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 A landline is a physical telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber from the subscriber's premises to the network, allowing multiple phones to operate simultaneously on the same phone number. It is also referred to as plain old ...

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 Altice Portugal S.A. (formerly known as PT Portugal) is the largest telecommunications service provider in Portugal. Since 2 June 2015 the company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Altice, a multinational cable and telecommunications company ...

) 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 Premium may refer to: Marketing * Premium (marketing), a promotional item that can be received for a small fee when redeeming proofs of purchase that come with or on retail products * Premium segment, high-price brands or services in marketing ...

movie channels

TVCine TVCine is a Portugal, Portuguese premium television brand used on four movie channels, operated by NOS (Portuguese media company), NOS. They showcase recent movies and premieres from all the major studios, as well as comedy, action, classic and old ...

and has a 25% stake in the

Sport TV Sport TV is a Portuguese sports-oriented premium cable and satellite television network with seven premium channels in Portugal, one sports news channel and one channel in Portuguese-speaking Africa. The first channel, then only known as Sport ...

television network. It also operates 6 thematic channels with

Dreamia Dreamia (registered as Dreamia - Serviços de Televisão, S.A.) is a producer of thematic channels for the Portuguese and African markets. It is a joint-venture between NOS and AMC Networks International Iberia. It produces the channels distr ...

, a joint venture with

AMC Networks International Southern Europe AMC Networks International Southern Europe (formerly AMC Networks International Iberia, Chello Multicanal and Multicanal) is a Madrid, Spain-based television company, owned by AMC Networks International. In April 2010, it closed the purchase of ...

NOS Audiovisuais NOS Audiovisuais (formerly ZON Lusomundo) is a Portuguese integrated media corporation founded in 1953, which has major interests in movie distribution, cinema theaters and media assets. It was founded with the purpose of movie distribution, and ...

(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 Bragatel was a Portuguese telecommunications company with coverage in the city of Braga from 1994 to 2009. It was acquired by ZON Multimédia in 2008 and ceased providing its own services in 2009. History Bragatel started its service in October 1 ...

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

SAPO (a successful web portal and search engine, sold to its parent company in 2005),

Lusomundo NOS Audiovisuais (formerly ZON Lusomundo) is a Portuguese integrated media corporation founded in 1953, which has major interests in movie distribution, cinema theaters and media assets. It was founded with the purpose of movie distribution, and ...

(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 () is a Portuguese weekly newspaper published in Lisbon, Portugal. Established since 1864, the paper is considered a newspaper of record for Portugal. History and profile ''Diário de Notícias'' was first published in Lisbon on 29 December 1 ...

newspaper and the TSF radio, which were sold to Controlinveste the same year as SAPO was sold) and several TV channels such as

SportTV Sport TV is a Portuguese sports-oriented premium cable and satellite television network with seven premium channels in Portugal, one sports news channel and one channel in Portuguese-speaking Africa. The first channel, then only known as Sport T ...

, CNL (now

SIC Notícias SIC Notícias () is the cable news channel of the Portuguese television network SIC (''Sociedade Independente de Comunicação'') and the second thematic channel of the station. It is available on basic cable and satellite. It replaced CNL (''C ...

) and

( MOV was only created after the spin-off). On 17 January 2008, ZON announced it would acquire

TVTEL TVTEL Comunicações, S.A. was a Portuguese cable pay television and digital satellite service provider. The cable service started in 2001 in the Porto area, acting as its regional operator. In 2007 the provider increased its reach, starting its f ...

, 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

, 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 NOWO (pronounced "novo", meaning 'new') is a Portuguese telecommunications company. It is one of the four triple play operators in Portugal along with MEO, NOS and Vodafone. NOWO belongs to the Romanian company Digi Communications. NOWO has ...

. On 29 September 2008, ZON Multimédia announced the new mobile product ZON Mobile (

MVNO A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobil ...

), the first real quad play operator in Portugal. In November 2008,

ZON Zon may refer to: *Zon (name) * Zon (band), Canadian progressive rock band * Zon Guitars, American manufacturer of bass guitars * NOS (Portuguese media company), former names ZON Multimédia and ZON Optimus * Zon, Burkina Faso, town in northern Burk ...

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”).

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

History

See also

References

External links