Launched January 25, 1993 Website www.vox.de Founded 25 January 1993 | Country Germany Headquarters Cologne, Germany Audience share 5.1% (2015, dwdl.de) | |
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Picture format 576i50 (SDTV)
1800i50 (HDTV) Affiliates VOX Austria
VOX CH (Switzerland) Broadcast area Germany; Austria; Switzerland; Europe Owned by RTL Group, RTL Television, DCTP Entwicklungsgesellschaft für TV Programm mbH TV shows The Red Band Society, Sing meinen Song – D, X Factor (Germany), Einmal Camping - immer Ca, Ransom Profiles | ||
VOX or Vox is a German television channel, headquartered in Cologne and part of the RTL Group, Europe's second largest TV, radio, and production company. The channel officially launched at 5:00pm on January 25, 1993. Prior to that, test transmissions had been made using the informal name Westschienenkanal (West slot channel, a reference to Nordschienenkanal and Südschienenkanal, the informal names used in the 1980s for the other two German private channels RTL and Sat.1). The channel mainly broadcasts documentaries and US series and movies.
Contents
History
VOX started transmitting on January 25, 1993. It competed with public television by broadcasting many live and informational programmes. The channel was originally owned by an assortment of German media companies:
The director of programming at launch was Ruprecht Eser. One year after the channel's launch it seemed clear that the original programme concept would not work. Market share among the target group relevant for advertisers was at 1.5%, too low to attract much advertising. VOX took significant losses. By February 1994, all the original partners except UFA and DCTP sold their stakes. As a result of the losses, the quality of programmes began to decline. VOX had to repeat its movies every few weeks to fill the schedule. On April 1, 1994, VOX went into liquidation. More than 250 employees were laid off.
VOX's logo consists of the letters V and X, with a red circle "eye" using negative space to create the O.
By November 1994 VOX had new owners:
Gradually, VOX gained a foothold in the German television landscape. In 1998, VOX signed an output deal with 20th Century Fox, leading to more series and movies being broadcast alongside magazine-style shows. In December 1999, RTL Television bought out News Corporation. A short time later, canal+ sold its share to UFA (Bertelsmann AG). 99.7% of the channel now belonged to RTL Group, with the remaining 0.3% held by DCTP.
Now, VOX is the most successful private television station of the so-called "second generation". The channel had so much success with series such as CSI and CSI: Miami that they were transferred to the more widely watched sister channel RTL Television. CSI: NY gets a market share of up to 21% on VOX.
Audience share in March 2008 was 5.4%, with share amongst 14- to 49-year-olds at 7.4%. In the 2011/12 television season VOX had a 5.6% share of all viewers, making it the 6th most watched channel, and 7.4% among viewers aged 14–49, making it the fourth most watched channel by that demographic.