MoonTV
| MoonTV | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Launched | 1997 (cable) 23 March 2010 (Internet) |
| Closed | 1 July 2003 (cable) |
| Country | Finland |
| Language | Finnish |
| Broadcast area | In Finland's largest cities, currently online |
| Website | moontv.fi |
MoonTV was a free Finnish cable network channel. It started off as a channel for programmes about computer and video games but later grew into a channel covering several areas of youth culture. In its prime it was the first interactive TV channel in the world. At its best MoonTV could reach 1.3 million potential viewers in the 12 biggest cities across Finland. In 2003 the channel was shut down after the company that owned it filed for bankruptcy.
MoonTV was relaunched in 2010 online with new hosts and a new program line-up.
Mika Koivula and Hannu and Pekka Kossila were the founding members of MoonTV. Koivula came up with the name "MoonTV" back in 1996. Pekka Kossila was in charge of creating economical interactive TV formats which were the core of the channel when it started its test broadcasts in November 1996. Hannu Kossila, CEO, took care of the marketing and expansion of the channel.
MoonTV is noted for bringing forth youth-icon and political representative Wallu Valpio former member of the music group "Arto Muna ja Millennium Orkesteri".
The programs were shot primarily around the city of Helsinki, with occasional programming such as concert events and E3 shot elsewhere. If shows were not hosted at MoonTV's studios they were usually shot at public locales. MoonTV employees were notorious for relying heavily on guerilla shoots (shooting without permits). This was poked fun at in the early airings in commercials which showed candid footage of a police-car chasing the film crew. For these reasons certain inserts were usually hosted at playgrounds or inside clubs or restaurants. As MoonTV became better recognised such problems with shooting became less of an issue.
MoonTV gathered the support of several Finnish musical artists who would regularly shoot inserts and commercials for the show. Most noticeably Jimi Pääkallo's "Se on ihmisten tekemä" (It's made by humans) insert became extremely popular amongst viewers. Pääkallo was also a regular guest and even shot a commercial for the channel's cooking show Musta Pippuri.
MoonTV's initial purpose was to be, according to channel's co-founder Pekka Kossila, a 24/7 video game-oriented channel. Originally channel's programs were very short, sometimes only 15 minutes, but with the introduction of more youth-oriented programs the average show-length became 30 minutes (with commercials). MoonTV's programming was updated weekly (originally on Mondays, later on Thursdays) and this meant that reruns of any show could be seen several times daily like in today's movie or music channels. However, there were several programmes like the entertainment and sport news that were updated on a daily basis via the Web. Aivoradio (Brain Radio), a 15-minute news and current events programme was the only show to be updated daily, but appeared only for a brief time very late into MoonTV's existence.
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