The Music Factory
|
|
TMF (The Music Factory) is a pop music television channel that operates in the Netherlands (TMF NL), Belgium (TMF Vlaanderen) and the United Kingdom (TMF UK). It is owned by MTV Networks (part of the Viacom conglomerate). As well showing pop videos, it also shows some of MTV's programmes like Cribs and Newlyweds.
| Contents |
TMF Nederland
[TMF Nederland (http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMF_Nederland)] started in 1995 as the Netherlands' only local pop station. It was founded by Lex Harding and the Arcade company. Although Dutch viewers could receive MTV Europe, many felt that the Netherlands should have its own national music television channel. The station gradually began to get better viewer figures than MTV, so in 2002, MTV bought shares in TMF. In 1996, TMF started the TMF Awards in the Netherlands. It is headquartered in Bussum.
The channel is very well known in the Netherlands and throught some of Europe, for its emphasis on dance music mixes. It is however, perhaps infamous for the over-abundance of "text-in" shows (displaying large panels in the bottom third of the screen filled with text messages that obscure the main image).
TMF België
TMF België (TMF Vlaanderen) was the first international extension of the TMF brand. It broadcasts entirely in the Dutch language, so it is only available in the Flanders (Vlaanderen) region of Belgium. Founded in 1998, its headquarters are in Mechelen.
TMF United Kingdom
TMF United Kingdom started in 2002 as a counter against Emap's The Hits request music channel on Freeview. It broadcasts on channel 21. It also broadcasts on Sky and UK cable. The channel, alongside its music output, shows reruns of successful MTV shows such as Cribs, Newlyweds and Daria, as well as VH1 programming. TMF UK is also available in some cable packages in Ireland; in Dublin it is on a shared channel with Nickelodeon.
External links
- TMF Netherlands webiste (http://www.tmf.nl)
- TMF Vlaanderen, Belgium (http://www.tmf.be)
- TMF UK webiste (on MTV) (http://www.mtv.co.uk/tmf/)
- Freeview webpage on TMF (http://freeview.co.uk/whatson/ch21.html)nl:The Music Factory