SBS Broadcasting Group (SBS), formerly Scandinavian Broadcasting Systems, was a European multinational media group, operating commercial television, premium pay channels, radio stations and related print businesses in Northern, Western and Central and Eastern Europe. It became the second-largest broadcaster in Europe.

History

SBS was founded by Harry E. Sloan in 1989, who bought a stake in the Danish station Kanal 2 (a local station in Copenhagen, now Kanal 4) and Norwegian TVNorge. In 1991, Sloan bought the Swedish Nordic Channel, which was soon renamed Kanal 5 and became the third largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company was originally known as "TV1", but was renamed "Scandinavian Broadcasting Systems" in 1991. After expanding into Benelux and Eastern Europe, the name was changed again, this time to SBS. By July 1994, the time of the CC/ABC-Disney merger,

Capital Cities/ABC Capital Cities/ABC Inc. was an American media company. It was founded in 1985 when Capital Cities Communications purchased the much larger American Broadcasting Company. It eventually proposed a merger of equals with The Walt Disney Company and ...

owned 23% of SBS. In March 2005, SBS acquired

C More Entertainment C More Entertainment AB is a pay television company that previously operated as Canal+. It targets Nordic countries and has a separate channel in Sweden (C More Film). The main competitors of C More Entertainment are Viasat Film and Viasat Sp ...

, a Nordic

pay tv Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, bu ...

provider operating under the

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow unde ...

brand. In that year, SBS was bought by the equity firms

Permira Permira is a global investment firm. Founded in 1985, the firm advises funds with assets under management of €60+ billion. The Permira funds have made approximately 300 private equity investments in four key sectors: Technology, Consumer, S ...

and

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its stra ...

(KKR). Telegraaf Media Groep of the Netherlands was also a shareholder in SBS, with a 20% equity interest. Permira and KKR also bought the German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media in early 2007, and on 27 June 2007 it was announced that ProSiebenSat.1 Media acquired the SBS Broadcasting group for 3.3 billion euros from the joint owners. ProSiebenSat.1 Media became the second largest broadcaster of Europe with 48 TV stations. Starting in 2011, ProSiebenSat.1 Media started to sell its non-German properties. The Dutch operations have been bought by

Sanoma Sanoma Corporation (, formerly SanomaWSOY) is Finland's largest media group. The company has media business in Finland and a learning business in Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Norway and Spain, among others. The company is headquarte ...

and

Talpa Media Holding Talpa Network is a Dutch media conglomerate created by John de Mol Jr. in 2017. History Talpa Network was created in 2017 by John de Mol when he merged all his various media assets, De Mol wanted to create a Dutch media conglomerate that cou ...

on 20 April 2011. In the end of 2011 ProSiebenSat.1 Group has sold its Bulgarian radio stations as well as the music channel the Voice TV to A.E. Best Success Services Bulgaria EOOD. The transaction was closed on 10 November 2011. On 14 December 2012,

Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Channe ...

bought the Nordic portion of SBS for $1.7 billion. The radio stations were later sold to

Bauer Media Group Heinrich Bauer Publishing (german: Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG), trading as Bauer Media Group, is a German multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Hamburg. It operates worldwide and owns more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 ...

. The Romanian TV and radio operations were bought by Romanian businessman Cristian Burci and Antenna Group in 2013.

Former operations

This section lists former channels and publications until the company's acquisition in 2007.

Television

Belgium *

VT4 The VT-4 (), also known as the MBT-3000, is a Chinese third generation main battle tank built by Norinco for overseas export. Development During the development of Type 90-II/Al-Khalid (also known as MBT-2000) in the 1980s, the gearbox and e ...

(now Play4) * VIJFtv (now Play5) Bulgaria * The Voice (Bulgaria) Denmark * Kanal 4 * Kanal 5 * SBS NET (now 6'eren) *

The Voice TV Denmark The Voice TV was the name of a Danish television station that broadcast music videos 24 hours a day. 7'eren was launched on January 1, 2012, as a programming block on The Voice TV, and a year later, on January 1, 2013, the channel renamed The V ...

(later 7'eren, now defunct) Finland * Kutonen * TV5 Italy * Rete Mia (defunct, joint ownership with Internova, Profit, and Videopiù, 1997–1999) Hungary *

TV2 Channel 2 or TV 2 may refer to: Television networks, channels and stations *Channel 2 (Iran), operated by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting *Channel 2 (Israel), a commercial television station *, entertainment and music television in Latvia * ...

Macedonia * Sitel *Sitel 2 *

Sitel 3 Sitel 3 is a satellite television channel in North Macedonia. Lineup Jadi Burek FIBA EuroBasket FIBA Basketball World Cup External links Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North M ...

* Kanal 5 * Kanal 5 plus Netherlands * SBS6 * Net5 * Veronica * SBS9 *Kijk.nl (web only) Norway * TVNorge * The Voice TV Norway (web only) * FEM *

MAX Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

* VOX Romania * Prima TV (also broadcast by cable in Moldova) * Kiss TV (known as ''TV K Lumea'' before November 2006, now owned by

Antenna Group Antenna Group, formerly known as ANT1 Group, is a media company in Greece and currently the largest Greek media company. It was established on 2 August 1989 by Minos Kyriakou. Today, his son, Theodore Kyriakou, heads up a media empire whose opera ...

) Portugal * TVI (1996–1999) Sweden Kanal5-byggnaden - 2008-04-14 (gabbe)

* Kanal 5 * Kanal 9 *

Kanal 11 Duo 4 (formerly known as Kanal 11 (literal English translation Channel 11)) is an Estonian TV channel owned by Duo Media Networks. The name of the channel was derived from a play on words; in the Estonian language, "Üksteist", the word for ele ...

The Voice TV Sweden The Voice TV Sweden was a Swedish language music television channel owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG broadcasting from the United Kingdom. It was launched in December 2004. Initially, it was only available on the Canal Digital satellite platform ...

(music, defunct) Switzerland * TV3 (Switzerland) (defunct, joint ownership with Tamedia, 1999–2001)

Radio stations

Denmark * The Voice *POP FM *NOVA FM Greece *Lampsi 92.3 FM (now owned by Attica Editions) Norway * Radio 1 * The Voice * Radio Norge (previously known as Kanal 24) Romania *

Kiss FM Kiss FM, Kiss Radio or variants may refer to: Asia-Oceania * Various Kiss FM-branded stations in the Philippines ** 95.1 Kiss FM, Lucena, Quezon ** 102.3 Kiss FM, Tagbilaran, Bohol * Kiss92 FM, Singapore * KISS 969, Sri Lanka * Kiss Radio Taiwan ...

(previously known as Radio Contact, available in Moldova with local insertions) *Magic FM *One FM *Rock FM Sweden * Mix Megapol *

Rockklassiker 106.7 FM Rockklassiker is a Swedish rock radio station. Rockklassiker (formerly Classic Hits) started out as a local radio station in Stockholm in 1994, and is today the second largest rock station in Sweden in terms of audience share. Its close ...

* The Voice *Radio 107.5 *

Vinyl 107 Vinyl FM is a Swedish radio station founded in September 1994. Vinyl FM focuses on mostly American hits from the 1960s to the 1980s. In March 2003, Vinyl FM was awarded "Radio Station of the year" by the Radio Awards jury. Vinyl FM is only oldies ...

Print

* Veronica (TV/Radio guide)

References

{{Reflist