Medialaan


Medialaan was a Belgian company, best known as parent company of the first Flemish commercial television station: VTM. In 2018 De Persgroep acquired a 50 percent stake in Medialaan and rebranded the company as DPG Media.

History

Medialaan was founded in 1987 as Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij by nine Flemish newspaper and magazine publishers, each with an 11.1% share, Perexma, Roularta, TVV, IUM, Almaspar, De Vlijt, Hoste, Concentra, and Drukkerij Het Volk. Several TV and radio sister stations, generally targeting a more specific segment of the Flemish audience, have been added. Since 1998, De Persgroep and the Roularta Media Group each have a 50% share of the company. On 31 May 1999 the name was changed to Vlaamse Media Maatschappij , and in February 2014 the name was again changed to Medialaan, reflecting the street in Vilvoorde on which it is located.
In 2018 De Persgroep acquired Roularta's 50 percent stake in Medialaan. Roularta received a 50 percent stake in Mediafin and 217.5 million euros in cash. This turned De Persgroep into the sole owner of Medialaan. On 23 May 2019, The company merged Medialaan with its newspaper and magazine publishing holdings. The combined company took on the name of DPG Media, and slowly started to phase out the Medialaan name, though it can still be found on emails from its properties.

Rivalry with the VRT

Medialaan's main competitor was the Flemish public broadcaster VRT; their rivalry even has a nickname 'Mediaoorlog', and it supposed suspension Pax media. Woestijnvis, which incorporated the former Flemish SBS-stations, is a more distant third, other stations are minor.

Television channels

Final channels
Former channels
Qgroup is the holding for the radiostations of Medialaan. The group is active in Belgium & The Netherlands.
Final radio stations
Former radio stations
Medialaan owns 3 MVNO's
Medialaan has 2 on demand services: