Alfa TV was a former

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

service available in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, that broadcast sports and children's programming as well as the odd film. It was owned by Alfa TV Ltd. and was launched in 1998. Alfa TV was one of only 2 pay-TV services in Cyprus, the other being

Lumiere TV Lumiere TV (LTV) was a former pay television service based in Cyprus and broadcast in more than 67 European and African countries. It broadcast movies, series, documentaries and social TV shows. It was owned by LTV Group Ltd. Availability Repea ...

with whom Alfa TV had a programming agreement. Some of the programs on Alfa TV were broadcast incorporation with well-known pay-TV channels, and specifically with those of

MultiChoice MultiChoice is a South African company that operates DStv, a major satellite television service in Sub-Saharan Africa and GOtv, a minor service operating in over 9 countries of this area and Showmax service. MultiChoice was formed out of the sub ...

(CineMagic, SuperSport and K-T.V.). It was broadcast over the air, together with Lumiere TV, on several platforms, like CytaVision, with an extra fee. Repeaters had been set up across the country that enabled more than 80% of the population to receive those services. Alfa TV was available on the Nova Cyprus platform but due to a financial dispute with the provider, the channel was removed and signed on with rival Athina Sat in July 2006. It was also available through IPTV providers CytaVision &

PrimeTel Primetel PLC is a Cypriot telecommunications company that offers and develops Voice, Data and Video services. The company owns and operates a truly regional network, spanning across Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Russia and the United Kingdom, provi ...

. As of March 3, 2008, Alfa TV returned to NOVA Cyprus following a new agreement whilst Athina Sat, had ceased operations. During the summer of 2011, the channel, was expected to be renamed to STAR Channel. The owner and former member of the parliament, Sokratis Chasikos, hired the former head manager of ANT1 Cyprus, Giorgos Tsalakos, as head manager. The contract with LTV ended in May and was not renewed.

Former Programming

Sports

Alfa TV featured sports programming from Cyprus and around the world, as some of them were broadcast in corporation with SuperSport. Sports coverage included live action from

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

, WNBA,

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

WWE Bottom Line ''WWE Bottom Line'' is an American syndicated television program which recaps the events which takes place on WWE's weekly flagship program, ''Raw''. It replaced WWE's previous syndicated highlight show, ''WWF LiveWire''. Its name is a reference ...

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

and

Champ Car World Series Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ...

. In addition, Alfa TV had extensive coverage of championship football including matches from the following leagues:

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

, German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

and Portuguese

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

. Alfa TV also covered other events such as horse racing from the Nicosia Racing Club, tennis, boxing, bowling, billiards, rodeo, golf and extreme sports. Shows regarding sports would include:Alfa TV Showcase
/ref>

Children's

Initially, Alfa TV would broadcast children's programs incorporation with

K-T.V. K-T.V. (also known as ''Kids TV'') was a children's network broadcast in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Cyprus and South Africa as a programming block on M-Net and later on FilmNet. It was owned by Multichoice. In Greece, it used ...

At a time the latter network would collapse, Kids TV, its spiritual successor, was formed. Independently managed, it would air Warner Bros. and Nickelodeon cartoons. Coincidentally,

in South Africa would also air Nickelodeon programming.

References

{{Reflist Defunct television channels in Cyprus Greek-language television stations Television channels and stations established in 1998 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2015