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NBC Europe (1990s)

TVWorldwide

TVWorldwide

NBC Europe was created in 1993 when GE bought Super Channel, one of the original pan-European cable and satellite networks launched in the 1980s. For a few years, the channel was known as the NBC Super Channel, and eventually became NBC Europe (but was, by that point, almost always known as just "NBC" on the air). It closed down in 1998, and was replaced by the National Geographic Channel.

Most of its prime time programming was produced in Europe, but after 11PM Central European Time on Weekday evenings, the channel showed the Tonight Show and Late Night -- hence its slogan "Where the Stars Come Out at Night." Most NBC News programs were broadcast on NBC Europe, including NBC Nighlty News, which was aired live. The Today show was also shown live in the afternoon for a while, but was later broadcast the following morning instead, by which time it was more than half a day old -- meaning all news portions had to be replaced with European updates produced by ITN in London. ITN also supplied the network with the main European newscasts before and after the NBC takeover. The European weather was done by the BBC at first, but was later taken over by NBC in New York.

NBC Europe carried virtually no prime time entertainment programs shown by NBC in the US, because those shows were distributed by other studios and sold to broadcasters in indiviual countries. NBC didn't own the rights, and would have had to buy the rights for each country in order to show it via satellite -- something that would have been far too expensive. That was probably the main reason why NBC Europe was a failure.

I'll probably post a retro NBC Europe schedule when I get access to some magazines in about a month, but you can get a good feel for the channel on this TV Ark page, with clips both from the Super Channel and NBC Europe eras:

http://www.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/superchannel.html
 
>
>
> Most of its prime time programming was produced in Europe,
> but after 11PM Central European Time on Weekday evenings,
> the channel showed the Tonight Show and Late Night -- hence
> its slogan "Where the Stars Come Out at Night." Most NBC
> News programs were broadcast on NBC Europe, including NBC
> Nighlty News, which was aired live. The Today show was also
> shown live in the afternoon for a while, but was later
> broadcast the following morning instead, by which time it
> was more than half a day old -- meaning all news portions
> had to be replaced by European updates produced by ITN in
> London. ITN also supplied the network with the main European
> newscasts before and after the NBC takeover. The European
> weather was done by the BBC at first, but was later taken
> over by NBC in New York.

Isn't 11 PM Central European Time 5 PM on the U.S. East Coast?
The Tonight Show doesn't tape until 5:30 Pacific Time. So
did NBC Europe air the previous night's show?

Also, I'm reminded that, for a brief period in the late '50s/
early '60s, the Today show (then hosted by Dave Garroway) taped
everything except the news segments the previous afternoon;
Frank Blair did those live. So much immediacy was lost,
especially if a news story broke overnight, that the practice
was discontinued.
>
>
>
>
 
> ITN also supplied the network with the main European
> newscasts before and after the NBC takeover.

One of the programs seen on Super Channel / NBC was "ITN World News", which was also syndicated to PBS stations in the US; that program later became "World News for Public Television". This ended in the late-1990s, around the same time NBC Europe folded.

> The European weather was done by the BBC at first, but was later taken
> over by NBC in New York.

Actually, according to the TV Ark clips, the later forecasts were done from Charlotte NC, at NBC News Channel (NBC's news feed service, which operates out of Belo's WCNC).
>
> NBC Europe carried virtually no prime time entertainment
> programs shown by NBC in the US, because those shows were
> distributed by other studios and sold to broadcasters in
> indiviual countries.

Did NBC Europe ever show Saturday Night Live?
 
> Isn't 11 PM Central European Time 5 PM on the U.S. East
> Coast?
> The Tonight Show doesn't tape until 5:30 Pacific Time. So
> did NBC Europe air the previous night's show?

If I remember correctly, the Tonight Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and Later with Greg Kinnear were all shown with a two- or three-day delay. I won't know for sure until I get my schedules, but I believe the Tonight Show was eventually moved to 10:30PM CET. Another late-night offering from NBC Europe was Real Personal with Bob Berkowitz, a CNBC talk show about sex. Sandwiched between these programs, at 12:30AM CET, was NBC Nightly News, which was shown live.

Much of the network's daytime schedule consisted of CNBC (both CNBC Europe and the US flagship). After MSNBC launched in 1996, two of its programs were shown daily on NBC Europe: The Site and The News with Brian Williams, the latter at 6AM (delayed a few hours).
 
> One of the programs seen on Super Channel / NBC was "ITN
> World News", which was also syndicated to PBS stations in
> the US; that program later became "World News for Public
> Television". This ended in the late-1990s, around the same
> time NBC Europe folded.

True, but this was a different edition of the program, produced especially for NBC Europe -- no Daljit Dhaliwal here.

> Actually, according to the TV Ark clips, the later forecasts
> were done from Charlotte NC, at NBC News Channel (NBC's news
> feed service, which operates out of Belo's WCNC).

You're absolutely right; I never noticed that before. Good catch!

> Did NBC Europe ever show Saturday Night Live?

No. There was a jazz show on Saturday nights. In fact, I'm not sure if SNL was ever shown outside North America -- perhaps not even in Australia, where Nine carried the Tonight Show for ages. Even so, many people overseas are familiar with the program because of its pop-cultural legacy. BTW, Germany's RTL had its own version of the show -- Samstag Nacht ("Saturday Night"), with a very similar concept, set, open, etc.
 
I briefly worked at an NBC affiliate and remember the nightly promo feed having promos for Leno and Conan for NBC Europe. I don't believe they were the same show as the one set for that night in the U.S.
 
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