The Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão (SBT; ; "Brazilian Television System") is a Brazilian television network founded on August 19, 1981 by the businessman and television personality Silvio Santos. The company was established after a public tender by the Brazilian Federal Government to form two new networks, created from revoked concessions of the defunct Tupi and Excelsior networks. SBT was funded in the same day that the concession agreement was signed, and that the act was broadcast live by the network, so that this was his first program aired. Before acquiring the concessions of the four station that were to form the SBT, Grupo Silvio Santos had since 1976 the concession of Rio de Janeiro's channel 11, known as TVS Rio de Janeiro (now SBT Rio), which was a fundamental step to give life to SBT.