The Regulatory Council of the Media Regulatory Authority (ERC) has decided to authorize television activities through general programming services, with a regional scope under the names Conta Lá Centro, Conta Lá Norte, and Conta Lá Sul, as requested by Conta Lá – Audiovisual Content.
The regulator also approved the operation of thematic television services with national coverage, available via subscription, named Conta Lá Rural.
The document states that at the project’s implementation, it plans to create 205 jobs, with 133 in information, 28 in programming and production, and 44 in technical support, management, HR, finance, commercial, and legal areas, spread strategically across various professional fields and geographical locations from north to south of the country, including islands, ensuring efficient and decentralized operational coverage.
The Conta Lá project, led by CEO Sérgio Figueiredo, aims to establish three regional generalist television channels with national coverage: Conta Lá Norte, Conta Lá Centro, and Conta Lá Sul. This marks a first in media history where content can be simultaneously broadcast with tailored content for the North, Center, and South regions, all from the same cable operator position.
The project aims to blend proximity to local communities with the scale enabled by national audience reach, focusing on regional actors through major informative formats, live events, and original documentaries, all produced and broadcast in Portuguese.
The channels Conta Lá Sul, Conta Lá Centro, and Conta Lá Norte will broadcast 24 hours a day.
Facilities for Conta Lá will be located in Porto, Covilhã, and Lisbon, with program direction by Diogo Alexandre and information direction by António Rosa.
The majority of human resources will be dedicated to the information sector, with each regional production center having its own structure to sustain broadcasts when regionalized, supported by a central structure for content production for simultaneous emission across the three regional channels.
The Rural channel will operate with a smaller team, benefiting mainly from synergies with the integrated newsroom and production team under program direction, allocating 31 professionals to the Northern sub-direction (Porto), 30 to the Center, and 32 to the South.
The central structure of the project will include 40 professionals, with plans for regional roles in other district capitals and autonomous regions of Madeira and Azores.
Focusing on agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, the Rural channel aims to achieve four objectives: honor production activities, bridge the urban-rural divide, attract new generations to rural realities, and promote knowledge and informed public debate on this sector vital to the national economy, also broadcasting 24 hours a day.
The strategy includes creating and distributing four new television program services – Conta Lá Norte, Conta Lá Centro, Conta Lá Sul, and Conta Lá Rural – supplemented by OTT platforms to reach digital audiences.
The operation is based on a single content management platform, allowing efficient and personalized publishing across multiple channels, with integration of artificial intelligence services to accelerate production and optimize distribution.
Financially, the project embraces a scalable and diversified revenue model, reducing dependence on traditional TV audiences. It is estimated that revenue will primarily come from advertising (27%), local stakeholders (30%), content distribution (24%), subscriptions (10%), and live events (8%).
The ERC’s deliberations on the project mention that balancing different revenue sources mitigates investment risk, with plans to achieve positive EBITDA by 2027.
Technical scalability allows growth without proportional increases in operational costs, while new digital monetization models and international expansion support long-term vision.
