Skai TV

Skai TV is a television network based in Piraeus, Greece. It is part of the Skai Group, one of the largest media groups in the country. It was relaunched in its present form on 1 April 2006 in the Athens metropolitan area, and gradually spread its coverage nationwide. Besides analogue terrestrial transmission, it is available on the subscription-based encrypted services of Nova and OTE TV. Skai TV is also a member of Digea, a consortium of private television networks introducing digital terrestrial transmission in Greece.

At launch, Skai TV opted for dubbing all foreign language content into Greek, instead of using subtitles. This is very uncommon in Greece for anything except documentaries (using voiceover dubbing) and children's programmes (using lip-synced dubbing), so after intense criticism the station switched to using subtitles for almost all foreign shows.

History

Skai TV was first launched on 21 September 1993 with emphasis in news and sports but on 26 September 1999 was sold and the new owners gradually rebranded it as Alpha TV. The new station had an entirely different programming perspective and opted for a more mainstream profile, soon managing to become one of the top three TV stations in Greece.