Star! Scandinavia was a television channel in northern Europe that is devoted to entertainment and celebrity news and programming. The channel was managed by Scandinavian television broadcaster NonStop Television, part of

Turner Broadcasting Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. was an American television and media conglomerate founded by Ted Turner in 1965. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (later WarnerMedia) on October 10, 1996. As of April 2022, all of its ass ...

. The channel was fashioned after Star! (a former Canadian entertainment channel now branded as E!, after the U.S.-based channel of the same namesake) and is licensed from

Bell Media Bell Media Inc. (Canadian French, French: ) is a Canadian media conglomerate that is the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc. (also known as Bell Canada Enterprises, the owner of telecommunications company Bell Canada). Its operations include nati ...

(previously CTVglobemedia and

CHUM Limited CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1945 as York Broadcasters Limited when it launched CHUM (AM), CHUM-AM 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in ...

). Programming is a mix of several Bell Media television channels such as E!,

FashionTelevisionChannel Fashion Television, also known as Fashion Television Channel, was a Television in Canada, Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Bell Media. It was originally established in 2001 by CHUM Limited as a brand extension of the Citytv s ...

, MuchMore and others. American

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

news program News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either video production, produced local programming ...

Showbiz Tonight from HLN is shown several times a day on the channel. Star! Scandinavia has also shown several award shows such as the Grammy Awards, the

Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual Awards ceremony, award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally ...

, the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

and the BAFTA Film Awards.

History

Star! Scandinavia was launched in September 2000, but was then named E! after its American counterpart on a license with

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

. A fashion channel called ''

Style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

'' broadcast on the same channel during the daytime. E! has licensed its name and brand identity to regional cable television networks in nearly every country worldwide. This includes an international network (set up in Europe during 2005) that is broadcast from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

across most of Europe (i.e.

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, the UK), and joint-venture channels in Israel and throughout Argentina, Brazil and the rest of Latin America. In July 2004 the Scandinavian channel changed its affiliation and was renamed ''Star!'' while E! set up their own channel in Europe. It was originally available in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, but has since extended its coverage to

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

, the

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and the Baltics. Programmes are not interrupted by commercials but placed in between programs. The channel is operated by NonStop Television, which also operates movie channels Showtime Scandinavia and

Silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

. The channel started broadcasting terrestrially in Sweden in the autumn of 2002. It was originally broadcasting for 24 hours per day, but when new licenses were granted in February 2006 the broadcasting hours of the channel were reduced and Star! would broadcast from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. On 1 May 2010 Star! started broadcasting in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

through the TopTV pay TV operator. Following a deal between Star!'s brand owner, CTVglobemedia (now

), and Comcast, the original Star! channel in Canada was replaced by E! on 29 November 2010. The rebranding did not affect Star! in Scandinavia. Star! was closed on 15 July 2015, with a 2002 episode of '' FashionTelevision'', after the episode ended, a slide was seen, the message saying "''Thanks''", the Star! logo and the website for the channel (it redirected to the Turner website) after which the channel space created by E! in 2000 folded and ceased to exist.

Logos

File:E! Logo.svg, 2000–2004 File:Star! Logo (2000-2004).svg, 2004 File:Star TV.svg, 2004–2015

References

{{AT&T Defunct television channels in Denmark Defunct television channels in Finland Defunct television channels in Norway Defunct television channels in Sweden Pan-Nordic television channels Television channels and stations disestablished in 2015 Television channels and stations established in 2000