Porto Canal is a Portuguese

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

channel broadcasting from northern Portugal based in

Matosinhos Matosinhos () is a City#Portugal, city and a Concelho, municipality in the district of Porto District, Porto in Portugal. The municipality covers an area of approximately and had 172,557 inhabitants in 2021. It is bordered by the municipalities o ...

. Launched on 29 September 2006, it replaced former NTV (from Porto TV, based in

Vila Nova de Gaia Vila Nova de Gaia (; ), or simply Gaia, is a city and a municipality in Porto District in Norte Region, Portugal, Norte Region, Portugal. It is located south of the city of Porto on the other side of the Douro River. The city proper had a populati ...

) which transformed into RTPN, Radiotelevisão Portuguesa's news channel.

History

The creation of Porto Canal was first mooted in June 2004, shortly after the former NTV was retooled into RTPN. The channel was led by NTV's former administrator Bruno de Carvalho, in association with executives from two local production companies: Daniel Deusdado from Farol de Ideias and José Miguel Cadilhe from Filbox. In July 2010, Porto Canal launched three new delegations in

Mirandela Mirandela (), officially the City of Mirandela (), is a city and a municipality in northeastern Portugal. The city itself is contained by the Mirandela parish, which had a population of 11,397. The population of the municipality in 2021 was 21,38 ...

Arcos de Valdevez Arcos de Valdevez () is a concelho, municipality along the northern frontier of Portugal and Galicia (Spain), Galicia (Spain). The population in 2011 was 22,847,Penafiel Penafiel ( or ) is a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality and former bishopric (now a Latin Catholic titular see) in the Norte Region, Portugal, northern Portugal, Portuguese Porto District, district of Porto. Capital of the Tâmega Subregion ...

, and in the beginning of 2011, three more in

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 UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved ...

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

and

Vila Real Vila Real () is the capital and largest city of the Vila Real District, in the Norte, Portugal, North region, Portugal. It is also the seat of the Douro (intermunicipal community), Douro Intermunicipal communities of Portugal, intermunicipal comm ...

. In March 2011, Porto Canal announced a partnership with Portuguese sports club F.C. Porto. In August 2011, F.C. Porto assumed the management of Porto Canal, launching two new F.C. Porto related programs, ''Flash Porto'' and ''Somos Porto''. Porto Canal also broadcasts live full matches of the F.C. Porto teams of football (only FC Porto B home games),

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

and

roller hockey Roller hockey is a form of hockey played on a dry surface using wheeled skates. It can be played with traditional roller skates (quad skates) or with inline skates and use either a ball or puck. Combined, roller hockey is played in nearly 60 cou ...

. In June 2019, FC Porto was sentenced to pay a €2 million fine for publishing and manipulating illegally obtained Benfica emails on Porto Canal. Related to that, in June 2023, the club's director of communication, Francisco J. Marques, was sentenced to a ten-month suspended prison sentence for aggravated violation of private correspondence or telecommunications and to a one-year and two months suspended prison sentence for offense to a collective person. Porto Canal's contents director, Diogo Faria, received a nine-month suspended prison sentence for violation of private correspondence or telecommunications. Both persons were also sentenced to pay a €10,000 compensation to

Luís Filipe Vieira Luís Filipe Ferreira Vieira (born 22 June 1949) is a Portuguese real estate businessman who was the List of S.L. Benfica presidents, 33rd president of sports club S.L. Benfica, from October 2003 to July 2021. He was also president of the club ...

. Júlio Magalhães, the channel's former director, was abolved of all accusations.

Programming

In terms of content the channel airs generalist and regional programming. It focuses primarily on news of the northern region of Portugal, having also many diverse programs. Since the partnership with FC Porto, it has programs like ''Flash Porto'' or ''45 Minutos à Porto'' that broadcast club-related news and information.

Major programs (non-sports)

*À Conversa com Ricardo Couto *Caminhos da História *Cinema Batalha *Clube de Cozinheiros *Consultório *Destino Norte *Jornal Diário *Mentes que Brilham *Net Diário *Notícias às 17 *Notícias às 18 *Notícias às 19 *Pólo Norte *Parlamento da Região *Ponto Cardeais *Porto Alive! *Radioativo *Saúde no Tacho *Territórios *Testemunho Directo *Último Jornal *Valter Hugo Mãe

Sports programs (FC Porto)

*Azul e Branco *Cadeira de Sonho *Especial Porto *Dragão Caixa *Dragon Force *Flash Porto *Invictos *Portistas pelo Mundo *Somos Porto *45 Minutos à Porto

References

External links

Porto Canal website
{{FC Porto

Canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

2006 establishments in Portugal Portuguese-language television stations Television channels and stations established in 2006 Mass media in Portugal Television networks in Portugal Television stations in Portugal Mass media in Matosinhos