Kanal 9 is a commercial television channel owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media

ProSiebenSat.1 Media

ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG is a European media conglomerate, operating commercial television, premium pay channels, radio stations and related print businesses. It was formed on October 2, 2000 by merger of German TV broadcasters ProSieben Media AG and Sat.1 SatellitenFernsehen GmbH...

 AG broadcasting to Sweden. It targets the 30-59 age group, which is a slightly older age group than the sister channel Kanal 5

Kanal 5 (Sweden)

Kanal 5 is a Swedish commercial television channel established in 1989. It is owned by the media corporation ProSiebenSat.1 Media.After a troublesome 1990s, Kanal 5 launched new strategies in the early 2000s that established it as a popular entertainment channel targeting young people...

. The channel launched on 25 February 2007. Its opening night featured the 79th Academy Awards

79th Academy Awards

The 79th Academy Awards ceremony , honored the best films of 2006 and took place on February 25, 2007 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on ABC. Ellen DeGeneres hosted the ceremony for the first time. The producer was Laura Ziskin. The announcers were Don LaFontaine and Gina Tuttle.The nominees were...

. The programming consists of drama series, movies, sports and documentaries.

History

Kanal 9 uses the space formerly occupied by ONE Television in the terrestrial network. This caused some controversy. A clause in the broadcasting license states that "news from the European Union and programmes from different European countries" should be included in the broadcasts. ONE used to broadcast several French and German programmes, as well as the news programme European Journal

European Journal

European Journal is a weekly Deutsche Welle news program produced in English. It is broadcast from Brussels, Belgium and primarily covers political and economic developments across the European Union and the rest of Europe, as well as issues of particular concern to Germany...

to comply with this clause. As SBS have stated that Kanal 9 will not broadcast any news at all, they could possibly violate the license.

The channel opened at 4.45pm (CET) with a Royal League

Royal League

The Royal League was an annual Scandinavian football tournament held three times between teams from the three Scandinavian monarchies , starting after the end of the regular domestic seasons of Norway and Sweden. Denmark, however, are in mid-season when the tournament starts...

 match between F.C. Copenhagen

F.C. Copenhagen

F.C. Copenhagen is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is part of the Parken Sport & Entertainment....

 and Hammarby IF

Hammarby IF

Hammarby Fotboll is a Swedish football club based in Johanneshov - just south of Södermalm, the southernmost district of Stockholm city centre...

. This was followed by an Oscars nights containing the movie The Pianist

The Pianist (2002 film)

The Pianist is a 2002 biographical war film directed by Roman Polanski, starring Adrien Brody. It is an adaptation of the autobiography of the same name by Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman...

up to the Academy Awards

Academy Awards

An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 at 2am. The first week's schedule also included European Journal and some non-British European content to comply with the broadcasting license, but it was broadcast outside primetime.

In the first weeks the channel had ratings over 100,000 viewers several times thanks to the broadcasts of ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 games. The highest rating in March 2007 was 215,000 for two ice hockey games. On 2 June 2007 Kanal 9 broadcast a UEFA Euro 2008 Qualifying game between Denmark and Sweden. The second half, that contained the fan attack, had a rating of 865,000, then the highest ever for a channel not belonging to the big five.