BBC TV Europe was a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

subscription-funded television service established in 1987, serving

continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...

, initially

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

. It was available on

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

and

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

.''Satellite Television in Western Europe''
Richard Collins, John Libbey, 1992, page 70 The channel was branded as ''BBC 1/2 Mix'' when it launched on 4 June 1987, but was rebranded ''BBC TV Europe'' on 1 April 1989. Initially, two regional telecommunications companies in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, KTAS (Københavns Telefon A/S) and JTAS (Jydsk Telefon A/S) contacted the BBC with a view to retransmit both

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

and 2 on their cable networks in Denmark, offering the BBC payment to cover the costs of the satellite slots. The BBC's commercial division,

BBC Enterprises The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, looked into the proposal but found it would be impossible to secure

rights Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

for this. This led the BBC to instead create a separate new channel for Denmark, known as BBC 1/2 Mix. This later expanded to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

in late 1987 and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in early 1988. The channel broadcast a mix of the programmes shown on

and

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

in the United Kingdom, as well as the BBC's domestic '' BBC Six O'Clock News'' bulletin, together with the regional news service from London. BBC1 programming took priority: when a programme on BBC1 could not be shown on the channel for rights reasons, it was replaced with a programme shown on BBC2. The channel made its formal launch in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

at the facilities of the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

on 20 April 1989. The channel's schedule averaged seventeen hours a day, from 7am to midnight. Piracy was a recurring issue, as such the BBC had to hire sales agents by country for the sale of authorised BBC TV Europe decoders and subscriptions. The channel was managed and operated by the BBC, but jointly marketed by the two Danish telecommunications companies. However, they were not able to make a profit from the channel, and sold their interest in it to the BBC, which renamed it ''BBC TV Europe'' and took full control of its operations and commercialisation, making it available to the whole of

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and

Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other ge ...

(excluding the UK), and also making it officially available for individual viewers who wished to receive it directly via satellite by means of subscription. In 1990, a second service for non-UK viewers entitled "Enterprise Channel" was launched to complement the main BBC TV Europe service, but by the end of that year it had been folded back into the existing network. The channel also carried the English team's matches in the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

. On 11 March 1991 the channel was replaced by

BBC World Service Television BBC World Service Television, often abbreviated to WSTV (World Service Television), was the name of two BBC international satellite television channels between 1991 and 1995. It was the BBC's first foray into worldwide television broadcasting. In ...

.''Broadcasting in the United Kingdom: A Guide to Information Sources''
Barrie I. MacDonald, Mansell, 1993, page 84

References

{{BBC Television Defunct BBC television channels International BBC television channels Television channels and stations established in 1987 Television channels and stations disestablished in 1991 1987 establishments in Europe 1991 disestablishments in Europe