On May 6, 2014,Atresmedia was forced to closeNitro,Xplora andla Sexta 3 channels due to a supreme court ruling, so the programming aimed at the male audience had to be placed on other group channels such asNeox orLaSexta.[1] After this event, Atresmedia sought to recover the license that was leased toGol Televisión, setting the end of 2015 as a limit.[2]
In May 2015, Atresmedia and Mediapro signed the rescission of the frequency rental agreement, since Mediapro would launch a new channel in association with BeIn Sports, so Gol Televisión would stop broadcasting.[3] During June 2015, Gol Televisión broadcast free-to-air for a few hours to promote the new channel, ending its broadcasts on June 30, which also meant the end of pay DTT in Spain.[4]
After recovering the frequency, Atresmedia announced that the new channel would be called Mega,[5] finally, the channel began broadcasting on July 1, 2015.[6]
Mega's programming is aimed at a male audience, including series, action movies,factuals, documentaries andreality television, as well as sports talk shows such asEl Chiringuito de Jugones and the retransmission of programs that had been broadcast onAntena 3 andLa Sexta. Most of the documentaries, factuals and reality shows broadcast on Mega are produced byThe History Channel.[7]
^abjoint venture with Amperwelle Studio München Programmanbietergesellschaft,Axel Springer AG, Burda, Studio Gong, m.b.t. Mediengesellschaft der bayerischen Tageszeitungen für Kabelkommunikation, Medienpool and Radio Bavaria Rundfunkprogrammgesellschaft.
^joint venture with Verlagsgesellschaft Madsack, Studio Gong Niedersachsen and Brune-Rieck-Beteiligungs.
^joint venture with Axel Springer, Heinrich Bauer Verlag, Lühmanndruck Harburger Zeitungsgesellschaft and Morgenpost Verlag.
^abjoint venture with Amperwelle Studio München Programmanbietergesellschaft,Axel Springer AG, Burda, Studio Gong, m.b.t. Mediengesellschaft der bayerischen Tageszeitungen für Kabelkommunikation, Medienpool and Radio Bavaria Rundfunkprogrammgesellschaft.
^joint venture with Verlagsgesellschaft Madsack, Studio Gong Niedersachsen and Brune-Rieck-Beteiligungs.
^joint venture with Axel Springer, Heinrich Bauer Verlag, Lühmanndruck Harburger Zeitungsgesellschaft and Morgenpost Verlag.
