| |
|---|---|
| Channels | |
| Branding | TV Fronteira |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | Independent |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| 99,9 FM CBN Prudente Rádio Fronteira | |
| History | |
First air date | June 1, 1994 |
Former channel number(s) |
|
| TV Globo (1994–2025) | |
| Technical information | |
Licensing authority | ANATEL |
| ERP | 3 kW |
| Transmitter coordinates | 22°7′23.9″S51°23′14.8″W / 22.123306°S 51.387444°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | Profile |
| Website | redeglobo |
TV Fronteira Paulista (channel 31, also known as TV Fronteira) is an independent Brazilian television station headquartered in Presidente Prudente, formerly serving as an affiliate of TV Globo for the western part of the state, broadcasting its programming to 56 municipalities. Owned and operated by locally-based Grupo Paulo Lima alongside radio stations 99,9 FM, CBN Prudente and Rádio Paulista as its sole television property, its studios are located in the Vila Charlote neighborhood, and its transmission antenna is at the top of the Alexandre Fernandes Building, in the center. The station also had a branch in the city of Dracena, in the Alta Paulista region until 2022 when it was shuttered in the wake of cost-cutting moves at the station. Since 2025, following the withdrawal of its Globo affiliation, the station became independent. Its coverage area reaches out to a potential audience of 800,000 viewers. [1]
In 1989, businessman Paulo Lima opened TV Pontal Paulista, affiliated with Rede Manchete and tuned to channel 6 VHF in Presidente Prudente. He had the support of his father, federal deputy Agripino Lima, to obtain in Brasília the concession of the second television station to be installed in the city (which until then only had TV Bandeirantes Presidente Prudente, opened in 1982). [1]
In 1994, after obtaining a license for VHF channel 13 and affiliation with Rede Globo, which until then was represented in Presidente Prudente by a branch of TV Globo Oeste Paulista, Paulo Lima shut down TV Pontal on channel 6, and used the station's headquarters to establish the new affiliate of the Rio network. [1]
The station was opened on June 1, 1994, by its shareholder, Paulo César de Oliveira Lima. With the highest audience ratings on regional over-the-air TV, it shows Rede Globo programming, as well as local programs that value the region, always with the standard of quality and diversification that TV Globo maintains.
It was Evandro Guimarães who came up with the name for the station, justifying the fact that its coverage area was not just the Pontal region of western São Paulo, and that the usage of the word "fronteira" (border) also represented a technological border. [1]
Through constant investments, already in December 1997, it was the first entirely digital station in Brazil, relocating to a new building in the process. [1] Even though there was still no digital television in the country yet, it began to produce digital content, gaining significant quality in local productions and optimizing production time. The picture quality of the station was also improved. [2] The jump to digital equipment also implied the cration of new programs, such as Nosso Campo (produced by TV Fronteira and wit the co-operation of adjacent affiliates in Rio Preto and Bauru) and, from 2005, the local interest program Fronteira do Brasil. [1]
A new studio, adapted to the new Praça TV standard, was unveiled in 2018. [1]
On April 19, 2022, TV Fronteira Paulista announced the closure of its branch in the city of Dracena, leading to the dismissal of all employees. The information caught employees by surprise, who claimed there were no economic problems. [3]
On October 25, 2024, it was announced that TV Fronteira would no longer affiliate with TV Globo beginning in January of 2025, after 30 years. [4] Globo's coverage in the region will be done by TV TEM Bauru (which previously covered Presidente Prudente until 1994) from January 1, 2025, [5] while TV Fronteira hasn't yet announced its future. The switch was later postponed to August 31, 2025, enabling a smoother transition period. [6]
However, on July 18, 2025, TV Fronteira took judicial action against TV Globo, requiring the affiliation contract to be renewed for another five years. The station also accused the network of promoting unfair competition practices to benefit TV TEM. Also according to the station, the end of the affiliation with Globo will make it impossible to continue its activities, leading to the imminent risk of "bankruptcy and mass unemployment". [7]
Globo appealed the situation and obtained an injunction on August 28, revoking the decision of August 5, which had determined the affiliation for an indefinite period. As a result, the station must stop relaying the network's signal on August 31, at 11:59pm, the deadline originally stipulated by the Rio network. Furthermore, Globo had proposed a renewal with TV Fronteira for another seven months, which would end in March 2026, being rejected by the station, which wanted another thirty months. Fronteira was also penalized with R$300,000 for legal fees. [8]
After ten months, on August 29, TV Fronteira announced officially to the public that its 31-year affiliation with TV Globo was ending. The station stated that it would comply with the court decision, in addition to keeping the news programs Bom Dia Fronteira and Fronteira Notícias on the schedule at the same times they were already shown, but without clarifying what the programming would be seen at other times with its departure from Globo. [9] At midnight on August 31st, TV Fronteira suspended TV Globo's network feed during Altas Horas , placing a slide on the screen informing the station's departure and subsequently, a series of promos from other Grupo Paulo Lima outlets. [10]
On September 1, after over 24 hours airing promos for the station and its sister outlets, as well as announcements about the end of the TV Globo affiliation, TV Fronteira resumed programming with Bom Dia Fronteira, which, like other local news programs, introduced new graphics and a new theme. As a result, the station's programming began to be filled with reruns of news programs, in addition to promos. [11] The morning bulletin had a 10 minute increase, ending at 8:40am, while Fronteira Notícias 2ª Edição now starts at 7pm sharp. [12]
Despite the station being defined to remain independent, TV Fronteira even tried to appeal to regain its TV Globo affiliation in the justice, but without success, with a lawsuit at Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ) being discarded by not following the usual procedures, which provided for the case to go to the 2nd instance of the Rio de Janeiro Court. [13]
During the first electoral debate between the candidates for mayor of Presidente Prudente held by Band Paulista on August 8, 2024, the then candidate and owner of the station, Paulo Lima (PSB), poked competitors such as Record Interior SP and SBT Interior for allegedly not showing negative reports against the then mayor and candidate for re-election of the city, Ed Thomas (MDB), while promoting TV Fronteira for publicizing the scandals. [14] Furthermore, the owner of the channel has also been accused by former employees of moral and sexual harassment and for selling content such as handouts to city halls in the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, using ghost partners, in an act that is popularly nicknamed "oranges" and other practices reported to the Ministry of Communications. [15]
Lima's statement in the Band debate ended up having negative repercussions behind the scenes at TV Globo, along with other controversies in which the owner was involved, one of which was in the first half of 2024, when he promoted the Agripino Lima Foundation during commercial breaks, while he was a pre-candidate for the PSB, he made attacks on the LGBTQIAP+ community, also associating it with supposed support for the abortionist movement, which led to Globo deciding not to renew the affiliation contract with TV Fronteira, making the decision official on October 25, 2024. [4]
| Virtual channel | Digital channel | Aspect ratio | Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31.1 | UHF 31 | 1080i | TV Fronteira’s main programming |
TV Fronteira Paulista started its digital broadcasts on December 6, 2010, on UHF channel 31 for Presidente Prudente and additional ten nearby cities. [16] Its local programs started being produced in high definition on March 29, 2018, [17] one day after the date initially foreseen in ANATEL's official schedule for the analog shutdown, which was postponed.
Based on the federal decree transitioning Brazilian TV stations from analog to digital signals, TV Fronteira Paulista, as well as the other stations in Presidente Prudente, ceased broadcasting on VHF channel 13 on April 18, 2018, following the official ANATEL roadmap. [18]