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TV Cultura, or simply Cultura, is a free Brazil non-commercial public television network headquartered in São Paulo and a part of Father Anchieta Foundation, a non-profit foundation funded by the São Paulo State Government. It focuses on educational and cultural subjects but also has as entertainment options.
According to research by the BBC and the British institute Populus Ltd, published in 2015, TV Cultura is the second highest quality channel in the world, behind only BBC One.
TV Cultura was founded in 1960 by Diários Associados and Rede de Emissoras Associadas, who also owned Rede Tupi. The station's transmitter was the former one used by TV Tupi São Paulo, which up until August 1960 broadcast on channel 3, and in order to move to the new frequency, Tupi built a new transmitter at Sumaré.
On September 20, 1960, two days after TV Tupi celebrated its tenth anniversary, its "younger sister" was born. TV Cultura became the fifth television station in the city of São Paulo. The station was initially scheduled to launch in the first semester of 1960, but was later delayed to August, September 7 and finally September 20. The launch campaign in local newspapers framed the station as having state-of-the-art equipment for its time, with a strong emphasis on its local output. The station broadcast from 7 pm to 11 pm. Mario Fanucchi created a special illustration featuring the TV Tupi mascot - with the number 4 in his body - feeding the newborn sister, representing channel 2.
The formal launch ceremony was held at 7 pm on September 20, 1960 at the Fasano Winter Garden followed by a special variety show at 9 pm, where artists from the Associadas stations from other states took part.
The following day, TV Cultura presented its normal schedule. Similar to TV Tupi, its offer included news, sports, plays, children's programs, cartoons and feature-length films. The 10 pm newscast Telejornal Pirelli was presented in association with one of its newspapers (Diário da Noite) featuring a wide local, national and international newscast. The press reported its "never-before seen characteristics". Although the station's name alluded to a "cultural" facet, TV Cultura under its administration was a commercial television station, however, educational programming was still present since the outset, starting with English classes and from March 1961, an experimental television learning system. Shortly before the 1964 military coup, it was suggested that TV Cultura should switch to a news format, which included a proposal from Philips to bring equipment, including outside vans, to accommodate its conversion to the new format. Philips rejected the plan.
On April 28, 1965, at the end of ABC Show, a fire broke out at Studio A, the fire later spread to the entire floor where TV Cultura broadcast from, knocking it off the air. By 2 am, the fire was controlled. The possible cause was a short circuit. While there were no victims, the material damage was high. The following day, TV Cultura started broadcasting provisionally from TV Tupi's Studio C at Sumaré.
Instead of returning to the old facilities, TV Cultura decided to build a new facility from scratch in Água Branca.
In 1968, the São Paulo State Government bought TV Cultura from Associadas and subsequently donated the channel to Fundação Padre Anchieta ("Father Anchieta Foundation") in 1969. It is a public TV Station with an Educational and Cultural agenda and receives public investments from the government of São Paulo's state and it claims to have intellectual, political and administrative independence not only for TV Cultura, but also its two affiliated radio broadcasting channels, Rádio Cultura AM and [Rádio Cultura FM.
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