Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) is the public service broadcasting organisation of Portugal. It operates four national television channels and three national radio stations, as well as several satellite and cable offerings.
The current company dates from 2007, with the merger of two previously separate companies Radiodifusão Portuguesa (RDP; the radio broadcaster) and Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (television broadcaster), although they had been grouped under a single holding company and common branding since 2004.
RTP is funded by a broadcasting contribution tax which is incorporated in electricity bills, and by advertising revenues.
Contents
History
Radio
The Emissora Nacional de Radiodifusão, usually referred to by its abbreviated designation Emissora Nacional (EN), was established on 4 August 1935 as the public national radio broadcaster, inheriting the previous broadcasting operations of the Portuguese postal service (CTT). Five years later, EN became independent of the CTT.
Emissora Nacional was one of the 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950. Following the Carnation Revolution, EN was reorganised and in 1976 changed its name to Radiodifusão Portuguesa (RDP). During this process, several previously private radio stations – such as Rádio Clube Português (RCP) – were nationalised and integrated into RDP.
In 1979, the RCP network was rebranded as Rádio Comercial, and was later privatised in 1993. At the same time, RDP launched the youth-oriented radio station Antena 3 and abolished advertising from all of its stations, so that the aforementioned broadcasting contribution tax became its sole source of funding.
Television
In 1953, a group on behalf of Emissora Nacional de Radiodifusão (later RDP) was set up examining the feasibility of a television service in Portugal. The group started a preliminary work for a network of television signals, with a budget on the order of 500,000 escudos. A foreign company had a proposal for the setup of the television network, including the possibility by a foreign company, with high foreign capital, tasking up a proposal for the building of the network and having the exclusive rights of the selling of television sets in the country for a determined period of time. In July 1954, their report A Televisão em Portugal (Television in Portugal) was published and was built upon the following pillars:
The current status of TV and the opportunity for its introduction in Portugal
The operating system to be adopted
The solution that seems possible
Outline of an initial plan and related charges
Economic study
List of work already carried out by ENR.
Without suspending the activity of the Television Studies Group (while entering a new phase of activity, evolving naturally on the data set gathered), it was nevertheless necessary to wait 6 months for a decisive impulse given to the preliminary work for the installation of the national TV network: a Commission, appointed by Order, was responsible for coordinating and commenting on the studies carried out or to be carried out and defining the scenario in which future broadcasts should take place. This Commission was made up of:
Brigadier Luís de Pina (former military attaché to the embassies in Washington and London), who presided over it
António Eça de Queirós
Engineer Manuel Bivar
Dr. Stichini Vilela, for Emissora Nacional
Post-merger
The use of original full names of the radio and television departments (Radiodifusão Portuguesa and Radiotelevisão Portuguesa, respectively) was phased out. The acronym RTP (previously used by the television department) was kept to designate both the whole organization resulting from the merger, as well as to continue to designate its several TV channels. Until 2026, the acronym RDP (previously used by the radio department) was kept by the international radio services (RDP Internacional and RDP África) and regional radio centres (RDP Norte, RDP Centro, RDP Lisboa, RDP Sul, RDP Açores and RDP Madeira).
The new RTP website went live in June 2004.
In 2026, RTP announced that it would phase out the acronym "RDP" used by radio stations and adopt a single "RTP" brand across radio, television, and digital services. The announcement saw the rebranding of RTP Internacional (for television service) and RDP Internacional (for radio service) as RTP Mundo for both radio and television services, while expanding the name of RTP África originally used by television channel to its radio service previously named as RDP África. The rebranding officially took effect on 30 March 2026 at 6:00 a.m. WEST, and saw the removal of antenna symbol, which has been part of RTP's identity in various incarnations since 1957. Ivity Brand Corp, a Portuguese design agency founded by Carlos Coelho, was selected as a agency who designed the rebranding of RTP in November 2024, with the cost of the project was revealed on 6 January 2025 at €70,000, combined with additional cost of €19,000 for the RTP Notícias branding campaign revealed on 21 January 2026, totalling at €89,000. RTP Notícias is the first channel to implement the then-upcoming new logo as part of its rebranding from RTP3 on 12 October 2025. Meanwhile, all radio stations began to include "RTP" prefix on their branding, digital radio stations are remove "Antena 1" and "Antena 2" brands from their respective stations, and RTP's social responsibility RTP+ changed its name as RTP Solidária.
The implementation of the new brand has been criticized by radio staff as an "attack against our identity" (namely RDP's identity), by withdrawing the RDP brand name after fifty years. A protest by RTP radio workers against the phase out of "RDP" branding was held on 30 March 2026.
Television channels
Former channels
RTP Mobile, is a channel adapted to mobile devices. It ended in 2012, with the ascension of mobile apps.
RTP 4K, which was used to broadcast UEFA Euro 2016 and 2018 FIFA World Cup matches in 4K Ultra HD.
Radio stations
National
RTP Antena 1, news, talk and sports station with a strong focus on Portuguese music;
RTP Antena 2, cultural programming, classical and world music, featuring live performances;
RTP Antena 3, an up-tempo, youth-oriented station with focus on contemporary and alternative music;
International
RTP Mundo, the international radio service;
RTP África, programming directed towards the Portuguese-speaking African communities;
Digital
RTP Lusitânia, a digital-only station with a focus on Portuguese music;
RTP Zig Zag, a digital-only station with a focus on Children's programmes;
RTP Fado, a digital-only station with a focus on fado;
RTP Ópera, a digital-only station with a focus on opera music;
RTP Jazz in, a digital-only station with a focus on jazz music;
Regional
The following stations are RTP Antena 1 regional stations:
RTP Norte
RTP Centro
RTP Lisboa
RTP Sul
RTP Açores
RTP Madeira
News services
Most RTP1 news programmes are simulcasted with RTP Mundo, RTP África, and, sometimes, RTP Notícias television channel. These news programs include:
Bom Dia Portugal (6:00−10 am), live from the Lisbon studios;
Jornal da Tarde (1 pm), live from the Porto studios;
Portugal em Rede (5:30 pm), live from the Lisbon studios;
Telejornal (8 pm), live from the Lisbon studios.
RTP2's only news service is Jornal 2 ('Journal 2' or 'News 2' in English) (9:30 pm), a shorter and a more objective newscast than the RTP1 ones.
RTP Notícias features hourly news updates and headlines.
Organisation
Chairmen of the Board
Almerindo Marques, 2002–2008
Guilherme Costa, 2008–2012
Alberto da Ponte, 2012–2015
Gonçalo Reis, 2015–2020
Nicolau Santos, 2021–present
News Director
José Rodrigues dos Santos, 2001–2004
António Luís Marinho, 2004–2008
José Alberto Carvalho, 2008–2011
Nuno Santos, 2011–2012
Paulo Ferreira, 2012–2014
José Manuel Portugal, 2014–2015
Paulo Dentinho, 2015–2018
Maria Flor Pedroso, 2018–2020
António José Teixeira, 2020–present
Programming Directors of RTP1
Nuno Santos, 2002–2007
José Fragoso, 2008–2011, 2018–
Hugo Andrade, 2011–2015
Daniel Deusdado, 2015–2018
Programming Directors of RTP2
Manuel Falcão, 2003–2006
Jorge Wemans, 2006–2012
Hugo Andrade, 2012–2014
Elíseo Oliveira, 2014–2015
Teresa Paixão, 2015–present