 Final logo, used from 1996 to 2005 in Germany, and from 1996 to 1998 in the rest of Europe | |
| Country | Europe |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | United Kingdom |
| Programming | |
| Picture format | 576i (4:3SDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| Sister channels | CNBC Europe |
| History | |
| Launched | 30 January 1987; 38 years ago (1987-01-30) |
| Replaced | Music Box |
| Closed | 30 June 1998; 27 years ago (1998-06-30) (Europe) 29 September 2005; 20 years ago (2005-09-29) (Germany) |
| Replaced by | GIGA (Germany) Das Vierte (Germany) National Geographic Channel (Europe) |
| Former names | Super Channel (1987–1993) NBC Super Channel (1993–1996) |
NBC Europe (formerlySuper Channel, and laterNBC Channel) was asatellite television network based in theUnited Kingdom that broadcast acrossEurope, and it was picked up by various Europeancable systems where available.
The network was based in the heart ofLondon, 19-22Rathbone Place in the same building asMusic Box, would later become the home ofCNN International until 2007. For a number of months, the transmission facilities were provided by Molinare atFouberts Place, and returned briefly until theMarcucci family acquiredMelrose House, 14 Lanark Square in Limeharbour where it set up as a state-of-the-art broadcasting centre.
Launched on 30 January 1987, replacing the 24-hour music channelMusic Box, it was co-owned by all but one of theITV companies at the time in theUnited Kingdom.[1]Virgin Group had a majority stake in Music Box (60%) and would own 15% of the equity with the rest being split between ITV franchise holders includingGranada,Yorkshire,LWT,Central,Anglia,Tyne Tees,Ulster,Grampian,Scottish,Border,HTV,TSW andTVS, whileThames andTV-am were the only two of the contractors not to participate.[2] It competed withSky Channel (forerunner ofSky One), which was the only other major pan-European satellite television network around at the time. Unlike Sky Channel,syndicated output was lessAmerican and moreEuropean. Much of its programming was sourced from ITV or theBBC as part of "Best of British", and it also featuredITN-produced news bulletins. It also broadcast syndicated non-British European programmes, including theDutch sitcomZeg 'ns Aaa (broadcast on the original stationVARA, withEnglishsubtitles).
Super Channel fared poorly, due to United Kingdom-based programming seen as unsuitable for European audiences, such as drama being seen as "too violent" or "too realistic",[3] as well as a dispute with the British actors' union who demanded additional fees for viewing by audiences which meant that it could no longer offer the 'Best of British to a European audience'.[2]
Within a year, the ITV companies (now including only Granada, TVS, Yorkshire Television, and Anglia Television) sold the network to theItalian Marcucci family, owners ofVideomusic, the first music channel in Italy, with a minority stake being held byRichard Branson'sVirgin plc. The programming changed from British topan-European, although it continued carryingITN World News bulletins.[4]
On 2 October 1993, the station which was in severe financial difficulties was taken over by the American companyGeneral Electric, then-parent of theNBC television network, and becameNBC Super Channel.[5] From 9 September 1996, the channel was renamedNBC Europe, but was from then on almost always referred to as simply "NBC" on the air, although the network (along with its sister stationCNBC Europe launched on 11 March earlier that year) was transmitted from the GE building inHammersmith. The transmission suite used cutting edge Pro-Bel COMPASS and MAPP automation at the time, and Profile video servers for allcommercials and promotions, within programmes continued to be played from tape automatically.
Most of NBC's prime time programming was produced in Europe, but after 10.00pm (CET) on weekday evenings as the channel airedThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno,Late Night with Conan O'Brien andLater to hence its slogan "Where the Stars Come Out at Night". Most news programmes were broadcast on NBC Europe includingDateline,Time and Again andNBC Nightly News, which was aired live.The Today Show was also initially shown live in the afternoons, but was later broadcast the following morning instead, by which time it was more than half a day old. This meant that all theNBC News portions had to be replaced with European updates produced byITN in London, also supplied the network with the main newscasts before and after the GE takeover. Europeanweather forecasts was produced by theBBC at first, but was later taken over by NBC in the United States occasionally.
NBC Europe carried virtually noprime time entertainment programmes shown in the United States, because they were usually owned and distributed by other studios under thefin-syn rules (which did not apply in Europe). NBC would have had to buy the rights for each country in order to show which would have been too expensive. Even for shows thatNBC Studios owned itself, it was generally more financially viable to sell the rights by country either to broadcast or cable and satellite channels than to air them on NBC Europe. The most notable exceptions to this rule were brief runs ofProfiler andThe Pretender, as well as short-lived American sitcomsUnion Square andMr. Rhodes. That is widely considered to be one of the main reasons why NBC Europe was ultimately not a success.
NBC Europe stopped broadcasting to most of Europe on 30 June 1998, when the Deutsche Fernsehnachrichten Agentur took it over and moved toDüsseldorf. Most of the satellite feeds became eitherNational Geographic Channel orCNBC. NBC Europe continued to operate on Germany's cable television networks, fed by one digital satellite link fromEutelsat II-F1 (later Hot Bird 5). On 30 November, the first German programming started airing, assembled from content fromGIGA andCNBC Europe, as well as other shows. In 2004,NBC Universal took over the DFA and consequently NBC Europe.
On 29 September 2005, NBC Europe was split into GIGA and later replaced by the new channelDas Vierte. The service continued broadcasting with its licence on cable, satellite,IPTV anddigital cable. It broadcast a special version on cable television including CNBC Europe and GIGA (up until 31 March 2006). This was necessary to keep both the licence and the cable channel.
On 25 September 2012,The Walt Disney Company acquired Das Vierte and closed the service from 31 December 2013. On 17 January 2014, the network was replaced byDisney Channel Germany switching frompay television tofree-to-air.
Due to limitations on the amount of entertainment shows on the network, NBC Europe (includingGIGA) aired a number of original programming in tandem withAmerican content that had not been aired in Europe beforehand. These include:
