Grupo Abril (lit. 'April Group') simply also known as Abril) is a Brazilian media conglomerate headquartered in São Paulo. The company is the holding company of Editora Abril, which publishes the weekly newsmagazine Veja.
History and profile
Victor Civita, an Italian businessman, founded Editora Abril in 1950,[1] which was the first publisher of Walt Disney comics in Brazil. He also published other comics and books. Gradually, he developed magazines for specific markets. In the 1960s, with his son, Roberto Civita, he expanded to publishing several market-specific magazines, such as Quatro Rodas, Claudia, and others. Veja, the weekly newsmagazine, was founded in 1968 and led by the younger Civita.[2]
Abril had several partnerships in the emerging Brazilian pay TV market during the 90s, including local franchises of American channels such as Disney Channel, MTV and ESPN. The company also launched a cable TV provider service called TVA (Televisão Abril), which by 1999 was considered one of the top two cable carriers in Brazil, along with Globocabo (Grupo Globo