VIVA Germany
| VIVA | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | 1 December 1993 |
| Owned by | Viacom International Media Networks Europe |
| Picture format |
576i (16:9 SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
| Broadcast area | Germany |
| Sister channel(s) |
MTV MTV Brand New Comedy Central Nickelodeon Nicktoons Nick Jr. |
| Website | www |
VIVA (formerly: VIVA – das Musikfernsehen) is a free-to-air German-language music television channel, first broadcast on 1 December 1993. A consortium of broadcasters and record companies led by Time Warner, Sony Television, PolyGram Records and EMI Music, but not the German-based Bertelsmann Music Group, saw the investment in VIVA as an antidote to the "vain posturing power of MTV Networks executives", according to Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung. This channel is a German version of MTV.
Executives at US media giant Time Warner, keen on increasing their market share of its music repertoire and business in Germany, planned the new TV station in 1992. Eventually, they recruited DoRo Productions, producers of music videos for notable acts such as Queen, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, in the design of the music channel. VIVA became an immediate success with the audience, while ultimately providing German artists with a music channel that could help expose their music to the German audience. After many years of successful competition for audience share, MTV Networks Europe eventually acquired VIVA on 14 January 2005 after it had outran its own efforts for better ratings. MTV today operates VIVA channels across Europe, in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
The concept behind VIVA originated in 1992, when major record labels were frustrated by MTV Europe's decision to program mostly English-language music videos to the Germanophone markets, in what was perceived as its refusal to play major German-speaking artists. Time Warner executives Tom McGrath and Peter Bogner assembled a group of record labels that included its very own Warner Music, EMI Music, Polygram Records and Sony Television along with , Apax Partners, and Austrian producers and of DoRo Productions. In a concept paper of Time Warner, Peter Bogner analyzed MTV's market position as vulnerable, and "while MTV is betting on a diet of pure Anglo-American video clips, VIVA should broadcast at least 40% more German music."
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Wikipedia