Veronica (TV channel)

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Veronica

Launched	September 20, 2003 (Veronica's origin in 1960's radio and 1975 for TV)
Network	ProSiebenSat.1 Media Holland Media Groep (1995 till 2001) Publieke Omroep (1976 till 1995)
Owned by	ProSiebenSat.1 Media
Picture format	576i (PAL) 16:9
Country	Netherlands
Headquarters	Hilversum, Netherlands
Formerly called	TV10 Gold, TV10, FOX, FOX8, V8
Sister channel(s)	SBS 6, NET 5
Website	www.veronicatv.nl
Availability
Cable
Ziggo	Channel 8
UPC	Channel 9

Veronica is a commercial TV channel in the Netherlands, owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media (formally SBS Broadcasting Group). Other channels of ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG in the Netherlands are SBS6 and NET 5.

It is not to be confused with the Veronica Association (Vereniging Veronica). ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG licensed the trademark name Veronica from the Association and also owns the Association's former magazines Veronica Magazine and Satellite.

The Association resulted from a pirate radio station, Radio Veronica, which broadcast from a ship from international waters off the coast of the Netherlands. The little wave in the logo hearkens back to that time. The name Veronica is a derivation of the abbreviation VRON (Vrije Radio Omroep Nederland / Free Radio Broadcasting station Netherland).

After the pirate-activities became legally impossible (31 August 1974), Veronica transformed itself into the Veronica Association, enabling it to gain a legal radio and television license within the Public broadcasting system. Within a decade it became the largest public broadcaster and the trademark was tested as being more popular than Coca-Cola. In 1995 the Veronica Association gave up public broadcasting and entered a joint-venture with RTL, called the Holland Media Groep, running three mostly successful national TV-stations and three mostly unsuccessful national radio stations. Infighting led to the dissolution of this co-operation per Spring, 2001.

In 2002-2003 the Association learned the hard way that it could not realize radio and TV in a stand-alone setting and was driven into the arms of the only other major commercial player, SBS. Recently the Veronica Association gave up co-ownership of the Dutch group of ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG. In 2003 it licensed the trademark Radio Veronica to the Sky Radio Group, which uses it for a recurrent-oldies station. The Association now focuses on preserving its rich history and promoting radio through its remaining alternative cable station Kink FM and its education programme Radioschool.

Though Veronica's appeal and power have dissipated, most of the Dutch commercial radio and television landscape has been formed by Veronica and its spin-offs.