ZON Multimédia is a Portuguese media holding company, whose main assets include a satellite, cable operator and ISP (TV Cabo) and a movie distributor (Lusomundo). Its services include cable television, cable internet and VOIP. ZON Multimédia (formerly PT Multimédia) is the spun-off media arm of Portugal Telecom. ZON Multimédia produces several premium channels for the TV Cabo platform, which include Sport TV, TVCine, MOV and a shareholding on SIC Notícias.
TV Cabo was founded in 1994, and was the second cable operator to be founded in Portugal (the first was the regional Bragatel, which was acquired by TV Cabo in 2007). TV Cabo is the sole cable provider in many areas of the country, which leads to its monopolistic position. TV Cabo also has the exclusivity rights to more than 90% of the channels available in Portugal, such as the ones produced by Viacom, News Corporation, Discovery Channel, Sociedade Independente de Comunicação and TV Globo.
This company might be considered a Portuguese dot com. In the PT Multimédia days, it brought Portugal Telecom SAPO (a successful web portal and search engine, sold to its parent company in 2005), Lusomundo (a successful movie distribuitor, movie theater operator included in the spun-off company and, formerly, the owner of the Diário de Notícias newspaper and the TSF radio, which were sold to Controlinveste the same year as SAPO was sold) and several TV channels such as Sport TV, CNL (now SIC Notícias) and TVCine (MOV was only created after the spin-off).
On January 17, 2008, TV Cabo announced it will acquire TVTEL, its main competitor in both cable and satellite broadcasting in Porto region. Thus, TV Cabo is strengthening its position due to the appearance of a new significant rival, Meo from Portugal Telecom, using IPTV and satellite broadcasting systems, and still it is one cable operator ahead (Cogeco) of being the sole cable television provider in Portugal.
TV Cabo's former logotype.
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Television stations in Portugal |
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| Satellite, cable and IPTV channels |
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| Regional and local / Internet streaming |
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| Satellite and cable platforms |
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| IPTV (television over ADSL) |
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| Media holding companies |
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