Benfica TV

Lore & Background

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. A year later, Vieira mentioned creating the channel again in his presidential campaign. 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. A studio at Estádio da Luz and another at Benfica Campus were constructed. In August, Benfica announced that MEO would be their cable operator, and Cabovisão (now Nowo), AR Telecom and Clix followed soon after. On 1 October, Benfica announced an experimental broadcast for the following day, showing the second leg of the 2008–09 UEFA Cup first round against Napoli. Regular broadcasts started on 10 December at 10:00 WET. In the channel's early years, Benfica focused on expanding availability. By end of its second year, Benfica TV was available in more than 1 million homes. In July 2011 Benfica began broadcasting more than just their own games with the purchase of 180 games from various teams, including Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool. In March 2012 Benfica announced that they had rejected a five-year, €111 million offer from Olivedesportos, asking for €40 million per year instead. On 25 October 2012 Benfica publicly confirmed they were transmitting their Primeira Liga home games on Benfica TV. On the club's 109th anniversary, Vieira divulged that Benfica had acquired the Premier League TV rights through 2015–16. On 1 July 2013, Benfica TV became a premium channel. In November, Benfica disclosed that BTV had generated €28 million, with expenses rising to €11 million, for a net profit of €17 million. On 2 December 2015, Benfica sold its first-team TV rights as well as the distribution and broadcasting rights to NOS in a three-year deal, receiving €40 million per season, with the option to extend the contract to a maximum of ten seasons, totalling €400 million. NOS later opted to keep Benfica's first-team matches on BTV, still as a premium channel. They also opted to remove all other premium content, namely the UFC, Ligue 1 and Serie A, subsequently closing the second channel (BTV2) on 30 June 2016.

Reader's Guide

BTV covers Benfica's daily activity with four regular news reports at 10:00, 14:00, 21:00 and 24:00 WET. The channel's main content is the broadcast of football matches, specially Benfica's Primeira Liga home games. Other minor content includes Segunda Liga transmissions from Benfica B and Farense, various matches from Benfica youth; past content have included the Premier League, Serie A and Ligue 1, the 2015 Copa del Rey Final, 2015 Supercopa de España, 2015 Supercoppa Italiana, the 2014–15 edition of the Taça de Honra, plus mixed martial arts company Ultimate Fighting Championship. In Portugal, BTV is available on MEO, NOS, Nowo and Vodafone. Internationally, it is available in Andorra, Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, England, Canada and the United States. Moreover, it is available via streaming.

Did You Know?

• The first broadcast was an experimental transmission of a UEFA Cup match against Napoli on 2 October 2008.
• BTV became a premium channel on 1 July 2013, with a subscription fee of €9.90 per month.
• BTV rights belong to NOS since July 2016 and until end of June 2027.
• The channel's original logo was used from its launch until at least 2014.