Alter Channel, better known as Alter, was a private TV channel in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. It launched in 1990 and was owned by Eleftheri Tileorasi S.A. and was headed by Andreas Kouris. Programming mainly consisted of news, current affairs shows and entertainment programs. Alter featured news anchor

Nikos Hadjinikolaou Nikos Chatzinikolaou ( el, Νίκος Χατζηνικολάου) also spelled as Hatzinikolaou, Hatzinicolaou or Chatzinikolaou (born 1962 in Alexandroupoli) is a Greek journalist and media entrepreneur. Biography Hadjinikolaou studied at Pan ...

, morning show host Giorgos Aftias, and investigative reporter

Makis Triantafyllopoulos Efthimios "Makis" Triantafillopoulos ( el, Μάκης Τριανταφυλλόπουλος; born 14 August 1954) is a Greek journalist and publisher. He was, along with Themos Anastasiadis, the publisher of Proto Thema newspaper and host of two ...

. Alter also aired the award-winning program '' Light In The Tunnel'', which tracked down missing individuals. It also featured a lineup of children's programming that aired daily. In early December 2011, Alter stopped broadcasting due to financial difficulties.

History

*1994 (March) – The station was launched as Channel 5. *In a transitional period when it was co-owned by Altec and Kouris Media Group it was named ''Alter 5''. *2000 – On the 29th October of this year it rebranded its name as Alter Channel. *2002 (September) – Alter moves the news programming from 6 PM Balkan-Nile ( UTC+02:00) to an hour and twenty minutes later to compete with other channels such as ANT1 news. *2005 – On April 20, Alter overhauled its lineup and organised its schedule into blocks: morning, noon, afternoon and night. The morning block featured news and current affairs, as well as programming for children. The noon programming block had current affairs and entertainment shows. During the evening Alter broadcast serials and the main nightly newscast. At night, programming consisted mainly of entertainment and talk shows. *2005 – Alter launches Alter Globe, serving

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

(Aug. 24) on

Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. A ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

(December) on UBI World TV. *2007 – Alter Globe was removed from the

platform in the US on August 31, 2007, and debuted on the rival platform

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It ...

on September 26, 2007. *2008 – Alter Globe launches in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

via UBI World TV. *2010 – Alter Globe is added to

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...

in the US then removed a short while later due to insufficient growth. *2011 (November) – Alter headquarters was occupied by its workers, who were striking in response to not having been paid in over a year. *2011 (December) – The channel stopped broadcasting. *2012 (April) – Plans to reopen the channel began, with finance believed to be by Israeli, French and Turkish investors.

Alter Channel workers' occupation (30 November 2011 – 10 February 2012)

On November 11, 2011, unpaid Alter employees occupied the station, broadcasting their demands over the transmission. Alter employees produced and transmitted their own program from January 1 until February 10, 2012, at which point all transmissions ceased. The programme featured interviews with unemployed Greeks, unpaid workers, striking workers of the Greek steel industry, unpaid employees of newspaper

Eleftherotypia ''Eleftherotypia'' ( el, Ελευθεροτυπία, lit=freedom of the press) was a daily national newspaper published in Athens, Greece. Published since 21 July 1975, it was the first newspaper to appear after the fall of the Regime of the C ...

, economist Dimitris Kazakis (who referred to the imposition of new measures by the government Papademos), the chairman of power company union GENOP, Nikos Fotopoulos, and former broadcast journalist John Kanelakis. Presenters of the show were George Filippakis and Akrivi Kirikos. Also broadcast at this time were the documentaries

Debtocracy ''Debtocracy'' ( el, Χρεοκρατία ''Chreokratía'') is a 2011 left-wing documentary film by Katerina Kitidi and Aris Chatzistefanou. The documentary examines the causes of the Greek debt crisis in 2010 and advocates for the default of ...

, and W4 Crisis (Women of the crisis), which referred to the economic crisis and the Greek debt. The solidarity concert at the indoor basketball court of Peristeri was also broadcast on Monday, January 30, 2012. In April 2012, the major shareholder of ALTER George Kouris started negotiations with Israeli investors, who wanted to financially support the channel.

Logo

The original logo used by Alter Channel, which lasted for just one year, featured a swirl type symbol in red at the top and the words 'Alter Channel' below in blue. The channel simply used the word 'Alter' as its logo.

Programming

Alter shows include: *''Alter Εidiseis'' (Alter News) – Daily national and international newscast. Hosted by Nikos Xatzinikolaou. *''Atheatos Kosmos'' (Out-of-sight world) – Current affairs program, discusses social and political issues. Hosted by Kostas Chardavellas. *''Edo Kai Tora (Here and Now)'' – Current affairs program. Features live reports and analysis of issues such as economic matters and health concerns. Hosted by Μaria Smilidou and Dimitri Fresko. *''Fos Sto Tunnel'' (Light in the tunnel) – Informative series that focuses on finding

missing persons A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, de ...

. It has won numerous awards. Hosted by Ageliki Nikolouli. *''Kalimera'' (Good Morning) - Morning show, features a discussion with in-studio guests and news from Greece and abroad. Hosted by Giorgos Aftias (previously at Alpha TV). *''Lifestyle'', a one-hour show with star interviews, entertainment news, and gossip about Greek show business. *''Poly Bla Bla'' (Much talking) – A show targeted at youth with topics including celebrity gossip, fashion tips, games and contests, strange news stories from around the world and helpful advice for viewers. Hosted by Stamatina Tsimtsili, with Alexandra Tsolka, Nikos Partsolis, Olga Lafazani, Vasilis Tsatsanis and Stefanos Kostantinidis. *''Prosopo Me Prosopo'' (Face to face) - Talk show with focus on current affairs including political, social and economic issues; hosted by Nikos Xatzinikolaou. *''Ta Paratragouda'' (Incidents) – Entertainment series that features various guests who wish to air their problems (whether real or fake). Hosted by Annita Pania. *''Simera me ton Aki Paulopoulo'' (Today With Akis Paulopoulos) - Discusses daily news and analyses current events in Greece. *''TV Weekend'' – Entertainment series that features celebrity gossip and entertainment news. Hosted by Eleni Fotopoulou. *''

Zougla ''Zougla'' is a Greek television talk show presented by the journalist Makis Triantafyllopoulos. Subjects include news, revelations, and political scandals. It aired on Alpha TV, then on Star Channel, then Alter Channel, then Alpha TV again, and ...

'' and ''Kitrinos Typos'' (Yellow Press) – Current affairs. Hosted by Makis Triantafilopoulos. *Kids programs - In the morning, Alter was airing kid shows including Gormiti, Kid Songs, Winx Club (Season 1–4), Thomas The Tank Engine, Barney The Dinosaur, Bob The Builder, Bakugan, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Totally Spies, Rupert, Miffy, The Triplets, Legend of the Dragon, Franklin, Trotro, Noddy, Transformers, Strawberry Shortcake (Season 1–4), Toddworld, Tayo The Little Bus, Fireman Sam, and The Koala Brothers.

Alter Globe

Alter Globe is the international network of Alter Channel that broadcasts Alter to audiences in North America and Australia. The channel launched in August 2005 in the USA on

and in December 2005 in Australia on UBI World TV. In September 2007 it switched platforms in the US from

. On April 1, 2011, was removed from the

platform along with all other Greek satellite television channels that were carried by the service. On October 1, 2011, Alter Globe re-launched in the US on the Home2US platform.

References