Grk101

With SYRIZA winning the elections, everything is up in the air with NERIT. Just a day before the elections, SYRIZA reiterated their promise to restore ERT. In fact they stated it will be one of their first priorities after taking power....

NGTV also has STAR Channel content, and taking a look at their site it seems they acquired content from ACTION 24 and Vouli as well.... Quite the mix, SKAI, EPSILON, STAR, ACTION 24, Vouli. But what is the point of Bell Fibe offering STAR if NGTV already offers their popular content? Sure they don't offer their whole programing, but I'm not really sure that is necessary for STAR right now. As for appealing to Greek-Americans, it seems most of their in-house shows are gone and they are focusing on this Greek acquired content. Maybe 1 in-house show every few days. Looking at their on-line schedule for example, I only see two in-house productions for the week. Some doctor show "To Vima tou Ippokrati (Live)" tonight, and then some "Hanac Help Line" aimed at Greek-American seniors. Aside from those and the NYC based commercials, I don't think that is too bad for Greek-Canadians. On a side note, I actually think a channel like this would do very well on DISH Network getting the most popular content from these smaller channels. A mix of news, entertainment, cooking, cinema, sports, church, etc.

No connection at all between the two. They are both sports channels, but NERIT Sports was a channel NERIT launched to cover the World Cup games over the summer. They kept it around with mostly replays of sports content they had in their historical archives until the switch over now to NERIT plus. The new NERIT plus is no longer primarily sports oriented. SportPlus is a satellite channel by (presumably) different owners that have acquired the international broadcasting rights for Greek Superleague and Basketleague games that ERT once had in its possession. They too broadcast replay sports content when there are no live matches, but it appears their historic content comes from NOVA Greece.

The NERIT plus logo: Additionally, NERIT HD has switched over to showing programing from NERIT1. Up until now it was broadcasting NERIT Sport's programing.

Starting January 1st, 'NERIT Sports' will be relaunched as 'NERIT plus'. To start off with, it will consist of content from ERT's historical archives. They plan to implement three daily programing blocks: NERIT Kids will focus on children programing, both foreign and Greek. NERIT Life will be the largest block, focusing on local programing, talk shows, culture centric shows, Greek and foreign historical documentaries, travel and ecological content, tourism centric shows, woman and entertainment centric shows, etc. NERIT Sports will focus on sports programing. You can view the press release and the week's programing at the following link: http://www.typologies.gr/2014/12/31/%CE%BD%CE%AD%CE%BF-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%AC%CE%BB%CE%B9-%CE%BC%CE%B5-%CE%B5%CF%80%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%AE%CF%88%CE%B5%CE%B9%CF%82-%CE%B1%CF%80%CF%8C-%CF%84%CE%B7-%CE%BD%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%B9%CF%84/ This whole launch and press release seem very rushed considering the press release was just issued the night before the launch and there is no logo or programing info on their website yet. Maybe it has to do with the looming upcoming snap elections, and the promise by SYRIZA to bring ERT back?

Finally at least some indication of an international version of NERIT. Of course they have yet to launch the long-awaited NERIT2, and there are possible political instabilities coming up....so who knows when and if we will see this channel in 2015... NERIT also has a long way to go in the programing department to properly fill this channel's programing IMO.

It seems that the new owners are much more ambitious in this nature. I think Cablevision is the next natural fit for them if they want to widely serve their core New York metro market. It may also de facto end up on Comcast if their buyout of Time Warner goes through. The question at that point would be if Comcast would expand it to more markets. They have limited ANT1 Satellite to the San Fransisco area, and they are notorious for carrying certain channels in certain markets only.

HellasHab, could this be the mystery channel Bell told you they were working on getting? The most interesting thing about the filing is that we found out some "Artmer LTD" controls (at least) the worldwide distribution rights for this channel. They appear to be based in Cyprus..... I can't find anything about them, but their address corresponds to some Fine Life Group that provide financial and legal services... Furthermore, the Director that signed the paperwork on behalf of Artmer, shows up working in the Accounting department for Fine Life.... This is all interesting, because there was a similar off-shore setup by a Cypriot lawyer for EPSILON channel under the no-name company "A-Orizon Media LTD". It equally caused suspicion as to who is behind it. So I wonder who is really behind Sport Plus? If it were Nova or even the long shot NERIT as was initially suspected, I can't see why they would go through so much trouble in setting up an off-shore company to control the channel. Also it looks like this channel is here to stay. EDIT: I found an article from last year, mentioning that Fine Life had bought 27% into Forthnet Group (Nova's parent), becoming the second largest stakeholder. What gets confusing, is that other articles mention that Fine Life is controlled by lawyer Fotos Pittadjis, and it was unclear if it was a legitimate financial investment on Fine Life's behalf or if he was acting on behalf of another investor. The widely reported suggestion was that he could be working on behalf of Milos, an investment company controlled by former head of WIND Hellas, Socrates Kominakis. (In a bid for a potential hostel takeover, but that is saved for another thread....) I'm not sure what to make of all this. :ph34r:

I found this press release from August on New Greek TV's website. They have started airing STAR programing (now that the new TV season has begun) in addition to the programing they currently air from SKAI and EPSILON channels. It also says that they plan to launch on RCN Cable sometime in September.

MCIBUS, If you are still interested, I found a live stream for this channel: http://www.wherever.tv/tv-channels/GOTelecomTV.jsf

That is interesting! If we go off of average ratings, the top 3 channels in Greece are MEGA, ANT1, and ALPHA. So what could they be talking about? Maybe they are trying to pick up Sport Plus?

How much do the channels cost if someone wants to subscribe to them all?

NERIT officially bought the rights to select Greek National Team qualifying matches related to Euro 2016 for 1.3 million Euro. The first televised match will be tomorrow's Greece VS Romania match. More information here: http://www.typologies.gr/2014/09/06/%CE%B7-%CE%B5%CE%B8%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE-%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B7-%CE%BD%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%B9%CF%84-%CE%AD%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B9-13-%CE%B5%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%84-%CE%B5%CF%85%CF%81%CF%8E/

After pressing Dish Network customer service and getting a lot of generic responses, I finally got the correct one. :D

Also worth noting for the Australian members of the forum...... the programming guide on their website has a mention of "New York time" and "Sydney time". So looks like an Australian launch is bound to happen at some point. :) http://www.thesportplus.com/schedule.html

The website for Sport Plus is www.thesportplus.com Through some Whois digging, the site was registered on August 7 by Sports.Comm. (www.sports-comm.gr) The Sports.comm website is pretty generic though, but it appears they provide broadcast services and mobile solutions related to sports. It appears that they have worked with NOVA in the past amongst others. Sports Plus appears to be broadcasting some Nova programing, so maybe Nova is behind this channel? If it was though, I would think they would brand it as such. (like "NOVA Sports Plus" for example) Plus it looks like NOVA related channel websites are usually registered directly by Nova parent FORTHNET. So maybe whoever is behind this channel is just licensing Nova programing to fill the channels schedules? With all this in mind, we so far know that they are using this Sports.comm company to run the channel's content, they are using some Nova content, and it appears to be based in Athens.

I have my doubts that NERIT will be able to launch an international channel anytime soon, seeing how much difficulty they are having with their various tenders and launching N2 for that matter. You are right about NERIT being different than ERT. Thanks to Johnny Kalimeris being at the helm of Alpha, they really did take some great shows from ERT; and it was announced that they just booked "Kyriaki Sto Horio" as well, another strong show from ERT/ET3. (albeit under a new name and host) Eventually NERIT will book its own new (and hopefully interesting) shows, but it remains to be seen how they will evolve. They already started a "Stin Ygeia Sas" knockoff, but of course its not as good as the original now on Alpha, and also faces competition from another knockoff on E Channel. Sports is a big draw, and NERIT sees that now even in Greece as they have decided to bid on sports rights. (some of the same people that complained ERT was wasting money on sports rights, now are changing their tunes....) I would be shocked if they let the international rights slip away from them, but then again maybe they are just so disorganized that they let it happen. I want to believe that Sports Plus is a temporary channel so the matches can be broadcast while NERIT is still figuring out what they need to figure out, but the DISH description also mentions post-game interviews and shows. Seems like something more permanent in my opinion.

I am really curious as to who is behind this channel. If it was NERIT (since they last owned the rights to these matches), I would have expected some type of press release on their end. Regardless though, great news for the sports fans this season! I wonder though what will happen to this channel when NERIT eventually launches an international channel?

The channel is the official channel of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. I've never seen it myself, but it is free to subscribers of WhereverTV. Take a look at this thread for more info: http://forums.phantis.com/topic/13827-new-greek-orthodox-archdiocese-of-america-channel/ Also an (a bit outdated) mission statement before their launch: http://www.goarch.org/archdiocese/departments/gotelecom/

Resurrecting an old thread... The digital transition in Greece is finally expected to be done by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Skai HD is expected to launch in early 2015. They actually already stream their HD channel on the web. NERIT has also already launched N HD. There are also reports that ANT1 will be launching an HD version early next year as well, but other reports say it will actually be a pay channel on DTV. Pretty funny about a possible ANT1 HD channel, considering the regular ANT1 SD channel is routinely criticized for its poor image quality compared to the other main channels.

Some updates: The latest (unofficial) report circulating, states that NERIT 2 will take about another two months to launch. It is expected to be based out of Thessaloniki, and the occupation of the ET3 building by former employee is still a big hurdle. In the meantime, NERIT Sports will continue broadcasting live games and reruns. http://www.newsbomb.gr/media-agb/story/477474/se-dyo-mines-to-deytero-kanali-tis-nerit Still no word on a satellite version of NERIT yet, but I personally do not think we will see it launch until after NERIT 2 is up and running -- especially since we have heard no plans about it as of late. Hopefully I am wrong.... On the sports subject: NERIT is said to be extremely close to signing an agreement to acquire the rights for the Euro 2016 and 2018 World Cup National Team qualifying matches. It would be a joint deal with OTE TV, as apparently NOVA and the rest of the Greek private channels are out of the running. The NERIT board is said to have had a change of heart when it comes to their view of spending money on sports rights, after the tremendous ratings success they achieved with their 2014 World Cup rights. They began negotiating with CAA Eleven earlier this month, and everything points toward them being awarded the rights along with OTE TV. http://media-industry.blogspot.gr/2014/07/blog-post_30.html

NERIT 2 update: The latest info going around, is that NERIT would like NERIT 2 to be based in Thessaloniki at the former ET3 headquarters. They want the channel up and running before the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair in September....the obstacle is that the former ET3 employes are still occupying the building and broadcasting their own pirate programming. http://www.typologies.gr/2014/07/13/%CE%B8%CE%AD%CE%BB%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%BD-%CE%BD%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%B9%CF%84-2-%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B7-%CE%B8%CE%B5%CF%83%CF%83%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%AF%CE%BA%CE%B7/

They launched NERIT Sports so they could cover the World Cup. It is expected that after the World Cup wraps up, they will start focusing on transitioning it/launching NERIT 2. I don't think you can get a real view of their programing yet, since it has been very World Cup oriented the past month. Nothing yet. My guess is that it will launch after NERIT 2 launches.

This new logo has appeared on their website..... looks like NERIT 2 is closer than we thought. Meanwhile he website stream that was labeled as "NERIT 2" has been changed to "NERIT SPORTS" (as you can see above) and others are reporting the digital broadcast frequency name has also been changed to "NERIT SPORTS" from "N2" leading to confusion on if this is going to be a permanent channel.... EDIT: Just found a few more logos hidden on their programing guide website for anyone interested.

NERIT has (temporarily???) launched "N SPORTS" to cover their big schedule of sports programing coming up. It is using the digital broadcast frequency that EDT2 was using. WebTV has also been launched at: webtv.nerit.gr Today they put up a stream with the name "NERIT 2" which was showing N SPORTS. My guess is that this N SPORTS is the placeholder until NERIT 2 officially launches. I don't think it will stick around as a separate channel. Here is a screenshot from early today: