History
Originally RTL 7 started as Veronica on 1 September 1995. Veronica had been a public broadcasting association since 1 January 1976 but left the Dutch Public Broadcasting system by joining the commercial channels RTL 4 and RTL 5 to form the Holland Media Group in 1995 (HMG later rebranded as RTL Nederland). In the first year as a commercial channel it broadcasts a variety of American TV series, such as Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place and Baywatch, films, Dutch programmes ranging from game shows to talk shows and Dutch TV series (Flodder and Onderweg naar morgen). By the end of its first year Veronica dropped the news-related programmes and established its place in the Dutch television market as a young adult channel with programmes of a provocative nature. In the next years Veronica proved to be a pioneer in television making by introducing a wide range of reality shows with a real breakthrough when it launched the reality game show Big Brother in 1999.
In 2000 Veronica announced it would leave the joint venture with RTL 4 and RTL 5. RTL had to change the name of the station. At first RTL came up with ME but a fashion label in the Netherlands WE complaint about the similarity with its name. Finally RTL rebranded Veronica as Yorin on 2 April 2001. Yorin referred to the English phrase "You're in". All programmes previously broadcasted on Veronica and the television presenters moved to Yorin. RTL didn't want to add RTL into the name so the channel would keep its own identity.
When Dutch media tycoon and Big Brother-inventor John de Mol announced the launch of a TV-channel named Talpa, and contracted many popular Dutch TV-hosts, the RTL Group felt the need to reorganize its channels. Apart from a physical renewal, the setup of its channels RTL 4, RTL 5 and Yorin were changed. To emphasize the three channels' connection, the name Yorin was replaced by RTL 7 on 12 August 2005. Practically all former Yorin shows were moved to RTL 5, whereas that channel's programmes continued on RTL 7. RTL Z also moved from RTL 5 to RTL 7.
The origin of the number 7, instead of a more logical 6, goes back to 1995 when the original channel Veronica was founded. Around the same time, the commercial channels SBS 6 and TMF appeared and also claimed channel 6 on the remote control. Veronica and TMF lost the battle for remote control button 6. Also, SBS 6 was originally managed by Fons van Westerloo, who later became head of RTL Nederland before the rebranding operation.
On 15 October 2009 RTL Nederland started simulcasting their RTL 7 and RTL 8 channels in 1080i high-definition.
Read more about this topic: RTL 7 (Netherlands)
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