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Skai TV (
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: ΣΚΑΪ) is a Greek free-to-air
television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid- ...
based in
Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saron ...
. It is part of the Skai Group, one of the largest media groups in the country. It was relaunched in its present form on 1 April 2006 in the
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
metropolitan area, and gradually spread its coverage nationwide. Besides digital
terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...
transmission, it is available on the subscription-based
encrypted In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can deci ...
services of Nova and
Cosmote TV Cosmote TV is the corporate name for two pay television services in Greece, owned by Greek telecommunication operator OTE. The two services are as follows: *Cosmote TV via OTT – Streaming platform *Cosmote TV via Satellite – Satellite tele ...
. Skai TV is also a member of Digea, a consortium of private television networks introducing
digital terrestrial Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...
transmission in Greece. At launch, Skai TV opted for dubbing all foreign language content into Greek, instead of using subtitles. This is very uncommon in Greece for anything except documentaries (using voiceover dubbing) and children's programs (using lip-synced dubbing), so after intense criticism, the station switched to using subtitles for almost all foreign shows.


History

Skai TV was first launched on 21 September 1993 with an emphasis on news and sports. However, on 26 September 1999, it was sold and the new owners gradually rebranded it as
Alpha TV Alpha TV is a Greek free-to-air channel, being one of the biggest stations in Greece. The station features a mix of Greek and foreign shows with an emphasis on information. The studios are located in Kifissia and Pallini. Alpha TV is owned by Alph ...
. The new station had an entirely different programming perspective and opted for a more mainstream profile, soon managing to become one of the top three TV stations 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 ...
. On 1 April 2006, the company that originally launched Skai TV bought Seven TV, a holder of a Greek National broadcasting license that failed to expand its coverage all over the country or attract a wide audience. The station was renamed to 'Skai TV' allowing the brand to re-emerge on the Greek television scene after 7 years, but this time the owners decided to forgo their previous approach and opted for foreign shows and news coverage. On 6 September 2007, Skai TV was added to the lineup of NOVA Greece digital platform. On 2 March 2016, Skai TV launched its own high-definition feed. On 2 September, the network won one of four national television licenses auctioned in Greece after Iannis Alafouzos paid €43.6 million in a highly unusual competitive bidding process.


Criticism

Original Skai TV was heavily criticized for its "
yellow press Yellow journalism and yellow press are American terms for journalism and associated newspapers that present little or no legitimate, well-researched news while instead using eye-catching headlines for increased sales. Techniques may include ...
" news coverage and low-budget programming. In an incident still remembered by Greek viewers and later investigated by a
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
documentary, the station was unanimously slated for its involvement (and live coverage) of a hostage situation that ended with the death of the victim. Skai TV has been criticized by Greek socialists for allegedly promoting
right-wing politics Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, author ...
,
liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
and pro-EU politics in its news reporting and political commentary, and for being essentially the mouthpiece of
big business Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly ...
in Greece. It has also been criticized by some Greek conservative commentators for its political documentaries. Also, statements by various journalists of the channel such as
Aris Portosalte Aris Portosalte is a journalist of the Greek radio station Skai 100.3 and the TV channel Skai TV. He has been a journalist since 1984. In 1989, he started working as a newspaper reporter. Then he continued as a radio producer for Skai 100.3. Since ...
have evoked criticism, while it has been also criticised for portraying the Mitsotakis cabinet with a very positive point of view.


Technology

Skai TV has made an appearance in international airwaves, being the first non-subscription TV station worldwide to use solely digital technology thus being completely tapeless. It uses the SONAPS network broadcast system made by
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...
and installed by British company VSC Design. Skai also uses Harmonic Spectrum servers for Playout together with IBIS automation. Skai TV is also the first station 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 ...
to broadcast its full programme in 16:9 format.


Programming

Skai TV has a focus on entertainment and information. Programming includes comedies, dramas, current affairs shows, documentaries, and sports. Foreign programs originally made up the bulk of Skai TV's schedule but in recent years it has begun producing an increasing amount of original programs which now comprise a third of the schedule. It has programming alliances with popular foreign networks including National Geographic, Discovery Channel and the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and a large part of its schedule features recent and past-years documentaries. There is also a Greek dubbed
BBC World News BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and ...
news bulletin following the station's own news bulletin and a news-themed morning show. Skai TV also shows some friendly matches of Panathinaikos FC when these friendlies are not on any of the Premium Services (Either
Cosmote Sport Cosmote Sport is a pay sports service in Greece and is owned by OTE. It launched in 2009 as ''Conn-x TV Sports'' and is currently available via OTE's Pay-TV services Cosmote TV via IPTV and satellite. It consists of nine channels and feature ...
or Nova Sports).


Skai HD

The Skai broadcast in high definition from the Cosmote TV platform and online. In August 2014, it announced that it will broadcast a new TV channel in HD on digital terrestrial television. It was expected to be launched in early-2015, but it was eventually launched on 27 February 2016.


Skai International

In 2013, Skai TV expanded its service into North America, entering into programming supply agreements with local broadcasters. It launched in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
via a partnership with local Greek broadcaster New Greek TV, which is available on
Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...
in New York. On December 12, 2013, Skai launched in Canada on Bell Fibe TV via a partnership with ethnic broadcaster Ethnic Channels Group. As of 2016, Skai programming is no longer available in North America.


Logos

File:Skai TV (logo, 1993-98).png, 1993-1998 File:Skai tv logo.png, 2006-2009 File:Skai Tv logo.svg, 2009-2018 File:Λογότυπο ΣΚΑΪ 2018.png, 2018–present


See also

* Skai 100.3 * Skai Group


References


External links


Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skai TV Skai Group Television networks in Greece Television channels in Greece Greek-language television stations Television channels and stations established in 2006 2006 establishments in Greece Mass media in Athens