Kanal 3 (Channel 3, bg, Канал 3) was a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

television channel A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...

, initially started exclusively on the operator Sofia Kabel (Sofia Cable) in 1993. Until 1998 the television was called Sofia Kabel. Between 1998 and 2014, journalists such as Sasho Dikov, Lili Marinkova, Yulian Vuchkov, Margarita Mihneva and others had been working in the channel. Famous shows from that period were "1:1", "Yellowness", "The Inconvenient", "Out of Paradise" and "The Power of Fashion". In late 2013, the channel received a major rebrand for the first time since its creation and began broadcasting news bulletins every hour. Between 2014 and 2016, Kanal 3 broadcast the Bulgarian Second Professional Football League, as well as the finals of the

Cup of Bulgarian Amateur Football League The Cup of the Bulgarian Amateur Football League (Bulgarian: Купа на Аматьорската Футболна Лига) is a Bulgarian annual football competition established by the BFU in 1994. Structure All officially registered amateur ...

. The channel also enriched its programming with new TV programs, including "Every Afternoon with Chrissy", "The Day Live" with Maya Kostadinova, "Offensive" with Lubo Ognyanov and "Benovska Asks". In December 2014, Kanal 3 temporarily ceased broadcasting due to a fire at the studios of the channel. Since February 2015, Kanal 3 has broadcast in 16:9 and since September 2017, in HD. The channel started terrestrial broadcasting in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

in December 2016. In February 2020, Kanal 3 became part of BSS media group, related to the politician

Delyan Peevski Delyan Slavchev Peevski ( bg, Делян Славчев Пеевски ) (born 27 July 1980) is a Bulgarian politician, oligarch, entrepreneur and media mogul. He served as MP from the parliamentary group of the DPS in the 41st, 42nd, 43rd an ...

. In 2015, Peevski attempted to buy the channel but due to a public outrage the deal wasn't finalized, even though it was approved by the Commission on Protection of Competition. On September 1, 2020, Nova Broadcasting Group submitted documents to the Commission on Protection of Competition for the acquisition of Kanal 3, along with the other media part of BSS media group. The deal was approved on September 18. On December 3, 2020, Nova Broadcasting Group announced that starting on January 4, 2021, the channel will be called Nova News. The new channel will be news sequel of Nova Television and will broadcast news bulletins every hour, with also retaining most of the TV programs from Kanal 3, including "Patarinski LIVE", "The Day Live" and "Offensive". On December 14, 2020, Kanal 3 ceased broadcasting news and until its closure, started airing reruns of its regular programs. On the same day, the channel's website was closed and started redirecting to Nova Television's website.

References

{{Bulgarian television Television networks in Bulgaria Bulgarian-language television stations Television channels and stations established in 1993