Minimax (TV channel)

Minimax is a European pay television channel aimed at children, broadcasting to Central European countries including Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, ex-Yugoslav countries, Romania and Moldova. Minimax's policy goals include edutainment and non-violent programs.

For the television channels formerly known as Minimax in Spain and Poland respectively, see Disney XD (Spanish TV channel) and Teletoon+. For other uses, see Minimax (disambiguation).
Minimax
Broadcast areaHungary
Serbia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Albania
North Macedonia
Montenegro
Romania
Moldova
Czech Republic
Croatia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Programming
Picture format16:9 576i SDTV
Ownership
OwnerAMC Networks International Central Europe (2007–present)
Sister channelsJimJam
History
Launched6 December 1999 (Hungary)
1 June 2001 (Romania)
Links
Website(See #External links)
Availability
Cable
UPC RomaniaChannel 501 (SD with DVR)
Channel 121 (SD)
Satellite
Digi TVChannel 76
IPTV
Moldtelecom (Moldova)201
Moja TV
(Bosnia and Herzegovina)		Channel 010

As of 2018, the channel runs 24 hours a day. Previously, since 2000, Minimax timeshared with Musicmax, Game One, ITV Hungary, M+, Cool, Animax and C8 over the years.

As the channel broadcasts in multiple countries in multiple languages with the same schedule (except commercial advertisements), program trailers and other presentation elements do not feature written information.

History

Minimax has its origins in Spain, where it was launched on January 1, 1994. The original Minimax in Spain was replaced with Fox Kids in 1998. A version of Minimax was launched in Hungary on 6 December 1999. At launch, the channel aired only between 18:00-20:00 CET.[1] Until 3 March 2000, it gradually extended its broadcast hours, and from that date onwards, the channel aired between 06:00-20:00 CET until 31 December 2017.

On 2 May 2000, a regional version of the French television channel Game One (originally planned as Game Channel) began timesharing with Minimax, broadcasting between 20:00-06:00 CET. In 1 June 2001, Minimax launched in Romania. On 27 August 2001, ITV Hungary took over Game One's time space.

On 9 February 2003, ITV Hungary closed down. Later that year, Minimax launched in Slovakia. On 15 September 2004, Minimax launched in Czech Republic, taking over the channel space of the defunct TV channel Supermax. On 15 September 2003, M+ was launched taking over the evening slot. M+ is available only in smaller cable companies. Although most cable companies turned off the signal after Minimax signed off, UPC and UPC Direct after Minimax signed off instead aired the "Minimax for UPC" channel which broadcast programs from the now-defunct music channel Musicmax which was aired same channel space as Game One/ITV/M+ and Minimax.

On 4 September 2004, M+ merged with Humor 1 and renamed as Cool. When it was still called M+, it has operated independently from Minimax beginning in 6 December 2003. On 4 December 2004, A+ Anime began timesharing with Minimax, replacing Cool. In Hungary only on the UPC Direct platform the lesser-known music channel called A+ Music was aired on the same channel space as A+ and Minimax. On 6 September 2006, Sony Pictures Television International acquired A+ and later relaunched it as Animax on 2 July 2007.[2]

In June 2007, Chellomedia (now AMC Networks International) acquired Minimax from Groupe Canal+. Later that year, the channel launched in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia.

Animax broadcast for the last time in the region on 31 March 2014, and was relaunched as C8 on 1 April 2014 in Hungary and 5 May 2014 in Romania, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.[3] On 30 December 2015, C8 closed down in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, and Romania. Since that time, Minimax is 24/7 in those countries.[4]

On 5 October 2017, AMC announced that Minimax would go 24/7 in Hungary. In December 2017, it was announced that Minimax would operate for 24 hours per day in Serbia by New Year's Eve.[5] On 1 January 2018, C8 closed down completely and Minimax filled up the overnight slot, thereby running 24/7 onwards in Hungary too.

Near the end of 2019, it was announced that Minimax - and also, all AMC-owned channels - would be discontinued on DIGI. However, on 31 December 2019, executives made a last minute decision to continue broadcasting the channels.[6]

Programming
Further information: List of programs broadcast by Minimax

Announcers
  • Balázs Láng (Hungarian) (1999-2007)
  • Attila Dolmány (Hungarian) (2007-2010)
  • Gábor Csőre (Hungarian) (2010–present)[7]
  • Libor Terš (Czech)
  • Marius Săvescu (Romanian) (2001-2008)
  • Alexandru Rusu (Romanian) (2008-present)

International Channels

Current channels
Release date Country
December 6, 1999  Hungary
June 1, 2001  Romania
September 15, 2004  Czech Republic
2007  Serbia
2010  Slovenia

Defunct channels
Active date Country Replacement
January 1, 1994 - November 15, 1998  Spain Fox Kids / Jetix
April 15, 1999 - October 16, 2004  Poland ZigZap

See also

References
  1. "Túl a tévémacin". hir24.hu. 2004-02-05. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
  2. ANIME+
  3. Kardos Attila (2013-12-03). "Megszűnik az Animax!" (in Hungarian). sat-tv-radio.hu. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
  4. "24 órás lesz a Minimax" (in Hungarian). sat-tv-radio.hu. 2017-10-05. Retrieved 2017-11-22.
  5. "Минимакс ће почети 24-часовну шему". Mts.
  6. https://media1.hu/2019/12/31/ejfeltol-eltunik-a-sport1-es-a-sport2-a-digi-tol-de-a-spektrum-a-tv-paprika-es-a-tobbi-amc-s-tevecsatornak-megis-megmaradnak/
  7. "Csatornahangok". Emtv.blog.hu. 2013-01-01. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.