SIC Comédia was a
Portuguese TV channel, available on cable. It was part of the
television network
A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...
SIC
The Latin adverb ''sic'' (; ''thus'', ''so'', and ''in this manner'') inserted after a quotation indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated as found in the source text, including erroneous, archaic, or unusual spelling ...
(''Sociedade Independente de Comunicação''). It closed on 31 December 2006.
The channel aired shows such as ''
Seinfeld
''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...
'', ''
The Tonight Show
''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...
'', ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the second installment of the ''Late Night (franchise), Late Night'' franchise originally established by David Letterman. Hosted by Conan O'Brie ...
'', ''
Cheers
''Cheers'' is an American television sitcom, created by Glen and Les Charles, Glen Charles & Les Charles and James Burrows, that aired on NBC for eleven seasons from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/C ...
'', ''
The Benny Hill Show
''The Benny Hill Show'' is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill that aired on the BBC and ITV between 15 January 1955 and 1 May 1989. The show consisted mainly of sketch comedy, sketches typified by slapstick, mime, parody, and ...
'', ''
M*A*S*H
''M*A*S*H'' (an acronym for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richa ...
'', ''
Benson'', ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
'', ''
'Allo 'Allo!
''Allo 'Allo!'' is a British sitcom television series, created by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd, starring Gorden Kaye, Carmen Silvera, Guy Siner and Richard Gibson. Originally broadcast on BBC1, the series focuses on the life of a Frenc ...
'', ''
Comedy Inc.'', ''
Mad About You
''Mad About You'' is an American television sitcom starring Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a married couple in New York City as they navigate life together. In later seasons, the couple has a daughter.
It initially aired on NBC from September 2 ...
'', ''
Everybody Loves Raymond
''Everybody Loves Raymond'' is an American television sitcom created by Philip Rosenthal that aired on CBS from September 13, 1996, to May 16, 2005, with a total of 210 episodes spanning nine seasons. It was produced by Where's Lunch and Wor ...
'', ''
Frasier
''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Casey, and David Lee (scr ...
'', ''
My Hero'', ''
Alas Smith and Jones
''Alas Smith and Jones'' is a British comedy sketch television series starring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones that originally ran for four series and two Christmas specials on BBC2 from 1984 to 1988, and later as ''Smith and Jones'' for six ...
'', ''
The War Next Door''. It also showed home-grown products (either reruns from the main channel or original commissions), such as ''Biqueirada'', ''
HermanSic'' and ''Prazer dos Diabos''.
It is now defunct, because
TVCabo, Portugal's main cable provider, decided to drop it despite a petition for it to continue. On TVCabo,
Fox Life
Fox Life, now rebranded as Star Life and FX Life, was an international pay television network, launched by the Fox Networks Group in 2004. The network has been discontinued in several markets over time.
The network's scheduling has varied wi ...
replaced it, and on TVTEL (another Portuguese cable provider),
SIC Mulher got the spot.
History
SIC Gold
The channel was announced by SIC in January 2000 as SIC Gold as part of the channel's plans to enter the cable television market. The director of programs for the two channels (the other being SIC Radical), Francisco Penim, was appointed on 14 April 2000. The initial purpose of the channel was to carry programming from SIC's archives, similar to what
RTP Memória has done since 2004. The channel was set to begin operations on 26 June 2000 but the lack of action from the regulatory body delayed its launch. The channel eventually started broadcasting on 29 June, achieving good ratings, equiparable to the most-watched Portuguese-language basic cable channels of the time.
The channel was put into court for the unauthorized reruns of a program from the channel's first year, Sexo Forte, in a lawsuit filed by presenter
Paula Moura Pinheiro. These reruns were broadcast in the summer of 2000, which the presenter objected. The Court of Oeiras ruled in favor of Paula Moura Pinheiro in June 2002, with SIC paying around €6,400 for the presenter in copyrights.
SIC Sempre Gold
On April 12, 2002, SIC announced that the channel was to be renamed at SIC Sempre Gold effective April 29. The line-up was changed to include subtitled American television series, broadcast at the time of RTP's monopoly, with the aim of lowering the age target to 35 years, and attracting more viewers. American content scheduled to air in the first phase included
Falcon Crest
''Falcon Crest'' is an American prime time television soap opera created by Earl Hamner Jr. that aired for nine seasons on CBS from December 4, 1981, to May 17, 1990. The series revolves around the feuding factions of the wealthy Gioberti/Cha ...
, ALF, Fame and the miniseries Roots (the first two daily and the last two weekly) and, in a second phase (under negotiations at the time), The Love Boat, Dallas and Little House on the Prairie.
References
Defunct television channels in Portugal
Television channels and stations established in 2004
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2006
2004 establishments in Portugal
2006 disestablishments in Portugal
{{portugal-tv-stub