Benfica TV
| Benfica TV | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | 2 October 2008 |
| Owned by | S.L. Benfica S.A.D. |
| Picture format |
576i (16:9) (SDTV) 720p (HDTV) |
| Audience share | 3.1% (BTV1) (15 May 2016, GfK and CAEM) |
| Country | Portugal |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Broadcast area |
Angola Canada Cape Verde England France Luxembourg Mozambique Portugal Switzerland United States |
| Headquarters | Estádio da Luz - Door 27 |
| Website | slbenfica.pt/btv |
|
Availability
|
|
| Satellite | |
| MEO | Channel 30 Channel 31 (HD) |
| NOS | Channel 30 Channel 33 (HD) |
|
ZAP (Angola, Mozambique) |
Channel 24 |
| Cable | |
|
Rogers (Canada) |
Channel 793 |
| Premium Sports (Canada, U.S.) |
— |
|
Globecast (Canada, England) |
— |
| IPTV | |
| MEO | Channel 30 Channel 31 (HD) |
| NOS | Channel 30 Channel 32 (HD) |
| Vodafone | Channel 31 Channel 32 (HD) |
| Nowo | Channel 70) Channel 71 (HD) |
| CVMultimédia (Cape Verde) |
— |
|
Orange (France) |
Channel 444 |
|
SFR (France) |
Channel 617 |
|
Numericable (France) |
Channel 169 (HD) |
|
Free (France) |
— |
| Numericable (Luxembourg) |
Channel 355 (HD) |
| PostTV (Luxembourg) |
Channel 433 |
| Eltrona (Luxembourg) |
— |
| Netplus (Switzerland) |
Channel 552 |
|
Bell (Canada) |
Channel 886 |
| Streaming media | |
| BTV Online | btvonline |
Benfica TV or BTV is a Portuguese sports-oriented premium cable and satellite television network with one channel operated by S.L. Benfica. Its headquarters are located at the Estádio da Luz, with a second studio at the Caixa Futebol Campus. The first broadcast was on 2 October 2008 and regular transmissions began on 10 December. The channel was originally made available for free on all its cable operators, but on 1 July 2013 it was made a premium channel.
Unlike other football club television channels, Benfica TV markets and broadcasts Benfica league matches at home. The TV rights are owned by NOS, who acquired them in December 2015. When the channel became premium in 2013, Benfica purchased content such as the English Premier League, the Italian Serie A, the French Ligue 1, and Ultimate Fighting Championship events, broadcasting it in a separate second channel, which ceased to exist 30 June 2016.
In Portugal, Benfica TV is available on cable, on IPTV and satellite packages of MEO and NOS, and on Nowo and Vodafone (both IPTV). Internationally, it is available to Portuguese speakers in Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, England, Canada and the United States.
The concept of a television channel specifically covering Benfica and its members was first mentioned in 2005 with Luís Filipe Vieira's announcement of a new membership campaign called Kit Sócio ("Member Kit"). A year later, Vieira mentioned creating the channel again in his presidential campaign, as a way for the club to better communicate with its members and fans. After nearly two years, in April 2008 Benfica selected the first production companies to create the channel's content; former SIC Radical executive producer Ricardo Palacin was appointed as director and began the process of negotiating with cable operators to broadcast the channel. A studio at Estádio da Luz and another at Caixa Futebol Campus were constructed, with the channel's broadcast to launch in November. In August, Benfica announced that MEO would be their cable operator, and Cabovisão (now Nowo), AR Telecom and Clix followed soon after. The club administrator, Domingos Soares Oliveira, disclosed that negotiations with ZON TV Cabo (now NOS) had stalled, preventing them from broadcasting the channel, even though ZON was the largest cable operator in Portugal at the time.
...
Wikipedia