It was born in the midst of the Web TV boom at the end of the 2010s and has remained active ever since. TVAmadora is a local TV channel, exclusively online, which has dedicated itself to showing the other sides of a city that is often negatively represented in the media.
From a small room in Damaia, Rui Mesquita and Helena Durães produce a television channel dedicated to the city of Amadora. "We don't do politics or crime. And excluding these things, we can focus straight away"says Rui. TVAmadora shows another side of the municipality that is usually in the news for the worst reasons. They talk about culture, sport, heritage, popular festivals and, of course, all the relevant current affairs. Video is the basis of TVAmadora's news program. TVAmadorabut there is room for more.
The pair of journalists are celebrating 15 years of TVAmadora. Rui founded this Web TV between "end of 2007, beginning of 2008"at a time when "the internet was very different from what it is today". "Internet speeds in people's homes used to be tiny. Today we talk about gigs. Back then, it was ADSL"says the director. "There were no cell phones to open the internet. You had to watch it on your home computer." The history of this digital television channel is intertwined with the technological evolution of the last decade and a half. In the room where Rui and Helena produce, write, edit and broadcast TVAmadora on a daily basis, some of that history has accumulated. From old camcorders to cassette players, but also DVD boxes, old cables and other electronic equipment that is no longer used. But it's all there, as if it were a newsroom-museum.
