NBC Europe | |
---|---|
Launched | 30 January 1987 |
Closed | 30 June 1998 (Europe) 29 September 2005 (Germany) 31 December 2010 (Romania) |
Owned by |
ITV companies/Virgin Group (1987-1988) Marcucci family/Virgin Group (1988-1993) General Electric (1993-2004) NBC Universal (2004-2005) Deutsche Fernsehnachrichten Agentur (DFA) (1998-2004) |
Picture format | 576i (4:3 SDTV) |
Formerly called |
Music Box (1984-1987) Super Channel (1987-1993) NBC Super Channel (1993-1996) |
Replaced by |
GIGA Das Vierte National Geographic Channel |
Sister channel(s) | CNBC Europe |
NBC Europe (formerly Super Channel and NBC Super Channel) was a satellite television channel based in the United Kingdom that broadcast across Europe. It was picked up by various European cable television networks.
Launched on 30 January 1987, replacing 24-hour music channel Music Box, Super Channel was co-owned by all but one of the ITV companies at the time in the United Kingdom.Virgin Group had a majority stake in Music Box (60 percent) and would own 15 percent of the equity with the rest being split between the ITV companies, which included Ulster Television, Grampian Television, Scottish Television, Border Television, Granada, Yorkshire Television, HTV, TSW, TVS, LWT, Anglia, Central, and Tyne Tees Television. Thames Television was the only one of the fifteen regional ITV companies not to participate. It competed with Sky Channel, forerunner of Sky1, which was the only other major pan-European satellite-channel around at the time. Unlike Sky Channel, Super Channel's syndicated output was less American and more European. Many of the programmes were what it called the "Best of British", sourced from ITV or the BBC, while ITN produced news bulletins (see also ITN World News). It also broadcast syndicated non-British European programmes such as the Dutch sitcom Zeg 'ns Aaa (with English subtitles).