Portugal at a glance
- Site blocking
- Administrative: ISPs block on IGAC’s instruction under a July 2015 memorandum, no court order
- Live sports
- Fast, temporary blocking of illegal live streams under a December 2018 agreement
- Viewers
- Not protected when streaming from an obviously unlicensed source (CJEU, 2017)
- Public TV funding
- Audiovisual contribution on electricity bills: €2.85 a month plus 6% VAT (standard rate)
- Time vs UK
- Same time on the mainland and Madeira; the Azores are 1 hour behind
Checked 6 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.
Is IPTV legal in Portugal?
Licensed IPTV is how a lot of Portuguese TV is delivered: broadband providers sell TV over their networks, and the public broadcaster RTP and other broadcasters stream their channels in apps. All of that is legal.
Streaming channels without the rights holders’ permission isn’t. In the EU, the Court of Justice has held that watching streams from an obviously unlicensed source isn’t protected by the temporary-copy exception, so the risk isn’t only on the seller’s side. For the checks that apply to any provider, see is IPTV legal?.
Blocking without a court order
In July 2015 Portugal’s Ministry of Culture announced a memorandum between its General Inspection of Cultural Activities (IGAC), the telecoms operators’ association APRITEL, rights holder groups, the body that runs the .pt domain and the advertising industry. Under it, sites reported as infringing are blocked by the internet providers on IGAC’s instruction, as an administrative measure rather than through the courts. Wikipedia’s summary notes that thousands of sites have been blocked for copyright infringement and gambling.
In December 2018 IGAC, APRITEL and rights holders including FEVIP and GEDIPE signed a further memorandum for live sports. Because a live match is only worth protecting while it’s on, blocks are prepared shortly before events and lifted afterwards. TorrentFreak reported that the scheme is voluntary and needs no injunctions.
What this means for viewers: an app or service that suddenly can’t connect in Portugal, especially during live sport, may have been blocked. See ISP blocking and IPTV, and what DNS settings do and don’t change.
The audiovisual contribution
Portugal has no separate TV licence. Public broadcasting is funded by the contribuição audiovisual, which electricity suppliers must add to their bills. According to EDP, the standard rate is €2.85 a month plus 6% VAT, with a reduced rate of €1 plus VAT for some benefit recipients, and exemptions for very low consumption. It’s set by Law 30/2003.
Licensed ways to watch TV in Portugal
| Option | What you get | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| RTP Play | RTP channels live and on demand, including RTP’s international channels | Free, no registration required; some programmes are limited by rights, inside and outside Portugal |
| Broadband provider TV | Live channels over your connection, with a box or app | Usually bundled with broadband |
| Broadcaster and streaming apps | Portuguese channels, films and series | Free or subscription |
RTP Play is listed on the UK App Store, and these apps run on the devices used for IPTV. See our guides to Apple TV, Android TV, Google TV and smart TVs.
UK TV in Portugal
- BBC iPlayer only works in the UK.
- VPNs that make you appear to be in the UK usually break UK services’ terms and don’t make an unlicensed service legal. See IPTV and VPNs.
- Time: mainland Portugal and Madeira match UK time all year, so UK guide listings need no offset; in the Azores, set a one-hour offset with our EPG offset calculator.
Before you pay for any service
- Check your broadband contract for included TV before buying anything separate.
- Check who runs the service: a registered business with terms, a refund policy and a contact address.
- Avoid “all channels” deals at a tiny price, long prepaid plans and payment methods with no buyer protection; blocked services often disappear with prepaid subscriptions.
For neighbouring Spain, see IPTV in Spain. Watching Portuguese TV from the UK instead? See Portuguese TV in the UK.