The media company ”Alter Ego,” owned by Greek businessman Evangelos Marinakis, obtained the audiovisual archives and the logo of ”MEGA TV,” Greece’s historic first private television station, which ceased broadcasting in 2018.
He also acquired several properties as a result of the deal.
Marinakis’ media company, which currently owns several historic Greek newspapers, including ”Ta Nea” and ”To Vima,” paid €33.999.999 in an auction and immediately became the holder of Greece’s second richest audiovisual archive, after that of the country’s Public Broadcasting Corporation, ERT.
Mega Channel, its official title, was the first private TV station to broadcast in Greece, on November 20, 1989, following decades of state bans on private ownership of TV and radio stations.
It soon became the country’s largest and most popular television station, with hundreds of productions, including TV series, talk shows, and news bulletins which captured the attention of millions of Greeks on a daily basis.
During the years of the financial crisis, MEGA Channel came under fire by main opposition parties as well as a large part of Greek society for its pro-austerity stance during the first, difficult years of the economic downturn.
The station gradually lost sections of its audiences, and a series of financial hardships led its owners to make the decision to shut the station down in 2018.
source: Nick Kampouris / greece.greekreporter.com
