9Live was a commercial German participation TV channel launched on September 1, 2001 and lasted until August 9, 2011. It originated from a channel called tm3. Most of its programming is lottery and quiz games, in which the viewer can participate over the phone. An English version also broadcast in the UK in late 2004 and early 2005, during E4's downtime hours.

9Live belonged to ProSiebenSat.1 Media and was also responsible for phone-votes and nightly quiz-shows on Sat.1, ProSieben, Kabel Eins and N24. Sometimes, 9Live broadcasts programs of those channels.

The channel financed itself mainly through money paid for the phone calls. Regardless of whether the calling party would have the chance to talk to the quiz host, they would pay 50 euro cent to call from Germany or 70 cents from Austria. The former CEO, Christiane zu Salm, sees the channel as "participation TV" ("Mitmachfernsehen").

The games were legally controversial. In German law, there is the distinction between "Glücksspiel" (gambling) and "Gewinnspiel" (competition), the latter theoretically being gambling without money being bet. Gambling is not allowed on German television. In court, 9 Live defended itself with the argument that a phone call does not cost more than sending a postcard to advertisement-financed lotteries of magazines and TV-shows, which themselves are considered a "Gewinnspiel".

The total revenue of 9Live was 60.6 million euro in the year 2002 and 78.7 million in 2003. For comparison, during broadcast the channel proudly claims to have paid out close to one million euro in November 2004 alone.

9Live also featured a wide range of humorous and comical moderators. One name worth mentioning is Alida Lauenstein, winner of Big Brother Germany, who can be seen moderating from time to time.

The most recent slogan from 2006 until its final air date was "Heute ist mein Tag" ("Today's my day").

The channel has also diversified by airing telenovelas and lifestyle programming in the afternoon, under the title "Neun TV".

9Live broadcast from the Astra 1KR, 1L, and 3A satellites and is uplinked by SES Platform Services.

On May 31, 2011 9Live replaced its programming with old sitcoms from the ProSiebenSat1-archive and AstroTV. Although the channel still aired its original television series, the game shows were replaced with infomercials and horoscope readings. In its final moments, all of the current and former moderators gathered in the studios to share their memories of working with 9Live. In an ending similar to the final scene in The Truman Show, moderator Thomas Schuermann looked at the camera and said "in case we don't see you, Good Afternoon, Good Evening, and Good Night."

9Live was finally shut down on August 9, 2011.

Criticism[link]

Critics accuse 9 Live of deceiving people about their chances, for example by deliberately keeping the rules of the quiz vague, alternating them randomly and rarely explaining them even if a solution is presented.

The channel attracted attention to itself when it announced a "show for the unemployed", in which the caller had the chance of winning employment. Minister of Labour Walter Riester called the idea absurd and cynical.

There is also criticism over the channel's late night programming, which features soft core pornography and phone sex advertisements.

Sources[link]

• [1] post about lottery law in Germany (German)
• [2] German Wikipedia entry from January 2005

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Site (German)
• Livestream (German) (In Germany, the time is UTC+1)
• Abzocke mit undurchsichtigen Spielregeln? Critical clip as part of the ARD TV magazine plusminus (German)
• article of "Report Mainz" about the planned show for the unemployed (German)