RTP África is a Portuguese television channel owned and operated by state-owned
public broadcaster
Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). It is available in the
Portuguese-speaking African countries
The Portuguese-speaking African countries (; PALOP), also known as Lusophone Africa, consist of six African countries in which the Portuguese language is an official language: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Prínci ...
, where it is available as a basic cable and satellite channel, with the exception of
Cabo Verde
Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...
, where it is available as a
free-to-air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...
channel, distributed by the country's
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 ...
network. RTP África is also available for free on RTP's platform RTP Play.
Its programming comes from the Portuguese public and private television channels and African public networks, RTP África also airs its own news, food and music TV shows. The channel is especially developed for the African communities and the cultural interchange between them and Portugal and for the Portuguese populations of
Lusophone Africa
The Portuguese-speaking African countries (; PALOP), also known as Lusophone Africa, consist of six African countries in which the Portuguese language is an official language: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Prínci ...
. Until 2016, due to a protocol, the channel also transmitted programs from the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
dubbed in Portuguese in some breaks.
History
A special broadcast was held on 7 March 1997 - the date of the 40th anniversary of RTP - as the announcement of the project, which would later become a channel of its own, took place. The service would be broadcast by satellite using
RTP Internacional
RTP Internacional (RTPi) is a Portuguese free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). It is the company's international television service, and is known for broadcas ...
's frequency four hours a day, subsequently evolving “with a balanced distribution of information programs, of an educational nature and covering various genres, such as documentaries, musical and cultural”. The new service would give a strong impetus for co-operation between Portugal and Lusophone African countries. A few weeks earlier, preparations started for the building of the delegations in the capitals of the five African countries involved. On 16 February, the Cape Verdean delegation in Praia was inaugurated, with the presence of the presidents of both Portugal and Cape Verde, in the following day, both presidents were interviewed in an RTP Internacional program, ''Na Ponta da Língua''. The five delegations had, at launch, the following employees under their control: Henrique de Vasconcelos in charge of Praia; Ramiro Mendes in charge of Luanda; Fernando Gomes in charge of Bissau; Paulo Costa in charge of São Tomé and Rosabela Afonso, with assistant Luís Fernandes, in charge of Maputo. Each delegation was in charge of producing original content for the channel. At this point, it was suggested that both SIC and TVI should make their programs available for RTP África. If such happened, RTP Internacional would also screen its content. As 1997 continued, the plans to separate RTP África from RTP Internacional, aiming to create a separate channel, had consolidated.
The channel was launched on 7 January 1998. For the launch of the channel, it programmed a 13-part documentary series about Cape Verdean poets (''O Povo das Ilhas''), co-produced with the Cape Verdean partner, three original productions: ''Fórum RTP África'' (currently ''Fórum África''), ''Repórter RTP África'' (currently ''Repórter África'') and ''Estádio RTP África'' (currently ''África Sport''). These programs relied heavily on NET-RTP, which was the co-operation framework RTP set up with partners in the African countries. The channel was opened by Patrícia Bull, the launch day also included a pre-recorded speech by
Jorge Sampaio
Jorge Fernando Branco de Sampaio (; 18 September 1939 – 10 September 2021) was a Portuguese lawyer and politician who was the 18th President of Portugal from 1996 to 2006. Sampaio was a member of the Socialist Party, a party which he ...
and an inaugural session from the
Belém Cultural Center
The Belém Cultural Center () is a complex of artistic venues located in Belém in the city of Lisbon, Portugal. It is the largest building with cultural facilities in Portugal, with over of usable space. The centre was initially built to accomm ...
. At the time of launch, RTP África was the most technologically advanced out of the six RTP channels. The channel launched on cable in Portugal on 6 March 1998, following requests from the African diaspora communities.
RTP announced the launch of the channel to the Portuguese terrestrial platform in November 2020,
as of 2024, this hasn't been achieved yet.
Programming
The channels' primetime news program, ''Repórter África'', focus on independent daily news for the five African countries, often the only independent news source in these countries and it has been criticised by some regimes, namely
São Tomé and Príncipe
São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is an island country in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two archipelagos around the two main isla ...
and the former regime of
Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...
, in the latter the channel was put off air for some weeks due to its "uncontrolled" news broadcasts although currently there are no problems. ''Fórum Africa'' is a weekly interview program produced between the five African delegations of RTP.
''Música d'África'' transmitting from
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
is the channel's music show with African music videoclips and reports. Local music shows are also broadcast ''Massave'' from Mozambique and ''Top Crioulo'' from
Cape Verde
Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...
. ''Artes e Espéctáculos'' the arts show of the channel transmitting from Cape Verde and ''Latitudes'' is a cultural program issuing the African immigrant communities in Portugal.
The channel also transmits Portuguese-language soap operas, films, series, documentaries and African entertainment shows. In Africa the channel is best known for the
Portuguese Liga
The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...
broadcasts, given the fact that in these countries most football fans are supporters of Benfica, Sporting or Porto. The channel also gained fame for its São Tomean (''Na Roça com os Tachos'', international title: ''The Cooking of the Enchanted Islands'') and Angolan (''Moamba'') cuisine shows.
References
External links
*
RTP África Live Stream on RTP Play
{{DEFAULTSORT:RTP Africa
Portuguese-language television stations
Television networks in Portugal
International broadcasters
Television channels and stations established in 1998
Television stations in Angola
Television stations in Cape Verde
Television stations in Guinea-Bissau
Television channels in Mozambique
Television stations in Portugal
Television stations in São Tomé and Príncipe
1998 establishments in Portugal
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal