VIVA (German TV channel)
VIVA (abbreviation for: Videoverwertungsanstalt translating to "Video Exploitation Facility") was a German free-to-air music television channel, first broadcast on December 1, 1993. The channel was intended to compete against MTV Europe and was the first German-language music TV channel, while MTV was only broadcast in English until the introduction of MTV Germany in 1997. It was also supposed to focus more on German music and pop culture while MTV only broadcast anglophone music by artists mostly from North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia.
| Country | Germany |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Germany |
| Headquarters | 1993–2005 Cologne 2005–2018 Berlin, Germany |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | German |
| Picture format | 1080i HDTV (downscaled to 16:9 576i for the SDTV feed) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Viacom International Media Networks Europe |
| Sister channels | MTV MTV Brand New Comedy Central Nickelodeon Nicktoons Nick Jr. |
| History | |
| Launched | 1 December 1993 |
| Closed | 31 December 2018 |
| Replaced by | Comedy Central (Germany) |
| Links | |
| Website | viva |
After years of competition for audience share, MTV Networks Europe eventually acquired VIVA on January 14, 2005, after it had outrun its own efforts for better ratings. MTV operated VIVA channels in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
In June 2018, Viacom announced that it would shut down all Viva operations worldwide at the end of 2018.
The channel ceased to broadcast at 14:00 on 31 December 2018, being replaced by Comedy Central.