A1 Televizija (Macedonian: А1 телевизија) or just A1 was a television channel in the Republic of North Macedonia. The second privately owned commercial television station in the country (after Teko TV), it broadcast from 22 January 1993 to 31 July 2011.
Programmes
A1 Television was founded on 22 January 1993, as the first private and independent TV station in Macedonia. The number of employees at its peak was approximately 200 (managing and editorial board, journalists, reporters, presenters, technical staff, marketing, administration) and a large number of correspondents and external cooperators. A1 TV broadcast content in a wide variety of genres including Information, Culture, Arts, Documentaries, Entertainment, Sports and Children's. The main element was the Informative program – central news bulletins at 19:00 and 23:00, short news at 16:00, round tables, interviews and dialogues.
The station's flagship news bulletin was under the banner A1 Vesti A1 News with the central bulletin at 7 pm. It was presented by Tatjana Stojanovska.
According to most television polls, A1 TV dominated as the most watched TV Broadcaster in Macedonia, even more watched than the public broadcaster Macedonian Radio Television. In February 2001, A1 TV was the first television station that broke the news about the 2001 Macedonian conflict, when its journalist Snežana Lupevska and the television crew, who were intending to do a report about the life in that area, were kidnapped by the armed ethnic Albanian guerrilla gunmen in the Macedonian village of Tanuševci, on the Macedonia-Kosovo border.
On 2 July 2008, A1 launched its second TV channel called A2. A2 aired older TV-Serials that have previously been broadcast on A1 and brand new content including TV serials, movies and cartoons.
On 31 July 2011, it was announced that the station has been dissolved following a bankruptcy proceeding due to accumulated debt of over €30 million. The station's owner Velija Ramkovski along with part of the management spent time in detention over the issue for a few months. Velija Ramkovski was then taken to jail by the Macedonian police and has been in jail since.