SIC

Country	Portugal
Broadcast area	Portugal
Headquarters	Paço de Arcos, Oeiras, Lisbon
Programming
Picture format	1080i HDTV (downscaled to 576i for the SDTV feed)
Ownership
Owner	Impresa
Sister channels	SIC Notícias SIC Radical SIC Mulher SIC K SIC Caras SIC Internacional SIC Internacional África
History
Launched	6 October 1992 (1992-10-06)
Links
Website	https://sic.pt/
Availability
Terrestrial
TDT	Channel 3 (SD)
Streaming media
SIC Online	https://sic.sapo.pt/direto

SIC (acronym of full name Sociedade Independente de Comunicação) ("Independent Communication Society") is a Portuguese television network and media company, which runs several television channels. Their flagship channel is the eponymous SIC, the third terrestrial television station in Portugal, launched on 6 October 1992. SIC is owned by Impresa, a Portuguese media conglomerate. It is one of the two private free-to-air channels in Portugal, among the seven terrestrial free-to-air channels broadcasting from the country. It too, is the most-watched channel in Portugal from 1995 to 2005, and again from 2019 to today.

Other channels operated by SIC carried on satellite and cable TV in Portugal are:

• SIC Notícias, news channel;
• SIC Radical, general entertainment channel targeting a younger audience;
• SIC Mulher, general entertainment channel targeting a female audience;
• SIC K, general entertainment channel targeting kids;
• SIC Internacional, an international channel which broadcasts in Europe, Africa, South America, North America, and Australia;
• SIC Caras, an entertainment channel primarily focused on celebrities.

History

The first version of SIC's logo, used until 6 October 1997.

On October 27, 1986, the Portuguese government issued a decree in Diário da República to limit government influence in the media industry, while opening the television sector to the private initiative. Among the companies interested for the license were SOJORNAL (owner of Expresso) among other publishing companies.^[1]

The company was first registered in 1987, with Granada Television initially holding a 20% interest, with the rest being owned by Impala, Expresso and Projornal. Brazilian television channel Rede Globo later took over Granada's interest after the latter left the company.

The companies that held shares in SIC in 1990 said that private television would only start in 1992, with SIC intending to start broadcasting in the middle of the year. 25 to 30 percent of the initial schedule would be given to news, while the entertainment programming was given to independent production companies, under the status of "associated producers".^[2]

In 1991, the licenses were granted to SIC and TVI. In an initial phase, SIC would devote a substantial amount of its programming to news, "not only political news, but also more general and active news, privileging live", according to Pinto Balsemão. The initial line-up had a prospective starting time of 18:30 on weekdays and 15:30 on weekends, ending every night at midnight. The channel would provider counter-programming to the remaining channels, with a wide variety of content.^[3]

The channel initially (until January 2019) broadcast from converted studios in Carnaxide. In 1992, SIC was owned by a consortium led by Francisco Pinto Balsemão, backed by Controljornal, TSF, Rádio Comercial, Lusomundo, Expresso, Impala Editores and Globo.

On October 1, 1992 (mere days after starting its signal at least in Lisbon), SIC held its first experimental broadcast. During a five day period, the channel broadcast an international soccer match, a rock concert, two made-for-TV movies and a debate about Maastricht at Associação Comercial de Lisboa.^[4]

Regular transmissions began on 6 October 1992, becoming the first Portuguese private television channel.^[5]

In its initial years, it acquired a large audience, eventually overtaking RTP1 by 1995. SIC became widely known across Europe for achieving high viewing figures just two to three years after launching, as well as being the subject of an Arte documentary known as Cette Télévision est la Vôtre (This Television is Yours), directed by Mariana Otero.

Emídio Rangel quit SIC in August 2001, moving to RTP in the process, as the channel was starting to face a fall in ratings due to the rise of TVI, as well as the fall in Impresa's stocks.^[6] In September, the post of director of programming was occupied by Manuel Fonseca.^[7]

Globo, in order to solve its debt issues in 2002, proceeded to sell the 15% of its shares on SIC.^[8]

In 2005, TVI, after recovering from a financial crisis, overtook SIC in the ratings. Aside from RTP1 taking over second place in 2007, 2009 and 2010, for the next fourteen years, SIC would be in second place until overtaking TVI in 2019.

In 2011, Impresa opened SIC's new Porto studios in Matosinhos, on the site of a former slaughterhouse. The studios also holds the newsrooms of Expresso, Visão, the Caras magazine, the web portal AEIOU.pt and Infoportugal. In 2019, SIC, along with its parent company Impresa, relocated from its studios in Carnaxide to a new building in Paço de Arcos.

Programming

Nowadays, SIC has a programming largely based on talk shows, Brazilian soap operas produced by Globo, Portuguese soaps, game shows and sketch shows. Like the other major broadcaster, TVI, SIC airs international TV series such as Criminal Minds, the various CSI series and Entourage always after 1 a.m. SIC also relies largely on Globo productions, due to an exclusivity contract which obligates SIC to broadcast every soap opera produced. In-house productions include occasional reality shows and comedy sketch shows, which include Malucos do Riso, a long-running series with focus on dramatized jokes, and Gato Fedorento.

References

External links

• Official site (in Portuguese)
• Behind the scenes of SIC's first day on air
• Impresa
• TSF Rádio Notícias
• Rádio Cidade (Amadora)