Television in Brazil has grown significantly since the first broadcasts in 1950, becoming one of largest and most productive commercial television systems in the world. Its biggest network, TV Globo, is the second largest commercial network in South America, and is one of the largest television exporters around the world, particularly of telenovelas, having become popular in many countries. There are 14 free-to-air television networks, as well as satellite channels broadcasting throughout the country.
History
Early years
In 1939, Telefunken, a German manufacturing and electronics company, held the first television exhibition during the Sample Fair Expo in Germany. Then in July 1941, RCA and NBC debuted their first television station in New York, in what would become the very first commercial TV station in the world. The broadcast tower, installed at the top of the Empire State Building, allowed the station to broadcast on Channel 1 in the immediate vicinity of Manhattan in deference to FCC rules which allowed the earliest broadcasters to use Channel 1 on the VHF band for experimental commercial broadcasts. By 1946 shortly after World War II, in agreement with the US government and David Sarnoff's RCA, NBC switched its broadcast frequency to VHF channel 4, and the VHF transmission system was adopted in the US, operating 12 VHF channels from 2 to 13 by order of the FCC.
In Brazil around the same time, the concessions for the first television broadcast network were decreed and distributed by President Eurico Gaspar Dutra's administration, and a cornerstone was placed for the very first transmitter in Brazil for the first commercial network, Rede Tupi. It was initially located in the municipality of Morro do Pão de Açúcar, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. By 1949, a group of technicians and engineers arrived in Brazil and visited the planned location for the broadcast tower for the first time only to find that due to the topography in Rio, the planned broadcast tower site wouldn't be the ideal place for its installation. As media mogul Assis Chateaubriand was interested in the opening of the first broadcast television network in Brazil and Latin America and already knew that the US was crucial in sponsoring the first TV broadcast in Cuba on Christmas Day of 1950, he decided to transfer to São Paulo for the inaugural broadcast, and the government gave the concession of channel 3, given by Radio Difusora in order to start Rede Tupi's operations.
Then, Chateaubriand ordered the broadcasting equipment necessary, for the station had already been built, just in time for this installation. In July 1950, the equipment arrived by ship in Port Santos and was accompanied to the capital by one of the many artists of the Emissoras Associadas group in São Paulo via motorcade. The motorcade was a hit, and crowds gathered to see the equipment being driven to the new station, a preview of what the new station would offer.
Formation
The first broadcasts in Brazil were for the 1950 World Cup, in which the country hosted.
The above statement is contradicted by the following article that appeared in the Journal Dos Sports on 16 June 1950:
Oficializada a proibição das reportagens durante os jogos. Não será permitida, tambem, qualquer transmissão ou experiencia de televisão. Confirmando o que tivemos opportunidade de adiantar a CBD divulgou ontem em nota official a seguinte comunicação: "A Confederação Brasiliera de Desportos, de pieno acordo, com as recomendações expressas da FIFA, comunica aos interesrados:
a) - Não será permitido, no Estadio Municipal, ou outro qualquer local onde serão realizados os jogos da "Copa do Mundo", o servico de reportagens nos vestiarios, antes e durante os citados jogos.
b) - As reportagens, apos as partidas, ficarão a criterio das delegações participantes do Campeonato.
c) - Não será permitida a presenca de jornalistas e locutores, assim como o uso de fiosdentro do campo.
d) - Está teminantemente proibida qualquer transmissão ou experiencia, por meio de aparelhos de televisão.
Which according to Google Translate means:
The ban on reporting during games was made official. It will not be allowed, also, any transmission or television experience. Confirming that we had the opportunity to advance, the CBD released the following communication yesterday in an official note: "The Confederação Brasiliera de Desportes, in full agreement, with the express recommendations of FIFA, informs those interested:
a) - It will not be allowed, in the Municipal Stadium, or any other place where the "World Cup" games will be held, the service of reporting in the locker rooms, before and during the aforementioned games.