TV6 Sweden
Encyclopedia
TV6 is an entertainment television channel broadcasting to Sweden
(but also technically possible - albeit not strictly legally - to receive in the surrounding countries of Finland
, Norway
, Denmark
, parts of Germany
, Poland
, Russia
and the Baltic countries, through the Sirius
satellite) and now most of Europe through the Thor 2 satellite. It is owned by Modern Times Group
.
The channel has origins in the youth channel ZTV
that started broadcasting in the early 1990s. In 2004, MTG started repositioning the channel by introducing sports broadcasts and other programming that mainly targeted men.
In February 2006, MTG received a license to broadcast a channel called TV6 in the terrestrial network. This channel would take over virtually all ZTV programming, except the music videos that ZTV showed during the day. TV6 launched in May 2006 and simultaneously replaced ZTV in most cable networks. When ZTV was rebranded as TV6, a new ZTV channel started that only showed music videos.
TV6 focuses on entertainment and occasional but high-profile sports broadcasts (like the UEFA Champions League
), comedy,
Sitcoms, action, science ficiton and reality programmes from the USA
are popular fixtures. Its inaugural night of broadcasting set the tone by scheduling a game from the 2006 ice hockey World Championships
and the movie Terminator 3.
The channel hosts Knight Rider, Stargate Atlantis
, Stargate SG-1
, Stargate Universe
, Family Guy
, The Simpsons
, COPS
, Cheers
, Scrubs
, Flash Gordon
, Highlander: The Series
, Eureka
, Two and a Half Men
, Married... with Children
, Miami Ink
, I Survived a Japanese Game Show
, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Burn Notice
, Chuck
, Weeds
, Angel
, Seinfeld
, LA Ink
, London Ink
, According to Jim
, How I Met Your Mother
among others.
Sports broadcasts are among the most popular programmes on the channel. At its launch, TV6 took over the coverage of UEFA Champions League
and Formula One
. The Champions League final was broadcast on 17 May 2006 and attracted 820,000 viewers, which was the highest viewing share ever recorded for a channel that wasn't one of the five major channels. In December 2007 it was revealed that TV6 would take over the coverage of the Ice Hockey World Championships
from TV3 in 2008. The Ice Hockey Championships has been one of the most popular events on TV3 since they started broadcasting it in 1989.
The channel isn't to be confused with another channel with the same name launched by the same company in 1994. It is now known as Viasat Nature/Crime
.
TV6 (along with several other Viasat channels) are broadcast from London in the United Kingdom making them exempt from strict Swedish advertising laws. They did however agree not to advertise alcoholic beverages or broadcast advertising targeting children as part of their terrestrial license.
After the launch in Sweden, MTG have launched TV6 in Hungary and the Baltics. TV6 Latvia was launched on 22 April 2007, TV6 Hungary was launched on 28 January 2008, TV6 Estonia was launched on 24 March 2008 and in September 2008, Tango TV changed its name to TV6 Lithuania
. In Scandinavia its counterparts are Viasat4 in Norway and TV3+ in Denmark, the later uses graphics similar to the TV6 channels.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
(but also technically possible - albeit not strictly legally - to receive in the surrounding countries of Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, parts of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and the Baltic countries, through the Sirius
SIRIUS (satellite)
Sirius was a constellation of communications satellites operated at 5°E in geostationary orbit by SES Sirius . They carried digital satellite television to the countries of Scandinavia, Baltic states, eastern Europe and Africa, including the Viasat pay TV system, along with several pay TV...
satellite) and now most of Europe through the Thor 2 satellite. It is owned by Modern Times Group
Modern Times Group
Modern Times Group is a Swedish media company. MTG was formed out of the media holdings of investment company Kinnevik, which in 1997 was distributed to the company stockholders. Among the assets were Viasat and Metro International...
.
The channel has origins in the youth channel ZTV
ZTV
-History:The channel started in Sweden as a daily afternoon show in TV3 and TV4 in February 1991. The channel got its name as it was a simulcast version of the radio station Z Radio. There was also a Z magazine available for some time....
that started broadcasting in the early 1990s. In 2004, MTG started repositioning the channel by introducing sports broadcasts and other programming that mainly targeted men.
In February 2006, MTG received a license to broadcast a channel called TV6 in the terrestrial network. This channel would take over virtually all ZTV programming, except the music videos that ZTV showed during the day. TV6 launched in May 2006 and simultaneously replaced ZTV in most cable networks. When ZTV was rebranded as TV6, a new ZTV channel started that only showed music videos.
TV6 focuses on entertainment and occasional but high-profile sports broadcasts (like the UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
), comedy,
Sitcoms, action, science ficiton and reality programmes from the USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
are popular fixtures. Its inaugural night of broadcasting set the tone by scheduling a game from the 2006 ice hockey World Championships
2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships
The 2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships was the 70th such event hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Teams representing 45 countries participated in four levels of competition. The competition also served as qualifications for the 2007 competition...
and the movie Terminator 3.
The channel hosts Knight Rider, Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Atlantis is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. The show was created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper as a spin-off series of Stargate SG-1, which was created by Wright and Jonathan Glassner and was itself...
, Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1 is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich...
, Stargate Universe
Stargate Universe
Stargate Universe is a Canadian-American military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. It follows the adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration team traveling on the Ancient spaceship Destiny many billions of light years distant from the Milky Way...
, Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, COPS
COPS (TV series)
Cops is an American documentary/reality television series that follows police officers, constables, and sheriff's deputies during patrols and other police activities...
, Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
, Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
, Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon (2007 TV series)
Flash Gordon is an American science fiction television series that debuted on Sci Fi in the United States on August 10, 2007 and continued airing new episodes through February 8, 2008. It has also appeared on the United Kingdom Sci Fi Channel and SPACE in Canada...
, Highlander: The Series
Highlander: The Series
Highlander: The Series is a fantasy-adventure television series featuring Duncan MacLeod of the Scottish Clan MacLeod, as the Highlander. It was an offshoot and another alternate sequel of the 1986 feature film with a twist: Connor MacLeod did not win the prize and Immortals still exist post-1985...
, Eureka
Eureka (TV series)
Eureka is an American science fiction television series that premiered on Syfy on July 18, 2006. Since then four seasons have aired, and a fifth is currently being filmed. The second half of season 4 began on SyFy on July 11, 2011 and ended on September 19, 2011...
, Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...
, Married... with Children
Married... with Children
Married... with Children is an American surrealistic sitcom that aired for 11 seasons that featured a dysfunctional family living in Chicago, Illinois. The show, notable for being the first prime time television series to air on Fox, ran from April 5, 1987, to June 9, 1997. The series was created...
, Miami Ink
Miami Ink
Miami Ink is an American reality show on TLC that follows the events that took place at a tattoo shop in Miami Beach, Florida. The show premiered in July 2005 and has finished broadcasting its fourth season...
, I Survived a Japanese Game Show
I Survived a Japanese Game Show
I Survived a Japanese Game Show is an American reality show that saw its first season premiere on ABC June 24, 2008. The show followed a group of Americans, who leave the United States for Japan where they competed in a Japanese style game show. The winner takes home US $250,000...
, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Burn Notice
Burn notice
A burn notice is an official statement issued by one intelligence agency to other agencies. It states that an individual or a group is unreliable for one or more reasons...
, Chuck
Chuck (TV series)
Chuck is an action-comedy/spy-drama television program from the United States created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. The series is about an "average computer-whiz-next-door" named Chuck, played by Zachary Levi, who receives an encoded e-mail from an old college friend now working for the Central...
, Weeds
Weeds (TV series)
Weeds is an American television comedy created by Jenji Kohan and produced by Tilted Productions in association with Lionsgate Television. The central character is Nancy Botwin , a widowed mother of two boys who begins selling marijuana to support her family after her husband dies suddenly of a...
, Angel
Angel (TV series)
Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
, Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
, LA Ink
LA Ink
LA Ink is an American reality show on TLC that follows the events of the High Voltage Tattoo tattoo studios in Los Angeles, California...
, London Ink
London Ink
London Ink is a reality show on Discovery Real Time that follows Louis Molloy and three other tattoo artists.Each of the artists brings a different style to London Ink. Louis Molloy, is an expert in parallel and straight lines and other difficult shapes, and has tattooed David Beckham. Dan Gold is...
, According to Jim
According to Jim
According to Jim is an American sitcom television series starring Jim Belushi in the title role as a suburban father of three children. It originally ran on ABC from October 3, 2001 to June 2, 2009.-Synopsis:Jim is an abrasive but lovable suburban father...
, How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
among others.
Sports broadcasts are among the most popular programmes on the channel. At its launch, TV6 took over the coverage of UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
and Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
. The Champions League final was broadcast on 17 May 2006 and attracted 820,000 viewers, which was the highest viewing share ever recorded for a channel that wasn't one of the five major channels. In December 2007 it was revealed that TV6 would take over the coverage of the Ice Hockey World Championships
Ice Hockey World Championships
The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation . First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual international tournament. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the European...
from TV3 in 2008. The Ice Hockey Championships has been one of the most popular events on TV3 since they started broadcasting it in 1989.
The channel isn't to be confused with another channel with the same name launched by the same company in 1994. It is now known as Viasat Nature/Crime
Viasat Nature/Crime
Viasat Nature/Crime is a television channel broadcasting nature documentaries and crime movies and series. It is broadcasting to Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. Since 2010, Viasat Nature became available in Ukraine....
.
TV6 (along with several other Viasat channels) are broadcast from London in the United Kingdom making them exempt from strict Swedish advertising laws. They did however agree not to advertise alcoholic beverages or broadcast advertising targeting children as part of their terrestrial license.
After the launch in Sweden, MTG have launched TV6 in Hungary and the Baltics. TV6 Latvia was launched on 22 April 2007, TV6 Hungary was launched on 28 January 2008, TV6 Estonia was launched on 24 March 2008 and in September 2008, Tango TV changed its name to TV6 Lithuania
TV6 (Lithuania)
TV6 is a Lithuanian terrestrial, satellite and cable television channel owned by the Nordic television company Viasat. It was launched on March 31, 2002. In September 2008, it changed its name from Tango TV to TV6....
. In Scandinavia its counterparts are Viasat4 in Norway and TV3+ in Denmark, the later uses graphics similar to the TV6 channels.