VH-1 Germany
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VH-1 Deutschland (VH-1 Germany) was a localized German version of the
Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...
channel VH1 that was on air from 1995 to 2001. The program was operated by ''Me, Myself & Eye Entertainment GmbH'', the former editorial office of
Tele 5 Tele 5 is a German free-to-air television channel that broadcasts classic American films, series, cartoons and Japanese anime. On 3 July 2020, Discovery, Inc. agreed to acquire the channel from Leonine Holding, completing the purchase on 1 Se ...
's predecessor musicbox, in cooperation with
MTV Networks Europe Paramount Networks Europe, Middle East, Africa & Asia (EMEAA) is a division of Paramount International Networks which is fully owned by Paramount Global. The unit's headquarters are in Berlin, with additional offices in Madrid, Lisbon, Paris, Am ...
. In contrast to the other language versions, ''VH-1 Deutschland'' had to use the January 1985 – 1987 American logo rather than the then-current logo of the American incarnation and consequently a different spelling, as the ARD saw too many parallels to its own logo in the original logo.


History

''VH-1 Deutschland'' started at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, 10 March 1995 for twelve hours a day. VH-1 used the programme-free time of the British Nickelodeon derivative on the Astra satellite system. In fact, VH-1 initially only broadcast a four-hour programme, which was repeated twice during the night. With the launch of the new
Eutelsat Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it is the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues. Eutelsat's satellit ...
Hot Bird 1 Hot Bird (also styled HOTBIRD) is a group of satellites operated by Eutelsat, located at 13 °E over the equator ( orbital position) and with a transmitting footprint over Asia, Europe, North Africa, Americas and the Middle East. Only digital ...
satellite at 13 degrees East in April of the same year, the programme was extended to 24 hours and converted into a full programme. The host of the first hour was ''Daniel Kovac''. The first clip played was ''Musique Non Stop'' by
Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...
. As part of the encryption of
MTV Europe MTV Global (formerly as MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV, a 24-hour music and entertainment TV channel that began broadcasting on August 1, 1987, as part of the worldwide MTV network. Initially, MTV serve ...
on 1 July 1995, VH-1 also encrypted its signal on the Eutelsat satellite from that day. The remaining 12-hour programme window on ASTRA was switched off on the same day. From that day on, VH-1 could only be seen unencrypted in the cable network for a longer period of time. The focus was on pop and rock video clips from the 1960s to the 1990s for an audience of 25 to 49 years old. In the initial phase, the programme included imported VH-1 formats such as ''
Storytellers Storyteller, story teller, or story-teller may refer to: * A person who does storytelling Arts and entertainment Film *''Oidhche Sheanchais'', also called ''The Storyteller''; 1935 Irish short film * ''Narradores de Javé'' (''Storytellers''), ...
'', ''
Pop-Up Video ''Pop Up Video'' is a VH1 television show that shows music videos annotated via "pop-up" bubbles — officially called "info nuggets" — containing trivia and witticisms relating to the video in question. The show was created by Woody T ...
'' and ''
Behind the Music ''Behind the Music'' is a documentary television series on VH1. Each episode profiles and interviews a popular musical artist or group. The program examines the beginning of their career, their road to success, and the hardships they may have ...
'', concerts and recordings from the archive and broadcasts of live events such as the ''VH-1 Big In Award'', as well as numerous self-produced formats with a relatively high standard of music journalism, such as the ''Musikalische Quintett''. The host was Alan Bangs, further critics were
Götz Alsmann Götz Alsmann (born 12 July 1957) is a German musician, singer and former television presenter. Biography Born in Münster, Alsmann studied German studies, music and communication studies at the University of Münster from 1977 to 1985. Fro ...
and Heinz-Rudolf Kunze. The VH-1DERLAND website (www.vh1.de) went online in 1995 when the programme was launched. It was the first website of a German television station. Curiously, the website went online a few days before the station. In 1996, as a reaction to the start-up losses of around 60 million
Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...
, a conversion to a younger programme called ''MTV2'' was openly considered for the first time. The then competitor
VIVA Viva may refer to: Companies and organisations * Viva (network operator), a Dominican mobile network operator * Viva Air, a Spanish airline taken over by flag carrier Iberia * Viva Air Dominicana * VIVA Bahrain, a telecommunication company * ...
created with
VIVA II Viva Zwei was a German music channel aired and distributed throughout Europe. The channel was launched on 21 March 1995 under the name "Viva II" as a second channel to the main channel VIVA in Germany and lasted until 7 January 2002, when it got ...
eleven days after VH-1 first an equal program. Meanwhile, VH-1's management suggested that a merger with VIVA II would make financial sense. Instead, VIVA rejected the unsuccessful concept in favour of a more progressive format, now
VIVA Zwei Viva Zwei was a German music channel aired and distributed throughout Europe. The channel was launched on 21 March 1995 under the name "Viva II" as a second channel to the main channel VIVA in Germany and lasted until 7 January 2002, when it got ...
. A budget cut in October 1997 meant that almost all moderated formats had to be cancelled; a large part of the workforce was "exempted". Since then, the programme has been dominated by pure video clip lines and US formats. Alan Bangs and Susanne Reimann, both then VJs of the ''360 Grad'' programme, resisted the reformatting. Ronny's Pop Show made a comeback on VH-1 in the same year. In 1998 the
teletext A British Ceefax football index page from October 2009, showing the three-digit page numbers for a variety of football news stories Teletext, or broadcast teletext, is a standard for displaying text and rudimentary graphics on suitably equipp ...
, called ''VH-1 Text'', was introduced. On 7 August 2000,
Bauer Media Group Heinrich Bauer Publishing (german: Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG), trading as Bauer Media Group, is a German multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Hamburg. It operates worldwide and owns more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 ra ...
announced its entry. It was to take over 50% of the shares in VH-1 and the design of the programme from 08:00 to 20:00 hours. A separate channel was to be dedicated to the Bravo TV programme for this purpose. However, these plans were abandoned on 11 December of the same year. On 1 May 2001, VH-1 was converted into the much younger mainstream
MTV2 Pop MTV2 Pop was a German music channel. It launched on 1 May 2001, taking over the transponder left by the analogue service of MTV UK and Ireland when it closed down. It replaced VH-1 Germany. The channel mainly focused on Europop and eurodance mus ...
channel as the "debut project" of the then new MTV managing director Catherine Mühlemann. The last video on 30 April 2001 was ''Money for Nothing'' by the
Dire Straits Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums and percuss ...
. MTV2 Pop took over all cable frequencies from VH-1 at midnight with ''One More Time'' by
Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Widely regarded as one of the most influential acts in dance music history, they achieved popularity in the late 1990s as p ...
. ''Me, Myself & Eye Entertainment GmbH'' also took over editorial tasks in the early days of MTV2 Pop. In contrast to its predecessor, however, the programme was played out by the MTV servers in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.


Distribution

The program was usually received unencrypted only in the cable networks. Analogue, the channel was broadcast only temporarily, and only hourly, via
Astra 19.2°E Astra 19.2°E is the name for the group of Astra communications satellites co-located at the 19.2°East orbital position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg. Astra 19.2°E used to be commonly k ...
. For this purpose, the program-free time from 20:00 to 00:00 o'clock of the sister program
Nickelodeon Deutschland Nick is a German free-to-air television channel for children, part of the international Nickelodeon brand. Originally launched in 1995, and relaunched in 2005, Nickelodeon is based in Berlin. The channel is available on subscription services and ...
was used. VH-1 initially remained on the satellite site, although the previous "main tenant" Nickelodeon ceased broadcasting on 31 May 1998 at 20:00 hours. However, VH-1 kept its limited transmission times, although Nickelodeon would have been replaced only by an ASTRA permanent loop and an extension of the transmission operation would have been theoretically possible.
MTV Central MTV Germany is a German language free-to-air television channel operated by Paramount Global. The channel launched on 7 March 1997 as MTV Central, as part of a regionalisation strategy by Paramount Global, then MTV Networks Europe. Availabi ...
completely took over the frequency on 1 January 1999. From then on, VH-1 was no longer broadcast via satellite until it was completely shut down. For satellite viewers, it was temporarily only possible to receive the programme in the then new digital standard. Digitally VH-1 was only offered in encrypted form via the DF1 platform. After the merger of DF1 and
Premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...
to form Premiere World, both VH-1 and MTV Central were no longer represented in the programme portfolio. The reason for this limited reception situation via satellite was an exclusive contract with the then cable network operator
Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...
, which wanted to create a customer incentive with an unencrypted transmission of VH-1. Despite everything, VH-1 could also only be received on an hourly basis in many cable networks. A similar agreement between the parent company Viacom Inc. and the DF1 operator, the
Kirch Group KirchGruppe (KirchGroup) was a German media group founded by Leo Kirch (1926–2011) in the 1960s. By 2000, it controlled a 52.5 percent stake in what would become the country's biggest broadcaster. The group collapsed in 2002 largely due to the ...
, for all Viacom programs was rejected by Viacom.
Viacom will sich nicht exclusiv an Kirch-Gruppe binden
'. In: ''SatelliFax''. Montag, 15. April 1996


References

{{Television in Germany Defunct German television channels Television channels and stations established in 1995 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2001 1995 establishments in Germany 2001 disestablishments in Germany VH1 Music organisations based in Germany