Tempo TV (originally New Channel) was a Greek private television station of nationwide scope, based in
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 ...
. New Channel was the fourth television station in a row to operate in Greece after the launch of
Mega Channel
MEGA Channel, also known as MEGA TV or just MEGA, is a television network in Greece, that broadcasts a mix of foreign and Greek programming.
It is the first and the oldest private television network in Greece.
History Mega Channel (1989–2018) ...
,
ANT1
Antenna, better known as ANT1, is a television network airing in Greece. The alternate spelling is wordplay in Greek; ''ena'' (ένα) is the Greek number ''1'' (one), thus ''ANT1'' is pronounced the same as ''Antenna'' (Αντέννα). It laun ...
and Channel 29.
It got its first name from its namesake owner company. During the Mitsotakis government in the two years 1993-1994, it obtained a temporary television license, valid for seven years (1993-2000), without financial compensation, like all other national television stations.
History
Preparation and first broadcast
A few days before the first broadcasts, the channel is advertised in magazines and newspapers. The station started broadcasting on February 17, 1990 from
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
as New Channel with its founders
Sotiris Kouvelas
Sotiris Kouvelas ( el, Σωτήρης Κούβελας; born May 26, 1936, Amaliada) is a Greek politician. He is a former minister and a former mayor of Thessaloniki
The Mayor of Thessaloniki is the head of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, t ...
(who was
mayor of Thessaloniki
The Mayor of Thessaloniki is the head of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, the most populated municipality in the Thessaloniki Urban Area and centre of the urban area, which makes up the "City of Thessaloniki".
The current mayor of the city is K ...
in the period 1986-1989 where he founded the
municipal radio and television) and the businessman and then general secretary of the
Fotis Manousis.
New Channel was originally the Athenian version of the municipal local initially channel as they had collaborated with each other for a long time, exchanging programs and news bulletins (mainly the short ones) while in the evening the television station was networked with the Municipal Radio of Thessaloniki, FM 100.
The first programs
Then, from a relatively low-key start, New Channel made an effort to gain a larger share of viewership from 1992 onwards, buying and re-launching popular foreign series such as
Dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...
, showing Greek series of its own production such as "The Price (To timima)", "Show and harmless (Show kai avlaves)" and "Our police department (To astinomiko mas tmima)", which were not very successful, and stopped after a number of episodes.
In the period 1993-1996, the station starts broadcasting Greek
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
games, specifically from the
Greek cup
The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation.
The Greek Cup is the second most im ...
. At the same time the channel broadcast the first show of
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 ...
entitled Yellow Press (Kitrinos Typos) and the first lifestyle show with artistic news and news about the soubise faces entitled Myths and Reality (Mythoi kai Pragmatikotita) presented by Dimitris Papanotas, who was also the presenter of the station's first news bulletins.
Also, other similar shows were presented by the director Costas Kapetanidis, while
Annita Pania with the Golden Sugarplum (Hrisso Koufeto) from
Makedonia TV
Makedonia TV (Greek language, Greek: Μακεδονία TV) is a Greece, Greek private national free-to-air television channel broadcasting from Marousi, Athens and earlier from Thessaloniki, the capital of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia in Greece. ...
also passed, while at the same time she showed some series of
ANT1
Antenna, better known as ANT1, is a television network airing in Greece. The alternate spelling is wordplay in Greek; ''ena'' (ένα) is the Greek number ''1'' (one), thus ''ANT1'' is pronounced the same as ''Antenna'' (Αντέννα). It laun ...
in repetition and music videos from the Greek and foreign repertoire. Many well-known names such as Dimitris Konstantaras and Menya Papadopoulou passed through the main bulletin, while the channel did not hesitate to shake the waters of free television with the show "Erotodikio", presented by Vicky Michalonakou together with Petros Leotsakos, Pepi Tsesmeli, Eleni Louka and guests from the "luben" space.
Other well-known shows of the TV station were the trash shows Logodosmenoi and Autophoro with Pepi Tsesmeli, which became identical to the station.
The acquisition and the new era
In December 1999 New Channel tried to become competitive with the other five major private television channels (
MEGA
Mega or MEGA may refer to:
Science
* mega-, a metric prefix denoting 106
* Mega (number), a certain very large integer in Steinhaus–Moser notation
* "mega-" a prefix meaning "large" that is used in taxonomy
* Gravity assist, for ''Moon-Eart ...
,
ANT1
Antenna, better known as ANT1, is a television network airing in Greece. The alternate spelling is wordplay in Greek; ''ena'' (ένα) is the Greek number ''1'' (one), thus ''ANT1'' is pronounced the same as ''Antenna'' (Αντέννα). It laun ...
,
STAR
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...
, the then newly formed
ALPHA
Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , whic ...
and
Alter 5) and
ERT changed ownership as it was sold to Stabilton S.A. of Michalis Androulidakis, who published the newspapers Exousia and Ependytis respectively, with the purchase agreement to be signed on November 24 of the same year and which Stabilton acquired the Macedonian Spinning Mills.
In March 2000 the station was renamed New Tempo and on October 23 of this year it ended up on Tempo TV. However, the rise of the station's spectacle was not as expected, as he never had much advertising time from the rest of the nationwide television stations, always expecting more commercials, something that led him very quickly to the huge financial problems.
The newly formed Tempo had a strong start in its premiere, as it had a varied program through which the channel was radically upgraded, which was the first in Greece to launch the animated image in its weather report. At the dawn of the new millennium, the then Prime Minister
Costas Simitis
Konstantinos G. Simitis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Γ. Σημίτης; born 23 June 1936), usually referred to as Costas Simitis or Kostas Simitis (Κώστας Σημίτης), is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece a ...
also attended the inauguration and presentation of the program of the newly established channel that took place at the
Hilton Athens
The Hilton Athens was a hotel in Athens, Greece. Opened in 1963, it closed for renovations in January 2022 and will reopen in 2024. It is on Vassilissis Sofias Avenue, within the Hilton Area, adjacent to the Kolonaki and Pangrati neighbourhoods ...
. The channel was set up for a very short time by Nikos Evangelatos, who took over the general management and the news department, where he set up a multi-member journalistic team, some of them from ERT, in which his wife
Tatiana Stefanidou
Tatiana Stefanidou ( el, Τατιάνα Στεφανίδου; born April 18, 1970 in Athens) is a Greek television host and journalist on Greek television.
Personal life
In 1995, Stefanidou married entrepreneur Panagiotis Stavropoulos. They sepa ...
also participated.
The plan for the then television data, turned out to be short-lived, because the limits were exceeded, reaching the capacity of employing more than 700 employees, at a time when the two former rival private channels MEGA and ANT1 did not have more than 400 employees, while Evangelatos left the channel in November 2001 due to the channel's financial problems and with
Liana Kanelli
A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a ta ...
taking over the presentation of the main news bulletin from December 3rd. Earlier on February 15, the publication of the newspaper "Exousia" stopped.
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
's
Turner Broadcasting System
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and media conglomerate. Founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (lat ...
then sued Tempo for illegally rebroadcasting news on the network without a contract regarding the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
.
The consequences and the end of an era
In 2002, the unprecedented TV data dispute between the unpaid TEMPO employees from the beginning of that year and the ownership of his company started as a result of a crisis at the station, which dates back to the announcement of the first ones from late 2000 with late payment of accruals and in March 2002 the station's management decided to discontinue the news bulletins, a move that was denounced by 66 of its journalists, the
Journalists' Union of the Athens Daily Newspapers
The Journalists' Union of the Athens Daily Newspapers ( el, Ένωσις Συντακτών Ημερησίων Εφημερίδων Αθηνών, translit=Énosis Syntaktón Imerisíon Efimerídon Athinón, Ε.Σ.Η.Ε.Α.) is a Greek trade union f ...
and the then presenter of the main news bulletin,
Liana Kanelli
A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a ta ...
.
The then MP of
Synaspismos
The Coalition of the Left, of Movements and Ecology ( el, Συνασπισμός της Αριστεράς των Κινημάτων και της Οικολογίας, ''Synaspismós tīs Aristerás tōn Kinīmátōn kai tīs Oikologías''), com ...
Panagiotis Lafazanis
Panagiotis Lafazanis ( el, Παναγιώτης Λαφαζάνης, ; born 19 November 1951) is a Greek politician. He served as the leader of a new Greek left-wing political party, Popular Unity, from 21 August 2015 until his resignation on 2 J ...
also spoke, in a relevant question he raised on the issue in Parliament for "radical and harmful change in the terms of employment contracts of dozens of journalists of political and news reporting, who are essentially fired by extortion."
The workers went on strike, filing for precautionary measures. On July 9, and later on September 9 of the same year, they took control of the flow and the building of the canal, airing cards with their demands. Following their lawsuits, the prosecutor prosecuted Androulidakis, who was arrested, and later released on September 2.
On the 13th of the same month, Androulidakis sued 33 employees of the station for, among other things, a "threat to his physical integrity" and "damage to his property", as a result of which the Units for the Reinstatement of Order invaded the premises to be arrested.
In an attempt to prevent the work from being postponed and the flow of the program to be occupied, Androulidakis shut down the transmitters in
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 ...
(22 UHF from
Hymettus
Hymettus (), also Hymettos (; el, Υμηττός, translit=Ymittós, pronounced ), is a mountain range in the Athens area of Attica, East Central Greece. It is also colloquially known as ''Trellós'' (crazy) or ''Trellóvouno'' (crazy mountain) ...
and 59 UHF from
Parnitha
Mount Parnitha ( ell, Πάρνηθα, , Katharevousa and grc, Πάρνης ''Parnis''/''Parnes''; sometimes Parnetha) is a densely forested mountain range north of Athens, the highest on the peninsula of Attica, with an elevation of 1,413 m, and ...
) and
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
(35 UHF from
Mount Chortiatis
Mount Chortiatis or Hortiatis ( el, Όρος Χορτιάτη, Χορτιάτης), known in Antiquity as Cissus ( grc, Κισσός) or Kissos, is a mountain in Central Macedonia, Greece. It rises southeast of Thessaloniki, peaking at 1,201 metre ...
), cutting off the flow from the main facilities to air different from an unknown point by illegally and automatically turning the station from informative to entertaining by playing music video clips and sometimes high charge lines (090) and sexually explicit movies.
Due to these events, the
ESR, having previously given September 18th a month to solve the economic problems,
decided on October 22nd that the channel should be closed, a decision that is annulled by the
Council of State
A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...
, while earlier the businessman tried to join the "New Channel Broadcasting Co. S.A." where the latter held 25% of its shares in a "special liquidation" status, stating that the company had debts amounting to 43,264,212.77 euros, as was the case with the smaller companies of the Androulidakis Group.
On April 8, 2003, the ESR decided again to shut down the channel, rejecting Androulidakis' proposal for a further deadline, as since the beginning of the year the station has been broadcasting sexually explicit messages and star-studded advertisements, forecasts and preventions and superstitions of the people, while both these messages and these advertisements cause a risk of moral damage to minors and people, something that is prohibited by the Constitution of Greece.
After six months (Friday, October 10, 2003),
EETT permanently ceased its most illegal operation by confiscating its equipment, completely losing its national license, since 1993, without ever overcoming its serious financial problems. Then he starts broadcasting in his place a pirate channel called Neo, broadcasting similar content, through the VCA studios, interests of Elias Kopanitsas. His emission was denounced by Androulidakis, and stopped permanently on the 17th of the month, while the VCA later applied for a regional license.
That month saw the dismissal of the latest CEOs of both Tempo and the fledgling
Alter Channel
Alter Channel, better known as Alter, was a private TV channel in Greece. 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 entertainmen ...
, while earlier its ratings were very low (up to 3% with the largest reaching 7%), and Stabilton's stake in the channel had begun to fall.
Availability
The channel had a wide network of frequencies and covered several areas of Greece. When it finally closed due to financial problems in 2003 on its frequencies, the pirate channel "Neo" came out for a very short time, which broadcast only high-charge lines (090) and when it closed, the then proportional frequencies of Tempo, were liberated and occupied over the years in all parts of the country, mainly by various other pirate stations, but also by legal local and regional stations, some of national scope (mainly Seven - today's
Skai TV
Skai TV (Greek: ΣΚΑΪ) is a Greek free-to-air television network based in Piraeus. 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 metropolita ...
, which at that time did not have national frequencies) including the
public channels, but also from a pirate network of TV Chat programs of the company Telecom in the northern part of the country.
Tempo TV also broadcast in the first years, until the end of its operation and subscribed through NOVA, which also fed dozens of analogue transponders nationwide. The debt TV channel has been mortgaged to the systematic banks for many years, and it remains unknown what happened to the station as a whole (film library, copyright, equipment, etc.), while it will probably have been destroyed, because it has been down for 20 years, as at the time the channel was broadcasting, the internet was not widespread, and many of its programs (if saved) were written in videotapes.
References
{{Television in Greece
Greek-language television stations
Television channels and stations established in 1990
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2003
1990 establishments in Greece
2003 disestablishments in Greece
Defunct television channels in Greece