In 1995, Hakan Çizem launched Kanal E, Turkey's first channel dedicated to economic news.
Korkmaz Yiğit, the owner of Kanal 6, one of Turkey's first private channels, acquired Kanal E in 1998,[1] along with Yeni Yüzyıl, Ateş, and Milliyet newspapers, to expand his media center. However, Yiğit's legal troubles in the late 1990s forced him to sell all his media properties, mostly back to their original owners.[2] Kanal E was later sold to Doğuş Group, which also owned the continuous news channel NTV.
Seeking to promote the channel using a globally recognized brand, Doğuş Holding partnered with NBC Universal, the owner of CNBC, to rebrand Kanal E as CNBC-e, with 50% ownership by NBC Universal and the remainder by Doğuş Holding. CNBC-e divided its programming into daytime and evening segments.
From 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM local time, CNBC-e targeted professionals and individual investors with real-time access to economic and market information. From 6:00 PM onwards, it aired series from American TV channels like FOX, HBO, The CW, ABC, NBC, and CBS, along with feature films, either with original subtitles or Turkish dubbing. Weekends included a Nickelodeon block for children.
On September 9, 2011, HD-en, a high-definition TV channel broadcasting programs from NTV, NTV Spor, CNBC-e, and e2, rebranded as HDe, the high-definition version of CNBC-e, and began simultaneous broadcasting. On September 12, 2011, the channel switched to a 16:9 aspect ratio. NTV Spor HD, for broadcasting sports events in HD, launched on July 23, 2012.
The SD version of HD-en, planned to be released as TV-en, was canceled after Doğuş Holding acquired Star TV, transferring the planned TV-en programs to Star TV instead.
The visual design of the channel's logo was inspired by the color codes of the peafowl logo of the parent channel NBC.
Censorship
The channel faced multiple administrative fines from Turkey's Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) for the content of many American-origin movies and series, as well as the advertisements[3][4] aired during these shows.[5] This put the channel's management in a dilemma, as fans wanted to watch the series in their original form, while RTÜK demanded the removal of scenes involving sexuality and homosexuality.[6] CNBC-e chose to be transparent with its viewers, explaining the reasons for scene cuts or penalties through detailed messages. Tobacco products were censored using a flower symbol, and self-censorship was applied in Nickelodeon block cartoons with their own dubbing.
Closure
Discovery Communications decided to acquire CNBC-e, a national economy and series channel owned by Doğuş Media Group. The acquisition was officially completed in October 2015. On November 6, 2015, CNBC-e ceased broadcasting, replaced by TLC Turkey, as announced on CNBC-e’s official Facebook page and website.
The channel ended its broadcast after airing the show Shameless on November 5, 2015.[7]
Post-acquisition, the cnbce.com economic portal was moved to ntvpara.com.
Since 2022, former CNBC-e employees, including former general manager Artunç Kocabalkan, hinted at the channel's revival. Kocabalkan stated, "Our team has been working to bring CNBC back to Turkey since September 2021."[8]
In 2023, the current owner, İlbak Holding,[9] and CNBC's[10] websites officially announced the channel's reopening. In 2024, the return was promoted through billboards referencing channel's comeback.[11]
The official social media accounts announced the channel's relaunch on June 10, 2024, and as stated, the channel resumed broadcasting on that date.[12]
