Sport TV

This article is about the Portuguese sports network. For the similarly named and themed network in Brazil, see SporTV.
Sport TV
Launched September 16, 1998
Owned by Global Media Group (25%)
Portugal Telecom (25%)
NOS (25%)
Vodafone Portugal (25%)
Picture format Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Resolution: 576i (SDTV)
720p (HDTV)
Slogan "O seu desporto favorito." ("Your favorite sport.")
Website sporttv.pt
Availability
Satellite
NOS Channel 9 (Sport TV + SD)
Channel 19 (Sport TV 1 SD)
Channel 20 (Sport TV 2 SD)
Channel 21 (Sport TV 3 SD)
Channel 22 (Sport TV 4 SD)
Channel 23 (Sport TV 5 SD)
Channel 25 (Sport TV 1 HD)
Channel 26 (Sport TV 2 HD)
Channel 27 (Sport TV 3 HD)
Channel 33 (Sport TV + HD)
MEO Channel 9 (Sport TV + SD)
Channel 20 (Sport TV 1 SD)
Channel 21 (Sport TV 2 SD)
Channel 22 (Sport TV 3 SD)
Channel 23 (Sport TV 4 SD)
Channel 24 (Sport TV 5 SD)
Channel 25 (Sport TV 1 HD)
Channel 26 (Sport TV 2 HD)
Channel 27 (Sport TV 3 HD)
Cable
NOS Channel 9 (Sport TV + SD)
Channel 19 (Sport TV 1 SD)
Channel 20 (Sport TV 2 SD)
Channel 21 (Sport TV 3 SD)
Channel 22 (Sport TV 4 SD)
Channel 23 (Sport TV 5 SD)
Channel 24 (Sport TV + HD)
Channel 25 (Sport TV 1 HD)
Channel 26 (Sport TV 2 HD)
Channel 27 (Sport TV 3 HD)
Channel 28 (Sport TV 4 HD)
Channel 29 (Sport TV 5 HD)
Nowo Channel 9 (Sport TV + SD)
Channel 209 (Sport TV + HD)
Channel 210 (Sport TV 1 HD)
Channel 211 (Sport TV 2 HD)
Channel 212 (Sport TV 3 HD)
Channel 213 (Sport TV 4 HD)
Channel 215 (Sport TV 5 HD)
IPTV
MEO Channel 9 (Sport TV + SD)
Channel 20 (Sport TV 1 SD)
Channel 21 (Sport TV 2 SD)
Channel 22 (Sport TV 3 SD)
Channel 23 (Sport TV 4 SD)
Channel 24 (Sport TV 5 SD)
Channel 25 (Sport TV 1 HD)
Channel 26 (Sport TV 2 HD)
Channel 27 (Sport TV 3 HD)
Channel 28 (Sport TV 4 HD)
Channel 29 (Sport TV 5 HD)
Channel 33 (Sport TV + HD)
Vodafone Channel 9 (Sport TV + SD)
Channel 20 (Sport TV 1 SD)
Channel 21 (Sport TV 2 SD)
Channel 22 (Sport TV 3 SD)
Channel 23 (Sport TV 4 SD)
Channel 24 (Sport TV 5 SD)
Channel 25 (Sport TV + HD)
Channel 26 (Sport TV 1 HD)
Channel 27 (Sport TV 2 HD)
Channel 28 (Sport TV 3 HD)
Channel 29 (Sport TV 4 HD)
Channel 30 (Sport TV 5 HD)

Sport TV is a Portuguese sports-oriented premium cable and satellite television network with 5 premium channels in Portugal, 1 sports news channel and 2 channels in Portuguese-speaking Africa. The first channel, then known as only Sport TV, was launched on 16 September 1998. It is owned by Portugal Telecom, NOS, Vodafone Portugal and Global Media Group (and originally had the participation of Radiotelevisão Portuguesa). It is available in almost all television distribution operators in Portugal as a premium subscription channel.

Sport TV broadcasts mainly association football, basketball, volleyball, rugby, surf, golf, athletics, wrestling and American sports, combat sports, auto racing and tennis. It also features debates, news and sports reports.

The most important Primeira Liga games are shown exclusively on Sport TV, with the exception of Benfica home games which are broadcast by Benfica TV.

History

On 16 September 2005, seven years after the opening of the first channel, Sport TV launched a second channel, Sport TV 2. It regularly broadcasts alternative sports such as mountaineering, cycling and radical sports. The channel was available only through ZON TV Funtastic Life package, but the model didn't work. They relaunched the channel as a premium channel, also available on Cabovisão and Portugal Telecom's MEO. This was followed in June 2008 by Sport TV 3.

Sport TV shown UEFA Euro 2008 in HD, through ZON TV.

On January 22, 2010, the thematic golf channel Sport TV Golfe and its HD simulcast, SportTV Golfe HD were launched.

On August 13, 2010, they launched Sport TV Liga Inglesa, a HD channel dedicated to the Premier League, broadcasting 380 games and 400 highlights per season, made by the Premier League (also broadcasting on other countries).

On January 7, 2011, Sport TV 1, Sport TV 2 and Sport TV 3 started to broadcast in 16:9.

On August 13, 2011, all of the Sport TV main channels started to broadcast in HD and it was launched a new channel, Sport TV 4, that also is available in HD. At the same time, the SportTV HD channel ended its two-year run.

On June 5, 2013, Sport TV stopped broadcasting in the United States.

On August 1, 2013, Sport TV launched a new channel, Sport TV Live, replacing Sport TV 4.

On August 14, 2014, Sport TV Live was renamed to Sport TV 4 again (there's also Sport TV 4 HD). Sport TV Golfe was renamed to Sport TV 5, which is also available in HD.

Controversies

Sport TV is widely regarded as anti-competitive, since it is the only group of channels in Portugal with the rights to broadcast the Primeira Liga matches (except Benfica home games).[1][2] Portugal was one of the first countries in Europe where Formula One is broadcast on a premium channel.

On September 2007, Sport TV sent a cease and desist to a Portuguese live TV streaming website tvtuga.com, because the latter was providing links to streams of UEFA Champions League matches that only Sport TV had the rights to broadcast in Portugal. This has caused great public concern with regard to the monopoly abuse status of the Sport TV channels.[3][4]

On 17 January 2011, Sport TV was criticized by Benfica, after a match against Académica. João Gabriel accused the channel's commentators of bias against the club.[5][6]

In June 2016 Sport TV ended their channel Sport TV Americas without any warning to their US customers. The channel is no longer available on their website and no further information has been released.

Broadcasting rights

Football

Basketball

Motorsports

Gridiron

Ice hockey

MMA

Professional wrestling

Golf

Tennis

Volleyball

Channels

Current channels

Former Channels

Sport TV Américas

On August 13, 2010, Sport TV launched Sport TV Américas, a dedicated sports channel for the Portuguese diaspora in North America. The channel was launched in partnership with American Portuguese-language broadcaster SPT TV. It airs live football matches every week from the Portuguese First & Second divisions as well as coverage of the League Cup and Portuguese Cup.

On June 5, 2013, for reasons exclusively imputable to RTP - USA Inc. dba SPT (Seabras Portuguese Television), SPORT TV Portugal S.A. was forced to restrain the access to the respective signal in the United States.

Association football programming on Sport TV América includes:

Sport.TV.Américas is no longer available in the United States via cable or satellite. It's available online only, through Premium Sports (broadband.premiumsports.tv) in the United States & Canada for a monthly fee of $9.99 or $99 annually. Also on FuboTV (fubo.tv) for a monthly fee of $19.99.[7]

Since June 2016 SportTV Américas is no longer available in the United States via cable, satellite or online. Premium Sports (broadband.premiumsports.tv) stop showing the channel to their yearly customers before the end of their yearly contract. Sport TV Americas no longer shows on Sports TV website.

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/17/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.