One Channel is a Greek private television channel broadcasting from

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

History

On 2 September 2016, Vangelis Marinakis, owner of Alter Ego Media won one of the four national television licenses auctioned in Greece after spending EUR 73.8m in a highly unusual competitive bidding process. On 29 September, the company patented the name and the logo of the network. After the auction was canceled, the network lost its licence and didn't launch. Alter Ego didn't participate in the second auction for the seven television licenses (2017–2018), because the company had recently bought

Lambrakis Press Group The Lambrakis Press Group S.A. () was a Greek media company. Since 1957, it was controlled by Christos Lambrakis and played a dominant role in Greek publishing and Greek politics, especially through its flagship newspapers, ''To Vima'' and ''Ta ...

on 31 May 2017, which owned 22% of the shares of

Mega Channel MEGA Channel, also known as MEGA TV or just MEGA, is a television network in Greece, that broadcasts a mix of foreign and Greek programming. It is the first and the oldest private television network in Greece. History Mega Channel (1989–2018 ...

. On 18 October 2018, it tried to buy one of the last two remaining TV licenses for 3,5m €. Due to the

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

that took place in the country, the network wanted to cover the event. The channel took a temporary licence on 10 June. By the end of August, One Channel started producing network programming with the addition of well-known Greek journalists. The first broadcast of the channel was on 17 April 2019, via the news site In.gr, initially for the coverage of the presentation of Giannis Moralis, candidate for mayor of

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

. The first official broadcast was on 2 May, via its official site and on 23 May started broadcasting via satellite and IPTV on

Nova A nova ( novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white ...

and

Cosmote TV Cosmote TV is the corporate name for two pay television services in Greece, owned by Greek telecommunication operator OTE. The two services are as follows: *Cosmote TV via OTT – Streaming platform *Cosmote TV via Satellite – Satellite tele ...

. One Channel is the official television license holder and was initially expected to start broadcasting digitally on November 11, 2019. However, a few days ago (on November 1), the company acquired by auction, from Teletypos S.A., the Mega Channel branding, logo and vast program library, submitting a bid of 33,999,999 euros. The company, after the purchase of the station as a whole, reopened Mega Channel, on a trial basis on February 11, 2020, while its normal program started 6 days later.Στην Alter Ego η ταινιοθήκη και το σήμα του Mega
enikonomia, 1 November 2019. In Greek From November 1, 2022, it also broadcasts terrestrial digital, being a regional channel replacing Channel 9.

References

{{Local Television channels in Greece 2019 establishments in Greece Television channels and stations established in 2019 Television channels in Greece Free-to-air