NBC Europe

NBC Europe (formerly Super Channel and NBC Super Channel) was a satellite television channel based in the United Kingdom that broadcast across Europe. It was picked up by various European cable television networks.

Early history

Launched on 30 January 1987, replacing 24-hour music channel Music Box, Super Channel was co-owned by all but one of the ITV companies at the time in the United Kingdom (Channel Television was the only ITV company not to own Super Channel). It competed with Sky Channel, forerunner of Sky1, which was the only other major pan-European satellite-channel around at the time. Unlike Sky Channel, Super Channel's syndicated output was less American and more European. Many of the programmes were what it called the "Best of British", sourced from ITV or the BBC, while ITN produced news bulletins (see also ITN World News). It also broadcast syndicated non-British European programmes such as the Dutch sitcom Zeg 'ns Aaa (with English subtitles).

Super Channel fared poorly, unable to earn sufficient revenue from advertising or cable networks that carried it, while its British programming, with the exception of The Benny Hill Show, did not appeal to most audiences in mainland Europe. The BBC later went on to launch its own, more successful, subscription-funded channel BBC TV Europe - later rebranded as BBC World Service Television, and then as BBC World and BBC Prime.