Zone Romantica (formerly Romantica) was a European TV channel that launched in 1998. The channel broadcast a mixture of telenovelas, music and entertainment from all over the world, but mainly from Latin America. The channel was available 24 hours a day, to 20 territories across Europe and the Middle East. The channel reached 8 million subscribers.
 | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Europe |
| Network | Chello Zone/Chello Central Europe |
| Programming | |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Chellomedia Liberty Global |
| Sister channels | Zone Club Zone Europa Zone Fantasy Zone Horror Zone Reality Zone Thriller |
| History | |
| Launched | Central & Eastern Europe: 1 March 1998 UK & Ireland: 3 September 2007 |
| Closed | UK & Ireland: 16 November 2009 Hungary: 2 July 2012 Central & Eastern Europe: 3 December 2012 |
| Replaced by | Romania: Romantica (2007–2012) UK & Ireland: CBS Drama (2009) Hungary & Romania: Film Café (2012) Central & Eastern Europe: CBS Drama (2012) Poland: CBS Action (2012) Polsat Romans (2013) |
| Former names | Romantica (Until 2006) |
| Links | |
| Website | zoneromantica.tv romantica.tv UK |
The channel launched on Sky Digital in the UK and Ireland on 3 September 2007. It was broadcasting between 8 a.m. and 3 a.m. from the start.[1] It slot on the Sky EPG had been purchased from BEN TV.[2]
On 6 May 2008, it was one of the channels that were on the free-to-air platform Freesat platform from the start.[3]
On 14 September 2009, it was revealed that the international arm of CBS, CBS Studios International, struck a joint venture deal with Chellomedia to launch six CBS-branded channels in the UK during 2009. The new channels would replace Zone Romantica, Zone Thriller, Zone Horror and Zone Reality, plus timeshift services Zone Horror 1 and Zone Reality 1.[4][5] On 1 October 2009, it was announced that CBS Reality, CBS Reality 1, CBS Drama and CBS Action would launch on 16 November 2009 replacing Zone Reality, Zone Reality 1, Zone Romantica and Zone Thriller. On 5 April 2010, Zone Horror and Zone Horror 1 were rebranded as Horror Channel and Horror Channel 1, following the rebrand of the portfolio's other three channels in November 2009.[6]
On 2 July 2012, Hungarian version of Zone Romantica is replaced by Film Café.[7] On 1 August 2012, Chellomedia revealed that all European versions of the Zone Channels would be rebranded into CBS Channels.[8] CBS Action replaced Zone Romantica on 3 December 2012. On 1 September 2013, Zone Romantica Has Completely Closed Replacing Polsat Romans on Poland. On 3 December 2012, in Europe, Zone Romantica has rebranded to CBS Drama.
Programming
editProgramme Line-up for UK/Éire features 3 Classic First Run US Daytime Soap Operas.
References
edit- ^ "Zonemedia to launch Romantica channel". The Airwaves. 20 August 2007. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011.
- ^ "Zone brings US soaps to UK screens". Digital Spy. 20 August 2007.
- ^ "In full: Freesat channels at launch". Digital Spy. 6 May 2008.
- ^ "CBS FINALChello Zone partnership press release" (DOC). Chello Zone. 14 September 2009.
- ^ "CBS to launch UK channels with Chellomedia". Broadcastnow. 14 September 2009.
- ^ "Zone Horror rebrands as Horror Channel". Broadband TV News. 31 March 2010.
- ^ "Chello rebrands movie channels". Broadband TV News. 18 June 2012.
- ^ "CBS and Chellomedia take entertainment across EMEA". Broadband TV News. 1 August 2012.
- ^ "Zone Romantica". Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2012.