TV Miramar

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TV Miramar is a Brazilian educational television station based in João Pessoa, capital of the state of Paraíba. It operates on channel 4 (24 UHF digital) and is affiliated with TV Cultura. The station belongs to the Virginius da Gama e Melo Foundation, which is also responsible for Miramar FM 107.7 (leased to Rádio Deus É Amor), and is managed by Sistema Arapuan de Comunicação . Its studios are located at the headquarters of Sistema Arapuan, in Tambiá, and its transmission antenna is at the top of the Regis Building, in the Center.

On October 20, 1989, the Virgínius da Gama e Melo Foundation, linked at the time to the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB) and the Paraíba Institutes of Education (Ipê), put channel 4 VHF on the air. Operating as a retransmitter for the extinct TVE Brasil, its antenna was installed on top of the INSS building, in the center of João Pessoa. The initial project was to convert the relay into a generator. The idea never got off the ground and the relay was maintained and managed by the foundation.^[1]

The station's signal was marked by numerous interruptions in the 1990s, due to a lack of technical maintenance and financial problems. At the end of 1997, channel 4 was deactivated due to the serious crisis affecting the Virginius da Gama e Melo Foundation. The foundation managed to reactivate channel 4 in 1998, with a poor signal quality, and soon after it went off the air again.^[1]

At the end of 2000, due to financial difficulties, the Foundation, together with the retransmitter (channel 4 and FM 107.7 MHz) were transferred to a group of evangelical religious leaders. The FM was reactivated and was renamed Christian FM. In mid-2001, Channel 4 precariously returned to the air.

In November 2002, the TVE Brasil retransmitter carried out its first local transmission of channel 4, directly from the roof of the INSS headquarters building, in the center of João Pessoa, where the transmitters and radiant system are located. The broadcast featured the participation of pastor Marcelo Fonseca Munguba, Pastor Edvan Carneiro da Silva and reporter Ronaldo Ponciano, with image direction by Humberto Borges and cameraman Edson David.

In mid-2003, still as a rebroadcaster, channel 4, under the trade name TV Miramar, began producing local programming. Among the local programs were the police program De Olho na Cidade, Ana Ponzi, Display, the journalistic ones Câmara Aberta and Fala Sério, as well as the religious program Êta Glória. At that time, the production of programs was precarious and marked by improvisation. At the end of 2003, local programs went off the air and sporadic video clips were shown to fill gaps in the programming, before long, only two programs (De Olho na Cidade and Fala Sério) remained on the schedule.

In January, the last editions of De Olho na Cidade were aired and the broadcaster removed all local programming, as it did not have a license to operate as a generator and returned to transmitting the TVE Brasil signal without any type of insertion.

In mid-2004, the group of evangelical religious people signed an agreement with the Arapuan Communication System, transferring control of the foundation together with the radio and the relay. The former Christian Radio FM had its name changed to Miramar FM.

In February 2005, the Virginius da Gama e Melo Foundation signed an agreement with the João Pessoa City Council to show programs from TV Câmara de João Pessoa on channel 4 (VHF), through the agreement, channel 4 (VHF) gained a new transmitter, which guaranteed a better image and greater range. In March 2005, excerpts from TV Câmara's programming were aired throughout the program, some time later the programs began to be shown at pre-determined times. On June 5, 2006, TVE Paraíba changed its name to TV Miramar. In May 2009, the agreement ended and TV Câmara programs were no longer shown on the station.

At the beginning of December 2009, the programs that TV Miramar showed were transferred to TV Arapuan. Only independent programs linked to the Alex Filho Group remained. The other programs shown on TV Miramar are from TV Brasil.

On May 1, 2010, the broadcaster only started retransmitting TV Brasil programming in its entirety. In October 2011, the broadcaster signed a contract with Rede Mundial for the full transmission of its signal, replacing TV Brasil. On December 17, 2012, TV Miramar stopped retransmitting Rede Mundial and started retransmitting the TV Cultura signal in full.

On November 10, 2017, TV Miramar launches its digital signal, without local programming.

On August 17, 2020, TV Miramar returned to local programming, rebroadcasting the journalistic programs Paraíba Verdade (aired from 6 am to 8 am), Arapuan Verdade (from 12 pm to 2 pm) and 60 Minutos (from 5 pm to 7 pm), all of them from Arapuan FM.^[2] In the case of special broadcasts, as was the case in the 2020 Elections, times may be extended.

Based on the federal decree transitioning Brazilian TV stations from analogue to digital signals, TV Miramar, as well as the other stations in João Pessoa, should have ceased broadcasting on VHF channel 4 on May 30, 2018, following the official ANATEL schedule,^[3] but opted to shut the signal down 45 days in advance, without prior warning.