Star! Scandinavia

Star! Scandinavia
Launched	1 September 2000
Closed	15 July 2015
Owned by	NonStop Television
Slogan	The Entertainment Channel!
Country	Sweden
Broadcast area	Nordic countries Benelux Baltic countries South Africa
Formerly called	E!
Website	nonstop.tv/star

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 System, TBS, Inc., which merged with Time Warner in 1996, and now operates as a semi-autonomous unit of Time Warner.

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 (previously CTVglobemedia and CHUM Limited). Programming is a mix of several Bell Media television channels such as E!, FashionTelevisionChannel, MuchMore and others. American entertainment news program 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 Sundance Film Festival 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. A fashion channel called Style 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 across most of Europe (i.e. Scandinavia, France, Ireland, 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, Norway, Finland and Denmark, but has since extended its coverage to Iceland, the Netherlands, Belgium and the Baltics. Programmes are not interrupted by commercials but placed in between programs. The channel is operated by NonStop Television, which also operates movies channels Showtime Scandinavia and Silver.

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 where 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 through the TopTV pay TV operator.

Following a deal between Star!'s brand owner, CTVglobemedia (now Bell Media), and Comcast, the original Star! channel in Canada was replaced by E! on 29 November 2010. The rebranding did not affect Star! in Scandinavia.^[1]

Star! was closed on 15 July 2015.^[2]

References

1. CTVglobemedia (press release) (2010-11-01). "CTV and Comcast International Media Group Partner to Bring E!, World's Top Entertainment Brand, Back to Canada". Retrieved 2010-11-01.
2. "Turner closes three channels in Nordic markets". Digital TV Europe. Retrieved 17 July 2015.