Band Rio

In 1974, businessman João Jorge Saad, owner of TV Bandeirantes, channel 13 of São Paulo, obtained the license for channel 7 in Rio de Janeiro. Work for a building in Vila Isabel, North Zone, began, but there were delays due to a series of imshaps. The alternative was to buy the studios at Laboratório de Som e Imagem (Somil) in Botafogo, in the South Zone and adapting them for a television station. The need to establish a station in Rio de Janeiro was in line with Band's plans to become a national network, up until then, it was mostly regional.^[1]

The transmitter atop Morro do Sumaré, the master control, the cameras, videotape machines, telecine and other technical necessities seen as vital for its operation were all imported, and cost over US$ 2 million. The first test signal was broadcast on July 7, 1977. Experimental broadcasts began on August 1, 1977, but the then-TV Guanabara was inaugurated at 7pm on September 9. At first it aired 45 minutes of the usual launch solemnities followed by its first program, Meus Caros Amigos, a special music show presented by Chico Buarque de Holanda. At 9:05pm, the station aired Lawrence of Arabia.^[2]

Among the station's early staff was soccer commentator Galvão Bueno, who would later make a long-running career at TV Globo.^[1]

Band Rio discontinued its analog signal over VHF channel 7, on November 22, 2017, complying an order by ANATEL regarding the shutdown of analog television in Rio de Janeiro; the closure was supposed to be done in October but had been re-evaluated.^[4]

Band Rio started satellite broadcasts in November 2005 using the Brasilsat B3 satellite.^[5]