Medialivre to launch new TV channel

The Portuguese media group Medialivre, which has the newspaper Correio de Manhã and CMTV, is to launch a new news channel.

According to TV commentator, lawyer and former PSD party leader Luís Marques Mendes, “the channel doesn’t exist yet but should appear at any moment”.

It has also been suggested that Portugal’s former prime minister António Costa will be one of the new channel’s political commentators.

The new TV channel will compete against the existing channels in Portugal – SIC Notícias, TVI and CNN Portugal – according to the online news source ECO.

Medialivre has not confirmed the new channel, but the CEO of the group, Luís Santana announced “new investments in strategic projects” at an event ‘Medialivre TOP 30 Advertisers’.

And last week, Medialivre opened a new 200m2 TV studio enabling the use of several sets at the same time and including robotic cameras.

Medialivre already has a generalist rolling news service CMTV which tends to focus on football and crime, but the new channel would compete on a more political basis with SIC Notícias and CNN Portugal.

Through the launch of a new premium channel the plan is to attract new segments of the public and strengthen the group’s market share in television. The company also owns the business title Jornal de Negócios, the football paper Record, and the weekly current affairs title Sábado.

Medialivre S.A, was formerly called Cofina Media. The company was established in 1995 and has headquarters in Porto.

Cofina Media changed hands in October 2023 when it was purchased by a group of investors, including football player Cristiano Ronaldo and several senior management figures through a new Portuguese company Expressão Livre.

On December 14, 2023, the new Medialivre brand was officially launched with a new logo to reflect the values of a sustainable and people-focused company.