RTP

What is RTP?

RTP is Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, S. A., the public radio and television company. Its statutes are annexed to Lei n.º 39/2014, de 9 de julho, which the Procuradoria-Geral Distrital de Lisboa's database marks as not amended since. Article 1(1) of the statutes reads: “A sociedade adota a forma de sociedade anónima e a denominação de Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, S. A., e é doravante designada por sociedade.” Article 3(1) reads: “A sociedade tem por objeto a prestação do serviço público de rádio e de televisão, bem como de outros serviços de media, nos termos da Lei da Rádio, da Lei da Televisão e do contrato de concessão do serviço público de rádio e televisão, doravante designado por contrato de concessão.” Article 3(2) allows other commercial activities related to radio and television “na medida em que não comprometam ou afetem a prossecução do serviço público de rádio e de televisão”, in so far as they do not compromise the public service.^[2]

Its 2025 corporate governance report states: “O capital social da Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, S. A. (RTP), é de 1.437.073.340,00 euros encontrando-se integralmente realizado pelo Estado Português, enquanto acionista único.” That is, the Portuguese State is the sole shareholder.^[3]

Its sports news is published on a path of the parent site, rtp.pt/noticias/desporto, under the RTP Notícias brand.^[1]

What does RTP cover?

As retrieved on 26 September 2026, the sports path of RTP Notícias led with football items, among them one on Portugal's match against Norway in Oslo, and also carried triathlon and motorcycling news; the page is updated through the day.^[1]

The 2026 FIFA World Cup. The Diário de Notícias reported on 6 June 2026: “A RTP, a SIC e a TVI chegaram a acordo com a FIFA para a transmissão em sinal aberto de 20 jogos do Mundial de futebol de 2026, incluindo todos os encontros da seleção portuguesa”. That is, the three free-to-air broadcasters shared 20 matches, including all of Portugal's.^[6] The tournament ended on 19 July 2026.

Domestic cup. ECO reported in August 2025 that Sport TV broadcasts the Taça de Portugal “com transmissões em simultâneo na RTP”, with simultaneous transmissions on RTP, for the 2025–26 season.^[7]

Rights negotiation. RTP's 2025 governance report, in its description of the European Broadcasting Union, of which it says RTP is a founder, states: “É tradicionalmente relevante a sua participação na negociação coletiva de direitos de transmissão de grandes acontecimentos desportivos.” That is, the report describes the union's part in the collective negotiation of rights to major sporting events.^[3]

How large is RTP's audience?

Television audiences in Portugal are measured for the industry body CAEM, with GfK data supplied through Mediamonitor. No text could be extracted from RTP's own 2025 report and accounts, so the figures here are as ECO reported them from that data.^[5]

ECO reported on 6 January 2026, for the whole of 2025 among viewers aged 15 and over: “Com menos cerca de 70 mil espectadores surge a RTP1, que fechou o ano com uma audiência média de 235,6 mil espectadores e um share de 11,3%.” That is, RTP1 closed 2025 with an average audience of 235,600 viewers and an 11.3 per cent share, about 70,000 viewers fewer than the channel ahead of it. The same report gives TVI a 14.9 per cent share for the year, 0.3 points more than SIC.^[5] Those are full-year channel figures, not figures for RTP's sport output.

The same report ranks programmes. It states: “A RTP1 não lidera as audiências, mas é o canal com mais programas no ranking dos mais vistos do ano. Dos 15, sete dos programas são da RTP1, sendo os restantes oito repartidos entre a SIC e a TVI.” It adds that only two of the fifteen were not football.^[5]

No audited traffic figure for the rtp.pt sports path was retrieved.

Since when has RTP existed?

RTP's own history dates its radio and television strands separately. It gives 1935 for the start of regular public radio broadcasts and 7 March 1957 for the start of RTP's television broadcasts.^[4]

The same page gives two entries for the merger. Under 2003 it states that RTP's radio, television and online operations merged into one company, and under 2004 that Rádio e Televisão de Portugal S.A. was born, with radio and television becoming a single company. Both entries are RTP's own account.^[4]

The current statutes date from Lei n.º 39/2014, de 9 de julho, whose Article 1 states that it approves the second amendment to Lei n.º 8/2007, de 14 de fevereiro, which restructured the public radio and television concessionaire, and the new statutes of the company.^[2] The CMPF's Media Pluralism Monitor, on its Portugal 2026 page, records that the Government and RTP revised the public service concession agreement in March 2025, an agreement that had been in force since 2015.^[8]

Why does RTP matter in Portugal's sport?

RTP is the statutory public broadcaster, wholly owned by the State, and in 2026 it was one of the three free-to-air broadcasters that carried Portugal's matches at the FIFA World Cup.^[3][6] It carries the Taça de Portugal alongside Sport TV, and its governance report describes the part the EBU, of which the report says it is a founder, plays in the collective negotiation of rights to major sporting events.^[7][3]

Two monitoring bodies have published on its position. Reporters Without Borders, in its 2026 entry, names RTP among five state and private-sector media groups that it describes as dominating the Portuguese market, with Impresa, Cofina, Media Capital and Global Media.^[9] The Media Pluralism Monitor's Portugal 2026 page records that in July 2025 RTP's news director and his team were dismissed and replaced without the ERC, the media regulator, being consulted. It records that RTP's management has argued for an increase in the CAV, the broadcasting contribution, which it says the government has so far rejected, and that in November 2025 the government agreed to a €2.3 million capital increase for the second phase of a voluntary redundancy plan.^[8] Those are the monitor's statements.