Closed 11 March 1991 (Europe) Language English Founded 1987 | Owned by BBC Headquarters London Owner BBC | |
Launched 1987 as BBC TV Europe based in London Country United Kingdom (for external consumption only) Broadcast area Europe (except most of the United Kingdom) Replaced by BBC World Service Television | ||
BBC TV Europe was a BBC subscription-funded television service established in 1987, serving continental Europe, initially Scandinavia. It was available on satellite and cable.
The channel was branded as BBC1 when it launched on 4 June 1987, but was rebranded as BBC TV Europe on 1 April 1989.
Initially, two telephone companies in Denmark had wanted to retransmit both BBC1 and 2 in Scandinavia, and had offered the BBC satellite capacity, but the BBC found it was impossible to secure rights for this, and the BBC instead created a separate channel.
It broadcast a mix of programmes shown on BBC1 and BBC2 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 on BBC TV Europe; when a programme on BBC1 could not be shown on the channel for rights reasons, this would be replaced with a programme shown on BBC2.
On 11 March 1991, the channel was replaced by BBC World Service Television.