Direct Digital TV (also known as DDTV and frequently mistaken for Dan Diaconescu TV) was a Romanian free-to-air entertainment television channel founded in 2005 by

Dan Diaconescu Dan Cristian Diaconescu (; born December 9, 1967) is a Romanian journalist, politician, presenter, the founder and owner of the former DDTV and OTV television channels. In 2010, together with OTV show presenters, he formed the People's Party � ...

, as a sister channel of OTV, reairing most of the shows OTV did broadcast. In August 2009, it was relaunched as an entertainment television channel that was mostly aimed at children.

Background

Launched in 2005, the channel did broadcast talk shows & animated series from

Happy Tree Friends ''Happy Tree Friends'' (commonly abbreviated as ''HTF'') is an adult animated web series created by Aubrey Ankrum, Rhode Montijo, and Kenn Navarro, and developed by Montijo, Navarro, and Warren Graff for Mondo Media. Disguised as a childr ...

, Yin Yang Yo, such as "Deșteptarea României" and "Dan Diaconescu Direct", which also aired on OTV. In the summer of 2009, it was announced that DDTV will be rebranded with a completely new programming schedule, getting rid of the talk shows it did broadcast. The rebrand took place on 23 August 2009, at 20:00 EET. Between 06:00 and 19:00 EET, the channel was broadcasting animated shorts, mostly

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

cartoons from

Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () was an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures in 1942, the parent company and the distri ...

Famous Studios Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was established as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized contr ...

Van Beuren Van Beuren () is a Dutch surname. The word ''van'' is equivalent to the English "of" and the German ''von'', hence it usually is not capitalized in names. The similar name, Buren, is a city or estate in the Netherlands which was ruled by the Egmond ...

ComiColor Cartoons ''ComiColor Cartoons'' is a series of twenty-five animated short subjects produced by Ub Iwerks from 1933 to 1936. The series was the last produced by Iwerks Studio; after losing distributor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1934, the Iwerks studio's senior ...

Flip the Frog Flip the Frog is an animated cartoon character created by American animator Ub Iwerks. He starred in a series of cartoons produced by Celebrity Pictures and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1930 to 1933. The series had many recurring cha ...

, The Gumby Show. (most of them being 60s cartoons with the 80s track, plus some episodes from the "revival") and some from

Soyuzmultfilm Soyuzmultfilm ( rus, Союзмультфи́льм, p=səˌjʉsmʊlʲtˈfʲilʲm , ''Unioncartoon'') (also known as SMF Animation Studio in English, formerly known as Soyuzdetmultfilm, ''Unionchildcartoon'') is a Russian animation studio, produ ...

(such as

Nu, pogodi! ''Well, Just You Wait!'' (, ), also known as I'll get you! in official translations, is a Soviet and Russian series of animated short films produced by Soyuzmultfilm. In the 2014 all-Russian poll, ''Well, Just You Wait!'' won by a wide margin ...

). There were also some exceptions of illegally copyrighted material being aired, like

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

Yogi Bear Yogi Bear is an anthropomorphic animal character who has appeared in numerous comic books, animated television shows, and films. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in ''The Huckleberry Hound Show''. He was created by Hanna- ...

Huckleberry Hound Huckleberry "Huck" Hound is a fictional cartoon character, a blue dog who speaks with a North Carolina accent. He first appeared in the series ''The Huckleberry Hound Show''. The cartoon was one of six TV shows to win an Emmy Award in 1960 as a ...

, &

Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series ...

, Joe Oriolo's ''Felix the Cat'' TV series (plus even some episodes of

The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat ''The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat'' is an American animated television series produced by Film Roman. The series first aired on September 16, 1995 on CBS Saturday mornings lasting for two seasons with the final episode airing on April 12, 19 ...

) and

Casper the Friendly Ghost Casper the Friendly Ghost is a fictional character who serves as the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. He is a translucent ghost who is pleasant and personable, but often criticized by his thr ...

theatrical shorts (apparently taken from the ''Casper and Wendy's Ghostly Adventures'' VHS release). Here Cartoons Classics:

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

MGM Cartoons The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio (also commonly referred to as MGM Cartoons) was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the Golden Age of American animation. Active from 1937 until 1957, the studio was responsi ...

Pink Panther ''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the film ''The Pink Panthe ...

Koziołek Matołek Koziołek Matołek ( Silly the Billy-Goat) is a fictional character created by Kornel Makuszyński (story) and Marian Walentynowicz (art) in one of the first and most famous Polish comics back in 1933. It became a cult classic, popular since it ...

, Pies, Kot i..., Proszę Słonia, Tydzień przygód w Afryce, Dwa koty i pies, Piesek Dali, Pomysłowy Wnuczek, Piesek w kratkę, and more In the evenings and nights, it did broadcast movies and documentaries targeted at teenagers. In September 2009, DDTV was fined by CNA with 50,000 RON for broadcasting content (from Warner Bros.) without having the necessary rights to broadcast them, after Warner Bros. notified CNA about this problem. After OTV was closed by the CNA, Diaconescu used DDTV to broadcast the programs usually shown on OTV and CNA fined DDTV 100,000 lei (25,000 euros) in October 2013. The channel was closed on 24 February 2014, because its audiovisual license wasn't extended. In 2025, the channel will be possibly relaunched, alongside its sister channel, OTV. But the comeback didn't worked because Diaconescu is incarcerated.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20180426135705/http://www.ddtv.home.ro/ * mms://82.76.12.224:8081 Live feed (Windows Media) {{Television in Romania Defunct television channels in Romania Romanian companies established in 2009 2014 disestablishments in Romania Television channels and stations established in 2009 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2014