BBC TV Europe

BBC TV Europe was a BBC subscription-funded television service established in 1987, serving continental Europe, initially Scandinavia.^[1] It was available on satellite and cable.^[2]

The channel was branded as BBC 1/2 Mix when it launched on 4 June 1987, but was rebranded as BBC TV Europe on 1 April 1989.^[2][3]

Initially, two regional telecommunications companies in Denmark, KTAS (Københavns Telefon A/S) and JTAS (Jydsk Telefon A/S) contacted the BBC with a view to retransmit BBC1 and 2 on their cable networks in Denmark, and had offered the BBC the payment of the costs of the satellite capacity. The BBC's commercial division, BBC Enterprises looked into the proposal, but found it would be impossible to secure rights for this. This led to the BBC instead creating a new separate channel for Denmark known as BBC 1/2 Mix, which later expanded to Norway in late 1987 and Sweden in early 1988.^[4][5]

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 the external channel; 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.^[2]

The channel was managed and operated by the BBC but jointly marketed by the two Danish telecommunications companies. However, they could not make a profit out of the channel, and sold their interest in it to the BBC, who renamed it as BBC TV Europe, and took full control of its operations and commercialisation, making it available to the whole of Western and Northern Europe (excluding the UK), and also making it officially available for individual viewers who wished to receive it directly via satellite by means of subscription. In 1990, a second service for non-UK viewers entitled Enterprise Channel was launched to complement the main BBC TV Europe service, but by the end of that year it had been folded back into the existing network.^{[6][7][8][9][10][11]}

On 11 March 1991, the channel was replaced by BBC World Service Television.^[12]

References

BBC Television
BBC
UK channels	BBC One (in Northern Ireland  Scotland  Wales) BBC Two (in Northern Ireland  Scotland  Wales) BBC Four BBC News BBC Parliament CBBC CBeebies
UK nations & regions	Scotland Wales Northern Ireland North East and Cumbria North West Yorkshire Yorkshire and Lincolnshire West West Midlands East Midlands East London South West South South East
services and programming blocks	BBC iPlayer BBC Learning Zone BBC Music BBC News BBC Schools BBC Sport BBC Three (online) BBC Weather CBBC CBeebies
international channels & joint ventures	BBC Alba BBC America BBC Arabic Television BBC Brit BBC Canada BBC Earth BBC Entertainment BBC First (in Australia) BBC HD (international) BBC Kids BBC Knowledge (international) BBC Lifestyle BBC Persian Television BBC UKTV (Australia and New Zealand) BBC World News Community Channel UKTV (UK and Ireland)
defunct channels	BBC Choice (in Northern Ireland) BBC Food BBC HD (UK) BBC Japan BBC Knowledge (UK) BBC Prime BBC Select BBC Three (television channel) BBC TV Europe BBC World Service Television BBC 2W
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