| ANT1 | |
| Logo Alt: | ANT1 logo |
| Launch Date: | 31 December 1989 |
| Owner: | Antenna TV Single Member S.A. (Media Capital Partners ICAV, a subsidiary of Antenna Greece BV)[1] 70% Antenna Group 30% MBC Group |
| Country: | Greece |
| Language: | Greek |
| Area: | National |
| Sister Channels: | ANT1 Cyprus Makedonia TV |
| Headquarters: | Kifisias Avenue 10-12, Marousi, Athens, Greece |
| Website: | ANT1 TV |
| Terr Serv 1: | Digea |
| Terr Chan 1: | All over Greece at local frequencies |
| Online Serv 1: | ANT1 Plus |
| Online Chan 1: | watch.antennaplus.gr |
Antenna, better known as ANT1, is a free-to-air television network airing in Greece. The alternate spelling is wordplay in Greek; ena (ένα) is the Greek number 1 (one), thus ANT1 is pronounced the same as Antenna (Αντέννα). It launched on 31 December 1989,[2] and is owned by Antenna Group. ANT1 had been a popular network in Greece for years with its line up of soap series including dramas Lampsi and Kalimera Zoi.
The first broadcast of the channel was on 31 December 1989. Antenna Group also runs Easy 97.2 and Rythmos 94.9 in Athens, as well as international networks ANT1 Satellite (from America), ANT1 Pacific (from Australia) and ANT1 Europe which broadcast the best of ANT1 programming to audiences abroad. It also owns a stake in Makedonia TV also with national coverage in Greece.
Programs that were once shown on ANT1 include CBS Evening News from the U.S. ANT1 Satellite News was also shown until the late 1990s. Antenna TV studios are located in the Athens suburb of Marousi. The station broadcasts terrestrially via a network of repeaters throughout all of Greece and Cyprus.
Antenna was founded by Minos Kyriakou and today is led by Theodore Kyriakou. He served as Executive Vice President of the Antenna Group S.A. (from 1995) and as Chief Operating Officer (from September 1998) until his appointment in March 1999 as Chief Executive Officer, a position which he held until his appointment in January 2002 as Group Vice Chairman. Mr. Kyriakou has been a Director since September 1998.[3]
Since 1993, Antenna has broadcast its programming internationally for Greek-speaking audiences abroad. Initially, the broadcast was for a few hours each day but since 2000 has evolved into a full channel that operates twenty-four hours a day. ANT1 currently operates three television channels, via satellite, which vary according to the different geographical targets:
ANT1 began broadcasting in high definition (HD) by the evening of March 1, 2016. The program is transmitted as the normal broadcast and at the frequency of simple definition, but the parent (native HD) broadcast only emits what has been shot with this resolution.
In 2010, Antenna Group had launched on-demand Internet media service Netwix,[4] available to viewers in Greece. It mainly included short YouTube-style comedy videos created by famous greek comedians. This service closed in 2023, due to the high costs of production and the low audience appeal.[5]
Since April 2022, Antenna Group has launched its own subscription-based streaming media,[6] which includes some original shows such as "Serres" and "I Gefyra (The Bridge)", along with many movies and foreign television series.
In July 2022, following the assassination of Shinzo Abe, a news segment on ANT1 TV Greece shared the same images of Hideo Kojima, identifying him as the alleged killer. ANT1 TV Greece took down the video on Friday, but the story caused major controversy as it became viral globally.[7] [8] [9] The mistake first started going viral after French far-right politician Damien Rieu tweeted pictures of Kojima in response to another politician's tweet about the assassination. The 4chan post used a photo of Kojima and falsely labelled him as a "left-wing extremist" with a criminal record. In response, Hideo Kojima threatened to sue over false posts,[10] [11] stating that he "strongly condemns the spread of fake news and rumours that convey false information".[12]
ANT1 has had various slogans over the years including: