VIVA (TV Station)

VIVA (TV Station)

VIVA, a free-to-air German language music television channel, went on the air on 1 December 1993. A consortium of broadcasters and record companies led by Time Warner, Sony Television, Polygram Records and EMI Music but not the German based Bertelsmann Music Group, saw the investment in VIVA as an antidote to the "vain posturing power of MTV Networks executives" according to Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Executives at US media giant Time Warner, keen on increasing their market share of its music repertoire and business in Germany, planned the new TV station in 1992. Eventually, they recruited DoRo Productions, producers of music videos for notable acts such as Queen, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, in the design of the music channel. VIVA became an immediate success with the audience, while ultimately providing German artists with a music channel that could help expose their music to the German audience. After many years of fierce competition for audience share, MTV Networks Europe eventually acquired VIVA on 14 January 2005 after it had outran its own efforts for better ratings. MTV today operates VIVA channels across Europe, in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.