Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) is the public service broadcasting organisation of Portugal. It operates four national television channels and three national radio stations, as well as several satellite and cable offerings. The current company dates from 2007, with the merger of two previously separate companies Radiodifusão Portuguesa (RDP; the radio broadcaster) and Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (television broadcaster), although they had been grouped under a single holding company and common branding since 2004. RTP is funded by the taxa de contribuição audiovisual (broadcasting contribution tax), which is incorporated in electricity bills, and television advertising revenues. History Radio The Emissora Nacional de Radiodifusão - usually referred to by its abbreviated designation Emissora Nacional (EN) - was established on 4 August 1935 as the public national radio broadcaster, inheriting the previous broadcasting operations of the Portuguese postal service (CTT) . Five years later, EN became independent of the CTT. Emissora Nacional was one of the 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950. Following the Carnation Revolution, EN was reorganised and in 1976 changed its name to Radiodifusão Portuguesa (RDP). During this process, several previously private radio stations – such as Rádio Clube Português (RCP) – were nationalised and integrated into RDP. In 1979, the RCP network was rebranded as Rádio Comercial, and was later privatised in 1993. At the same time, RDP launched the youth-oriented radio station Antena 3 and abolished advertising from all of its stations, so that the aforementioned broadcasting contribution tax became its sole source of funding. Television In 1953, a group on behalf of Emissora Nacional de Radiodifusão (later RDP) was set up examining the feasibility of a television service in Portugal. The group started a preliminary work for a network of television signals, with a budget on the order of 500,000 escudos. A foreign company had a proposal for the setup of the television network, including the possibility by a foreign company, with high foreign capital, tasking up a proposal for the building of the network and having the exclusive rights of the selling of television sets in the country for a determined period of time In July 1954, their report A Televisão em Portugal (Television in Portugal) was published and was built upon the following pillars: 1. The current status of TV and the opportunity for its introduction in Portugal 2. The operating system to be adopted 3. The solution that seems