator founded in Portugal (the first was the regional Cabo TV Madeirense founded in 1992, followed by
Bragatel in 1994). The first customer was connected in November 1994. Initially the channel offer consisted of thirty channels and the number of Portuguese-speaking channels was initially limited to the terrestrial channels, with the number of Portuguese-speaking channels increasing as the years went on. On September 1, 1998, the company started digital satellite broadcasts, which included an agreement with Vía Digital to carry 14 of its channels.
[Via Digital Supplies 14 Channels to TV Cabo. (1998). New Media Markets, 16(24), 13.]
The company might be considered a Portuguese
dot-com. In the PT Multimédia days, it brought
Portugal Telecom SAPO (a successful web portal and search engine, sold to its parent company in 2005),
Lusomundo (a successful movie distributor,
movie theater
A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...
operator included in the spun off company and, formerly, the owner of the
Diário de Notícias newspaper and the
TSF radio, which were sold to Controlinveste the same year as SAPO was sold) and several TV channels such as
SportTV, CNL (now
SIC Notícias) and
TVCine (
MOV was only created after the spin-off).
On 17 January 2008, ZON announced it would acquire
TVTEL, its main competitor in both cable and satellite broadcasting in Porto region. Thus, ZON was strengthening its position due to the appearance of a new significant rival,
MEO from
Portugal Telecom, using
IPTV
Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...
and satellite broadcasting systems, leaving only one other competing cable television and Internet operator in Portugal,
Cabovisão.
On 29 September 2008, ZON Multimédia announced the new mobile product ZON Mobile (
MVNO), the first real quad play operator in Portugal.
In November 2008,
ZON announced that it would enter the contest for the fifth channel that would be created at the same time as
Digital Terrestrial Television
Digital terrestrial television (DTTV, DTT, or DTTB) is a technology for terrestrial television, in which television stations broadcast television content in a digital signal, digital format. Digital terrestrial television is a major technologica ...
is introduced in Portugal.
On 17 March 2010, ZON renamed its cable and satellite television service as ZON TV, dropping the 16-year-old TV Cabo brand.
In 2013, a merger with
Optimus (which also included Optimus Clix, Optimus Kanguru, Optimus Tag, Smart and WTF) was approved and the company was renamed to ZON Optimus. In May 2014, the two brands ZON and Optimus were merged into one single brand, called "NOS" (which is pronounced just like "nós", the Portuguese for “we”, “nodes” or “knots”).
See also
*
Internet in Portugal
References
External links
*
{{Authority control, state=expanded
Telecommunications companies established in 1994
Companies based in Lisbon
Television in Portugal
Internet service providers of Portugal
Mobile phone companies of Portugal
Cable television companies
VoIP companies
Portuguese brands
Portuguese companies established in 1994