Channel 21 (German TV network)

Last updated
Channel 21
Country Germany
Broadcast area Germany
Headquarters Hanover, Germany
Programming
Language(s) German
Picture format 576i (16:9 SDTV)
1080i (HDTV)
Ownership
OwnerChannel21 Holding AG
Sister channels Gems TV
History
Launched1 March 2001;23 years ago (2001-03-01)
Former namesRTL Shop (2001-2008)
Links
Website www.channel21.de
Availability
Streaming media
channel21.de Watch live

Channel 21, originally launched as RTL Shop, is a German cable and satellite tv shopping channel based in Hanover. The channel was launched as part of Europe's largest media company RTL Group (itself ultimately owned by Bertelsmann) and is rebroadcast on more than 20 German-language stations. Channel 21 was launched as RTL Shop on 1 March 2001. Its main competitors are HSE24 (Home Shopping Europe) and QVC.

Contents

History

Until September 2006, RTL Shop was produced at the Coloneum in Cologne. In the summer of 2006, a new broadcast center with administration and studios was built in Hanover, which was ready for broadcasts on October 1, 2006. Cologne Broadcasting Center (CBC), an RTL Group subsidiary, was responsible for building and operating the broadcast center.

RTL Shop was part of RTL's diversification strategy, aiming to diversify its sources of revenue away from traditional advertising revenue.

On 19 February 2008 it was announced that RTL would sell RTL Shop in the first half of 2008. Since broadcasting in 2001, the station had made losses every year despite relocating from Cologne to Hanover and restructuring. [1] In the course of this, Walter Freiwald left the teleshopping channel in April 2008. [2] The channel was bought by Aurelius AG, a group of investors based in Munich. [3] The goal was to achieve profitability.

Starting in January 1, 2009, RTL Shop changed its name in two stages. Initially, it changed its name to "Channel 21 SHOP".Channel 21 became its official name on March 1, 2009.

From the second half of 2009 until September 30, 2012, the channel also broadcast a spin-off channel called Channel 21 Express.

On January 1, 2010, Michael Oplesch, the former managing director of the TV channel VIVA Germany, bought an initial tranche of shares in Channel 21 from Aurelius AG, using his investment vehicle with his Centuere AG. On February 16, 2010, the sale of remaining shares in Channel 21 to Centuere AG was announced. [4] The sale was finalized on 1 March 2010 and Michael Oplesch took over the management of the company. On May 30, 2010, it was announced that the founder of and former managing director of EM.TV, Thomas Haffa had purchased Centuere AG's interests in the channel at the end of April and transferred them to Channel 21 Holding, which has operated the channels Channel 21 and Channel 21 Express since. [5] On December 10, 2010, it became known that Channel 21 was at risk of bankruptcy. A large proportion of the employees were dismissed in December. [6]

Channel 21, as reported by media news site DWDL.de in May 2012, planned to restructure, aiming to make the company economically viable. It was decided to fire almost the entire workforce as of August 31, 2012. As of September 2012, the station had only 15 employees. The restructuring took place as a result of the critical financial year in which Channel 21 lost many of its suppliers, including Wollpfannen, a cookware manufacturer, which was one of the few major suppliers of the shopping channel and now supplies QVC, a competitor.

Channel 21 still sells goods under the "Maxx" brand and does not sell any more broadly known brands.
[7]

Channel 21 has been broadcasting in 16:9 format since 31 October 2012. On-air design and studio were changed at the same time.

Broadcasting in HDTV started via Astra 1L on 30 January 2016. The resolution is 1440x1080.

Presenters

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">QVC</span> American television network

QVC is an American free-to-air television network and a flagship shopping channel specializing in televised home shopping, owned by Qurate Retail Group. Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel in West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States, QVC broadcasts to more than 350 million households in seven countries, including channels in the UK, Germany, Japan, and Italy, along with a joint venture in China with China National Radio called CNR Mall.

RTL Group S.A. is a Luxembourg-based international media conglomerate, with another corporate office in Cologne, Germany. The company operates 56 television channels and 36 radio stations in Germany, France and other European countries. It also offers national streaming platforms, content productions and a range of digital services. Important segments of RTL Group are RTL Deutschland, Groupe M6 and Fremantle.

RTL, formerly RTL plus and RTL Television, is a German-language free-to-air television channel owned by RTL Deutschland, headquartered in Cologne. Founded as an offshoot of the German-language radio programme Radio Luxemburg, RTL is considered a full-service broadcaster under the Medienstaatsvertrag and is the largest private television network in Germany. As of August 2010, RTL employs some 500 permanent staff, having outsourced its news and technical departments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RTL Zwei</span> German television station

RTL Zwei, formerly spelled RTL 2 and RTL II, is a German-language television channel that is operated by RTL2 Television GmbH & Co. KG. RTL2 is a private general entertainment (Vollprogramm) tv channel on the basis of the Interstate Broadcasting Agreement (Rundfunkstaatsvertrag). Variants of the channel are produced for Austria and Switzerland, with their own advertising. They can be received via cable networks in Austria and Switzerland, and more widely by digital satellite. RTL Zwei is part-owned by RTL Group in Germany.

Viva was a German free-to-air music television channel, first broadcast on December 1, 1993. The channel was intended to compete against MTV Europe and was the sole German-language music TV channel after the closure of musicbox in 1988, while MTV was only broadcast in English until the introduction of MTV Germany in 1997. It was also supposed to focus more on German music and pop culture while MTV only broadcast anglophone music by artists primarily from North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia.

Brainpool TV GmbH is a German television production company located in Cologne.

Vox is a German free-to-air television channel launched on 25 January 1993 and owned by RTL Group. The channel mainly broadcasts documentaries and US series and movies.

Television in Germany began in Berlin on 22 March 1935, broadcasting for 90 minutes three times a week. It was home to the first regular television service in the world, named Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow.

<i>Verbotene Liebe</i> German TV soap opera

Verbotene Liebe is a German television soap opera created by Reg Watson for Das Erste. The show was set primarily in the German city of Düsseldorf although, at times, the city of Cologne and the Spanish island of Mallorca figured prominently in the show's story lines. First broadcast on 2 January 1995, Verbotene Liebe was originally broadcast in 24-minute episodes, five times a week. It expanded to 45-minute episodes on 21 June 2011 and trimmed back to 40-minute episodes on 23 January 2012 to accommodate an adjusted time-slot. In 2006, Pay-TV network Passion began broadcasting episodes of the show from the beginning.

Welt is a German free-to-air television news channel owned by WeltN24 GmbH.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nickelodeon (German TV channel)</span> German childrens TV channel

Nickelodeon is a German free-to-air television channel for children, part of the international. based on the U.S. counterpart brand originally launched in 1995, and relaunched in 2005, Nickelodeon is based in Berlin. The channel is available on subscription services and as an unscrambled, free-to-air (FTA) satellite signal. On 31 March 2010, the channel re-adopted the name Nickelodeon on air and online, in addition to the new Nickelodeon logo and graphical package being rolled out internationally at the time. The "Nickelodeon" name was re-adopted once again when it rebranded on 1 August 2023, nearly 5 months after its rebrand in the U.S. Since then, the channel is also broadcast in English in addition to German on a secondary audio track. It is aimed at kids between the ages of 6 and 13.

The Deutscher Fernsehpreis is an annual German award for television programming, created in 1999, by German television channels Das Erste, ZDF, RTL and Sat.1. It was created to be an equivalent to the Emmy Awards, though it is not organized by an academy. The Fernsehpreis is the successor to both the Telestar and the Goldener Löwe (RTL) awards.

Die Familienanwältin is a German television series.

The Voice of Germany is a German reality talent show that premiered on 24 November 2011 on ProSieben and Sat.1. Based on the reality singing competition The Voice of Holland, the series was created by Dutch television producer John de Mol. It is part of an international series.

The tenth season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar was broadcast on German channel RTL from 5 January to 11 May 2013. The winner received a recording contract with Universal Music Group and €500,000. There were new features in season 10. Participants had to be between 16 and 30 years old and could audition in 30 cities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Bill and Tom Kaulitz from Tokio Hotel and Mateo from Culcha Candela became judges. Bruce Darnell and Natalie Horler both left after the completion of season 9. There was a trip to Curaçao during the recall. This is the first season in which three women reached the final four and the second season with a female final 2. After nine years, the show produced a female winner, since Elli Erl in season 2. Beatrice Egli won the show as the second female winner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RTL Deutschland</span> German media group, a subsidiary of RTL Group

RTL Deutschland is a German media company based in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It was founded in 2007 as a holding company for the German television, broadcasting and content production businesses of the RTL Group, which is majority-owned by Bertelsmann.

The twelfth season of the German-version of the reality show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! began on 19 January 2018 and is scheduled to be broadcast until 3 February 2018 on RTL Television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harald Glööckler</span> German fashion designer

Harald Glööckler, real name Harald Glöckler, is a German fashion designer and entrepreneur, who became famous mainly for his rhinestone-studded and glittering creations. His trademark is a crown motif, which is often supplemented by a "POMPÖÖS" lettering.

I Can See Your Voice is a German television mystery music game show series based on the South Korean programme of the same name. It premiered on RTL as a two-night episode on 18 and 19 August 2020, and has been aired for three seasons.

The second season of the German television mystery music game show I Can See Your Voice premiered on RTL on 30 March 2021.

References

  1. ↑ TVmatrix.net: RTL will Teleshoppingkanal RTL Shop verkaufen
  2. ↑ Quotenmeter.de: Herber Verlust: RTL Shop bald ohne Walter Freiwald
  3. ↑ Jennifer Lachman: "Nummer 3 in Deutschland. Finanzinvestor schnappt sich RTL Shop". Archived from the original on June 12, 2009. Retrieved August 20, 2017. In: ftd.de, 29 July 2008.
  4. ↑ Jochen Voß: Ex-Viva-Boss übernimmt Channel 21 vollständig. DWDL.de, 16 February 2010. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Alexander Kre: Leises Comeback: Haffa übernimmt Channel 21. DWDL.de, 30 May 2010. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  6. ↑ Shoppingsender "Channel21" droht Insolvenz – Zahlreiche Mitarbeiter freigestellt. Archived 2017-08-20 at the Wayback Machine shortnews.de, 12 December 2010. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  7. ↑ Sidney Schering (2012-05-31). "Shoppingsender Channel 21 entlässt Mitarbeiter". Quotenmeter.de (in German). Retrieved 2012-06-27.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.