TV Tupi Rio de Janeiro was a Brazilian television station located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, capital of the state of the same name. It operated on VHF channel 6 and was owned and operated by Rede Tupi throughout its existence. It was the second TV station to be opened in Brazil, after TV Tupi São Paulo, which would soon form Rede Tupi.
On January 27, 1948, Diário da Noite reported the arrival of television to both Rio and São Paulo.[1]: 110
The station conducted camera tests in April 1950.[1]: 131
Experimental broadcasts started on October 5, 1950, callsign PRG-3.[1]: 260 The station signed on for the first time on January 20, 1951, seven days before awarding its license.[1]: 262
Launch day solemnities atop Sugarloaf Mountain were held from 12pm, reaching out to at least 5,000 television sets installed. A succession of speeches then followed.[1]: 262–263 After the ceremony ended, the station put its test pattern until 8:30pm when Luiz Jatobá gave a three-minute introduction of the coming programs. This was followed by a concert by Orquestra Tabajara with Brazilian songs, Calouros em Desfile presented by Ary Barroso at 9pm, and a special show at 9:30pm: Tupi e a Televisão, starring many celebrities of the time, including comedian Mazzaropi, who attended the launch of the São Paulo station and became the first face to appear in two station launches. At 10:30pm, a special edition of Telejornal was broadcast with a film about the launch of the station and a report about its launch ceremony. The schedule ended with a jiu-jitsu fight between Hélio and Carlos Gracie. TV Tupi Rio had a 5KW transmitter that covered the entire city and neighboring Niterói and Petrópolis.[1]: 264
The station broadcast the Brazilian telenovela, Sua Vida Me Pertence (Your Life Belongs to Me), starting from the end of 1951, and broadcast the first televised kiss on February 8, 1952.
On April 1, 1968, Spanish company Movierecord secured a two-hour slot for its Latin American Ola Vision project.[2]