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Aleph News

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aleph News
CountryRomania
Broadcast areaRomania
HeadquartersBucharest, Romania
Programming
LanguageRomanian
Picture format1080i HDTV / 576i SDTV (16:9)
Ownership
OwnerAdrian Sârbu, through Aleph Media
Sister channelsAleph Business
Smart TV
History
Launched1 September 2020; 6 years ago (2020-09-01)
Links
Websitealephnews.ro

Aleph News is a Romanian television news channel that began broadcasting on 1 September 2020. Its owner is Adrian Sârbu, the founder of Pro TV and former chief executive of Central European Media Enterprises. He holds it through his company Aleph Media, and the channel is based in Bucharest.[1][2][3][4] Sârbu described the channel at its launch as "social television", meaning a news service made to be watched on mobile phones, and its programmes are produced in a vertical 9:16 format alongside the standard 16:9.[5][6][7]

The National Audiovisual Council (CNA) granted the licence in June 2019 and the authorisation to broadcast on 5 August 2020.[8][9] Since 2021 the channel has been in a dispute with the cable operator RCS & RDS (Digi) over its place in the Digi channel list. The CNA fined the operator in December 2021 and again in February 2022, and the Competition Council opened an investigation into a possible abuse of a dominant position. The investigation was still open in early 2024.[10][11][12]

History

[edit]

Licensing and launch

[edit]

On 25 June 2019 the CNA granted Aleph Media licences for Aleph News and two other channels, in a vote that HotNews described as narrow.[13][8] The documentation filed with the regulator gave the target audience as viewers between 18 and 54, mostly urban, with higher education and incomes above the average, and put the total investment in the project at more than €14 million, of which about €1.7 million was for the news channel.[14][15] Sârbu, who had set up CME's Romanian stations in the 1990s and later ran the group, spoke at the time of a channel built mainly on news, foreign news included, and of a wider project with thematic channels and video services to follow.[8][16][2]

The channel was supposed to launch in the first half of 2020. The pandemic pushed the date back, and in May Sârbu was still promising a start in June.[17] The CNA's broadcasting authorisation came on 5 August,[9] Forbes România reported on 29 August that the first broadcast was set for the 31st,[18] and the channel went on air on Tuesday, 1 September 2020.[19][1] Romania Insider called Sârbu a "media mogul", while Film New Europe reminded its readers that he had run CME, the group that owned Pro TV.[1][5]

Sârbu gave an interview on the channel that evening, to Marius Tucă, one of the few he has given according to Pagina de Media. Financing had been the hardest part of the project, he said, and Ronald Lauder, his partner from CME, was among the financiers.[20][21]

Editorial and visual concept

[edit]

The term used at the launch was "social television". By it Sârbu meant a news service built for the internet and the mobile phone as much as for the television set, and aimed at people who had given up on traditional television.[1][5][19] Revista Biz summed it up as a news channel designed for the phone, for an educated public with above-average incomes.[6]

Pagina de Media's report on the first day noted how little the screen resembled that of other Romanian news channels. Lower thirds were used sparingly, there was no permanent news ticker, the presenters spoke to the viewer directly and in close-up, and the graphics were white, black and red.[22] The tight framing served a purpose, since the same pictures had to work on a television screen and on a phone held vertically.[22][5]

How this is done on the technical side was described in April 2021 by SVG Europe and, in the United States, by Sports Video Group. The on-air graphics are generated twice at once, in 16:9 for the television signal over SDI and in 9:16 for mobile over NDI, on equipment from the British company RT Software that is integrated with an Etere newsroom system. Mihai Burceag, the chief technology officer of Aleph Media, was quoted as saying that the company had used RT Software's systems since 2020.[7][23][24]

Team and programmes

[edit]

The journalists who started the channel came from several Romanian stations. Costi Mocanu and Felix Drăghici had left Pro TV a year earlier, Ioana Țigănilă and Andrei Tomescu came from Digi24, and Marius Tucă brought over his talk show, Marius Tucă Show.[25][26] Ion Cristoiu presented Gândurile lui Cristoiu and Vlad Craioveanu presented Cu ochii pe mine. Dan Pavel, Oana Despa and Liviu Mihaiu, one of the founders of Radio Guerrilla, were also part of the initial team.[25][1][6][27]

Știu, the weekday programme at 19:00, was presented by Mocanu and Drăghici, and neither stayed long. Drăghici moved to Antena 1 in the spring of 2021 and Mocanu let his contract expire that summer.[25][28] Tucă, who was also Sârbu's business partner in the radio station Smart FM and in Smart TV, parted company with Aleph in February 2022, after his programme had run for a month in repeats only.[29][30]

A later addition to the schedule was Știu pe ce lume trăiesc, a debate programme with Sârbu himself, Bogdan Hofbauer ("Hofi") and Lucian Nemoiu ("Nemo").[31]

Distribution

[edit]

On its first day Aleph News was available on Vodafone, Telekom, Orange, iNES and NextGen and online, on its own site and on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Digi, the largest cable network in the country, did not carry it at first.[1][6] It entered the RCS & RDS line-up on 4 September 2020.[32] The channel is on the CNA's annual must-carry list, which obliges cable operators to include it in their offer, and it appears on the list for 2026 as well.[33]

Expansion of the Aleph project

[edit]

Aleph Business and Smart TV went on air in September 2021, a year after Aleph News, online only to begin with and for the most part with content taken from the news channel.[34] Aleph Business had been licensed in 2019 as a general-interest channel. Smart TV was a joint project between Aleph and Tucă, through a company in which the two sides held equal stakes.[8][35][29] In a text published for the first anniversary, Sârbu wrote that Aleph was o revoluție, neînțeleasă încă, "a revolution, not yet understood".[36]

Dispute with RCS & RDS (Digi)

[edit]

Cable operators in Romania have to group television channels by genre. The rule is in a CNA decision from 2012, which states that television services "are grouped according to their thematic category".[10] According to Sârbu, Aleph News should have been placed with the news channels from March 2021, when it obtained must-carry status. RCS & RDS kept two news groups instead. Digi24, Antena 3, România TV, Realitatea Plus and B1 TV were in the first, near the start of the line-up. Aleph News was in the second, near the end, together with smaller Romanian and international channels such as NCN, Canal 33, Nașul TV, CNN and BBC World News.[37][11] At the CNA meeting of 23 November 2021, where Aleph's complaint was examined, the operator's representative said a technical problem stood in the way and that the order of the line-up could only be changed at the beginning of a year. Sârbu accused the company of abusing its dominant position.[10]

The CNA gave the operator two weeks to comply. It then fined RCS & RDS 10,000 lei on 15 December 2021 and 20,000 lei on 22 February 2022.[10][38][11][39] At the February meeting Sârbu said the channel was practic scoși de pe piață, "practically taken off the market", and put its losses at €50,000 a month.[40] RCS & RDS contested both fines in court, and by September 2022 the challenges had been rejected, Pagina de Media reported.[41] On 10 May 2022 the CNA had fined the operator another 10,000 lei, this time over the positioning of NCN.[42]

Aleph also complained to the Competition Council, which opened an investigation into a possible abuse of a dominant position in the spring of 2022. Its president, Bogdan Chirițoiu, confirmed the investigation on 1 June 2022 and said that RCS & RDS held more than half of the retransmission market, cable and satellite combined. Holding a dominant position, he added, is not illegal in itself.[43]

Law 190/2022, promulgated on 28 June 2022, brought the EU's Audiovisual Media Services Directive into Romanian law. It also changed the rule on grouping, and distributors now have to organise their line-ups in "single thematic groups" (grupuri tematice unice), one for each category.[44][37] RCS & RDS told its subscribers in a letter that changes were coming, that it had "expressed its disagreement" with them and that Parliament had adopted them "without taking our arguments into account".[37] In September 2022 the CNA found that nothing had changed in the line-up and issued another summons.[41] In October the operator filed a new structure with the council, in which the 14 Romanian and international news channels formed a single block after the sports and general-interest channels.[45] By July 2023 Aleph News was in that block. Sârbu still had a complaint, which he took to the CNA in July and again in September 2023, that RCS & RDS did not carry the channel on its satellite platform.[46][47]

In January 2024 the Competition Council put the commitments proposed by RCS & RDS out for public consultation. The operator undertook to keep its line-up stable, to change channel positions only in a transparent way and according to set criteria, and to inform broadcasters and subscribers in advance, with a trustee to monitor compliance. The consultation ran until 8 March 2024.[12][48][49] According to HotNews, the investigation had started with the complaint filed by Aleph.[12]

Programmes

[edit]

Programmes broadcast by Aleph News have included:

  • Știu[25]
  • Știu pe ce lume trăiesc[31]
  • Marius Tucă Show[26]
  • Gândurile lui Cristoiu[26]
  • Cu ochii pe mine[25]

The schedule has also had news bulletins and programmes on politics, the economy and culture.[9]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "RO media mogul Adrian Sarbu launches social television project". Romania Insider. 1 September 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  2. 1 2 Dziadul, Chris (21 August 2013). "Sarbu to leave CME". Broadband TV News. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  3. ↑ "Aleph Media". Media and Journalism Research Center, Media Influence Matrix. 10 March 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  4. ↑ "Contact". alephnews.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 FNE Staff (31 August 2020). "Adrian Sârbu Launches New Aleph News TV Channel in Romania". Film New Europe. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Bârliga, Gabriel (1 September 2020). "Adrian Sârbu revine în televiziune cu Aleph News, un canal TV de știri gândit special pentru mobil" [Adrian Sârbu returns to television with Aleph News, a TV news channel thought out specially for mobile]. Revista Biz (in Romanian). Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  7. 1 2 Ruddock, Jo (13 April 2021). "Aleph Media partners with RT Software for multi-format 24-hour news channel". SVG Europe. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Adrian Sârbu a primit licențe pentru trei noi televiziuni tematice, cu vot la limită în CNA" [Adrian Sârbu received licences for three new thematic televisions, with a vote at the limit in the CNA]. HotNews.ro (in Romanian). 25 June 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  9. 1 2 3 "Aleph News, postul de știri al lui Sârbu, poate începe emisia. A fost autorizat de CNA. Cum arată sigla?". Pagina de Media (in Romanian). 5 August 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Plângerea lui Sârbu aduce o amendă RCS-RDS. Pentru ce a fost penalizat cablistul?" [Sârbu's complaint brings a fine to RCS-RDS. What was the cable operator penalised for?]. Pagina de Media (in Romanian). 16 December 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  11. 1 2 3 Petre Barbu (22 February 2022). "RCS&RDS a primit a doua amendă pentru neincluderea Aleph News în pachetul de televiziuni de știri românești" [RCS&RDS received the second fine for not including Aleph News in the package of Romanian news televisions]. Forbes România (in Romanian). Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  12. 1 2 3 Adrian Vasilache (31 January 2024). "Ce promite RCS&RDS pentru a închide o investigație privind un posibil abuz de poziție dominantă pe piața TV. Surse: Totul a plecat de la plângerea Aleph" [What RCS&RDS promises in order to close an investigation on a possible abuse of dominant position on the TV market. Sources: everything started from the Aleph complaint]. HotNews.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  13. ↑ "Comunicat de presă. Ședința publică a CNA din 25.06.2019" (in Romanian). Consiliul Național al Audiovizualului. 25 June 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  14. ↑ Tupa, Răzvan (25 June 2019). "Proiectul Aleph Media, ştiri, comedie şi business, peste 14 milioane de euro investiţi, votat de CNA". Mediafax (in Romanian). Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  15. ↑ Tupa, Răzvan (25 June 2019). "Adrian Sârbu lansează trei canale TV: ştiri, comedie şi business, şi vor mai urma încă alte două. Proiectul, care implică investiţii de 14 mil. euro, a fost votat de CNA". Ziarul Financiar (in Romanian). Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  16. ↑ Potůček, Jan (18 October 2007). "Adrian Sarbu jmenován provozním ředitelem mediální skupiny CME" [Adrian Sarbu named operating director of the CME media group]. Lupa.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  17. ↑ Petre Barbu (May 2020). "Adrian Sârbu a promis că va lansa televiziunea Aleph News în iunie" [Adrian Sârbu promised he would launch the Aleph News television in June]. Forbes România (in Romanian). Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  18. ↑ Petre Barbu (29 August 2020). "Aleph News, televiziunea de știri a lui Adrian Sârbu, va începe emisia pe 31 august". Forbes România (in Romanian). Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  19. 1 2 "Aleph News, noua televiziune de știri a lui Adrian Sârbu, emite începând de marți" [Aleph News, Adrian Sârbu's new news television, broadcasts starting Tuesday]. HotNews.ro (in Romanian). 31 August 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  20. ↑ "Adrian Sârbu la interviul lui Tucă: „El e finanțatorul!" E același care a finanțat Pro TV la începuturi" [Adrian Sârbu at Tucă's interview: "He is the financier!" It is the same one who financed Pro TV at the beginnings]. Pagina de Media (in Romanian). 2 September 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  21. ↑ "Adrian Sârbu vorbeşte despre noua investiţie în media, proiectul Aleph, care a început cu Aleph News, şi spune că Ronald Lauder este unul dintre parteneri". Ziarul Financiar (in Romanian). 3 September 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  22. 1 2 "FOTO. S-a lansat! Cum arată postul lui Adrian Sârbu? Cine sunt clienții de publicitate din prima zi?" [PHOTO. It launched! How does Adrian Sârbu's station look? Who are the advertising clients from the first day?]. Pagina de Media (in Romanian). 1 September 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  23. ↑ "Romania's Aleph Media Chooses RT Software for Multi-Format, 24-Hour News Channel". Sports Video Group. 12 April 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  24. ↑ "Aleph Media, Romania partners with RT Software solutions for multi-format 24 hour news channel" (Press release). RT Software. 12 April 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 Adelina Mărăcine (31 August 2020). "VIDEO Felix Drăghici și Costi Mocanu, emisiune la televiziunea lui Adrian Sârbu. Ce alți jurnaliști s-au alăturat postului Aleph News" [VIDEO Felix Drăghici and Costi Mocanu, show at Adrian Sârbu's television. What other journalists joined the Aleph News station]. Adevărul (in Romanian). Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  26. 1 2 3 "Noua televiziune a lui Adrian Sârbu, Aleph News, se lansează la începutul lunii septembrie". MediaStandard.ro (in Romanian). 31 August 2020.
  27. ↑ "Liviu Mihaiu, la televiziunea lui Adrian Sârbu. Ce emisiune va face?". Pagina de Media (in Romanian). 10 August 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  28. ↑ "EXCLUSIV. Costi Mocanu a plecat de la Aleph. Felix Drăghici, colegul lui, e acum la Antena 1" [EXCLUSIVE. Costi Mocanu left Aleph. Felix Drăghici, his colleague, is now at Antena 1]. Pagina de Media (in Romanian). 3 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  29. 1 2 Obae, Petrișor (2 February 2022). "„DIVORŢUL" Anului. EXCLUSIV. Marius Tucă pleacă de la Aleph-ul lui Adrian Sârbu" [The "DIVORCE" of the year. EXCLUSIVE. Marius Tucă leaves Adrian Sârbu's Aleph]. Paginademedia.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  30. ↑ Agiu, Melania (2 February 2022). "Marius Tucă pleacă de la postul Aleph News, deţinut de Adrian Sârbu, cu care era partener în alte proiecte media". Adevărul (in Romanian). Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  31. 1 2 "Știu pe ce lume trăiesc". alephnews.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  32. ↑ "ULTIMA ORĂ. Televiziunea lui Adrian Sârbu a intrat și la RCS-RDS" [LAST HOUR. Adrian Sârbu's television entered RCS-RDS as well]. Pagina de Media (in Romanian). 4 September 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  33. ↑ "CNA a publicat lista cu televiziunile care trebuie preluate obligatoriu de distribuitorii de programe TV în anul 2026" [CNA published the list of televisions that must be taken over compulsorily by TV programme distributors in 2026]. Forbes România (in Romanian). 4 February 2026. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  34. ↑ "FOTO. Sârbu a lansat posturile Smart TV şi Aleph Business. Unde se văd?" [PHOTO. Sârbu launched the Smart TV and Aleph Business stations. Where can they be seen?]. Pagina de Media (in Romanian). 8 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  35. ↑ Bunea, Iulia (25 June 2019). "Adrian Sârbu face trei televiziuni noi: un post de comedie, unul de business și unul de știri. A luat deja licențele". Pagina de Media (in Romanian). Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  36. ↑ "Adrian Sârbu: „Aleph este o revoluţie. Neînţeleasă încă…"". Pagina de Media (in Romanian). 9 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  37. 1 2 3 "Digi, obligat de noua lege să schimbe ordinea posturilor. Plângerile lui Sârbu i-au adus amenzi în trecut" [Digi, obliged by the new law to change the order of the stations. Sârbu's complaints brought it fines in the past]. Pagina de Media (in Romanian). 12 July 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  38. ↑ "Decizia nr. 458 din 15.12.2021 privind amendarea cu 10.000 lei a S.C. RCS & RDS S.A." (PDF) (in Romanian). Consiliul Național al Audiovizualului. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  39. ↑ "Decizia nr. 131 din 22.02.2022 privind amendarea cu 20.000 lei a S.C. RCS & RDS S.A." (PDF) (in Romanian). Consiliul Național al Audiovizualului. 22 February 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  40. ↑ "RCS amendat, din nou, din cauza Aleph News. Adrian Sârbu, în ședința CNA: „Noi suntem practic scoși de pe piață"" [RCS fined, again, because of Aleph News. Adrian Sârbu, in the CNA meeting: "We are practically taken off the market"]. Pagina de Media (in Romanian). 22 February 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  41. 1 2 Bunea, Iulia (9 September 2022). "Legea s-a schimbat, RCS tot nu schimbă grila și lasă Aleph la coadă!" [The law changed, RCS still does not change the grid and leaves Aleph at the tail!]. Pagina de Media (in Romanian). Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  42. ↑ Bunea, Iulia (10 May 2022). "După „modelul" Aleph, RCS primeşte încă o amendă pentru poziţionarea în grilă a televiziunii NCN" [After the Aleph "model", RCS receives one more fine for the positioning in the grid of the NCN television]. Paginademedia.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  43. ↑ Bunea, Iulia (1 June 2022). "Consiliul Concurenței investighează RCS pentru posibil abuz de poziție dominantă, după plângerea Aleph" [The Competition Council investigates RCS for possible abuse of dominant position, after the Aleph complaint]. Pagina de Media (in Romanian). Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  44. ↑ Cojocariu, Eugen (2022). "[RO] Promulgation of the modified audiovisual and cinematography legislation". IRIS Merlin (2022-8:1/25). European Audiovisual Observatory. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  45. ↑ Obae, Petrișor (6 October 2022). "ÎN SFÂRŞIT. Reţeaua RCS va pune Aleph şi toate staţiile de ştiri într-o singură zonă. Cum vor fi grupate pe teme în noua grilă Digi" [FINALLY. The RCS network will put Aleph and all the news stations in a single zone. How they will be grouped by themes in the new Digi grid]. Paginademedia.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  46. ↑ "Adrian Sârbu reclamă aranjarea posturilor în grila Digi: „E un abuz ca la RCS televiziunile de sport să fie înaintea celorlalte"". Pagina de Media (in Romanian). 21 July 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  47. ↑ Adriana Diură (6 September 2023). "Contre între Adrian Sârbu și membrii CNA pentru că RCS refuză să preia Aleph pe DTH" [Clashes between Adrian Sârbu and CNA members because RCS refuses to take over Aleph on DTH]. Pagina de Media (in Romanian). Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  48. ↑ "RCS&RDS se angajează să mențină stabilitatea grilei de programe, după o investigație a Concurenței". Profit.ro (in Romanian). 31 January 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  49. ↑ Alina Stanciu; Lidia Neagu (31 January 2024). "RCS&RDS s-a angajat să mențină stabilitatea grilei de programe, în urma unei investigații a Concurenţei care vizează posibila folosire în mod abuziv a poziției dominante". Economica.net (in Romanian). Retrieved 28 September 2026.
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