FJanuary 2024 It’s the month of a new twist on Portuguese television. Five years later, TVI once again led the ratings and thus dethroned SIC, which had been leader since February 2019.
When midnight arrived this Friday, March 1st, TVI hurried to react to the victory. Through social media, the Queluz de Baixo station said: “TVI is the most watched television in Portugal! In its anniversary month, together, we celebrate leadership. Thank you.”
With the same video, which brings together several notable faces from the channel, Cristina Ferreira has also spoken out. TVI’s Entertainment director highlights that it was with “persistence, focus, determination, work, team, resistance, love and challenge” that it was possible to reverse the complicated scenario in which the Queluz de Baixo station has experienced in recent years. “Thank you everyone. TVI is the most watched television in Portugal”he finally noted.
Going back to 2019…
The country talked about nothing else. The news that Cristina Ferreira would leave TVI to join SIC ‘fell like a bomb’ and there were those who were slow to believe. After all, the presenter had been at the Queluz station for 16 years and it was there that she started working.
In addition to leaving TVI, Cristina left the morning program ‘Você na TV’, which she had presented since 2004, and consequently her morning colleague, Manuel Luís Goucha.
Months later, the January 7, 2019, Cristina Ferreira made her debut on SIC screens. With a new haircut, she opened the scene of ‘Cristina’s Program’. The format was innovative and had a larger studio than what Portuguese daytime programs are used to. To add to all this, Cristina Ferreira brought together important guests, commentators and collaborators she already knew from her TVI days on SIC’s mornings, and thus ‘clung on’ to the leadership of the audiences, to the great happiness of Daniel Oliveira, the Programs director. from Paço de Arcos station. Since then, SIC has never known what it was like to lose – a bitter taste that it tastes again now.
Cláudio Ramos, Ben and Cristina Ferreira shared several lively moments on ‘Programa da Cristina’© Instagram – oprogramadacristinasic
The difficult months in Queluz de Baixo
The atmosphere became tense in the TVI corridors. The channel became disoriented with the departure of Cristina Ferreira and entered a spiral of discouragement, of entries and exits, of premieres and cancellations.
To accompany Goucha on ‘Você na TV’ (and knowing that morning programs are crucial to the success of a generalist station) TVI sought Maria Cerqueira Gomes to Porto Canal. In the first few months, the Porto native was daily compared to Cristina Ferreira and things didn’t go as expected. The chemistry with Goucha, despite being relatively good, was in no way similar to the format’s past, and in the opposite direction it was followed by ‘Programa da Cristina’, increasingly the leader at this time.
Maria Cerqueira Gomes and Goucha began co-presenting ‘Você na TV’ in January 2019© Facebook/Manuel Luís Goucha
Who sees faces, doesn’t see hearts
Even winning audiences, with great popularity and earning an even higher salary, Cristina Ferreira didn’t feel happy. The presenter wanted more and never managed to let go of her longing for her first ‘home’.
A July 17, 2020, the unexpected happened: Cristina left SIC and returned to TVI. Still, when she reentered the doors of the station that was so familiar to her, she was no longer the same person and she was not given the same roles.
Back in Queluz de Baixo, She became director of Entertainment and Fiction, a position she combined with her role as shareholder of Media Capital, the group that owns TVI.
The beginning of a legal battle…
A month after Cristina’s departure, SIC took legal action against the presenter and demanded a compensation of 20 million euros for non-compliance with the contract that was in force until 2022 and which ended up not being fulfilled. The process continues to take place and the sentence has not yet been announced, the only thing known is that Cristina Ferreira refused to pay the requested amount.
…and the beginning of the battle for ratings
With Cristina back on TVI and presenting ‘Christina’s Day‘, many thought that this would be enough to return victory in the hearings on a platter. The truth is that things didn’t go well.
The new format was not convincing and viewers did not switch with Cristina from SIC to TVI. ‘Dia de Cristina’ had a huge set and a large production, but what may have failed to convince viewers was the fact that it didn’t have a fixed day. Cristina appeared on the channel by surprise and conducted a broadcast that occupied the afternoon and morning periods. It ended up only lasting between September and December 2020 and in total it only had 11 episodes.
It was through trial and error that TVI spent the following months. Some of Cristina Ferreira’s decisions were widely criticized – with emphasis on the bet on Helena Coelho and Ruben Rua as a duo in ‘VivaVida’ and the failure of the soap opera ‘Rua das Flores’ – but others ended up being successful.
‘Party is Party’ gave TVI great joy in a particularly troubled period. The soap opera premiered on April 26, 2021 and continues to this day, almost three years later. Already with nine seasons, the adventures of the village of Bela Vida promise to continue to make people talk and have boosted other channel productions that have arrived in the meantime, such as the cases of ‘ Quero é Viver ‘, ‘ Queridos Papás ’ and, more recently, ‘ Cacau ‘.
What went wrong at SIC in February?
After many months of fruitless attempts, TVI managed to return to a place that had been its own for many years. It is from Queluz de Baixo that the new most watched channel in the country is broadcast, even though it is important to understand what happened.
There is no clear answer, but there are certainly signs that help draw conclusions about this negative month for SIC. To begin with, the highlight goes to the clear failure of ‘Once Upon a Time on Thursday’, a reality show inspired by ‘A Quinta’ (which was shown on TVI in 2015). The program was not convincing, mainly due to the fact that it was recorded and did not have live broadcasts. Andreia Rodrigues, wife and mother of Daniel Oliveira’s children, led the failed bet and SIC tried to reduce the damage by ‘pushing’ the program to later time slots.
Just like in football, a team can lose if it plays poorly or if, on the other hand, the opponent plays much better. This is what also happened in February on television. TVI made the most of the success of ‘Big Brother – Final Challenge’ and brought together impactful names from reality shows in a mind-boggling edition led by Cláudio Ramos, who continues to receive praise. Even so, on Saturday, Cristina has led another season of ‘Dance with stars’, a contest always so cherished by Portuguese spectators.
Now, even more interesting months await in the ‘magic box’. Will TVI lead again for dozens of consecutive months, as happened the last time it was in this position? Or will SIC not give up its arms and will have ‘tricks up its sleeve’ to claim victory again? We will find out the answer in the next episodes.
Read Also: TVI bets everything on ‘Dança’ and there is another guest at the next gala
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Eighth consecutive year Consumer Choice for Online Press and elected product of the year 2024.
* Study by e Netsonda, Nov. and ten. 2023 product of the year – pt.com
