OUTTV (stylized as OUTtv) is a European-based television channel which can be viewed via cable television/digital television as a premium channel in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Israel, Portugal and Spain. OUTtv reaches more than 10 million households in Europe and Israel. It was launched on 2 April 2008 by OutTV Media B.V. and has been available on cable since 4 April 2008.
OUTtv was initiated by Marc Putman, who started the channel thanks to a business background in the digital television industry and by various private investors, whereby the brand was registered in Europe independently. The channel was launched on Wednesday 2 April in Amsterdam, initially for the Netherlands only, but there was an interest from other distributors outside the Netherlands. The first the channel outside the Netherlands was launched with a Swedish version in Sweden in 2010 at Comhem (now Tele2). Afterwards followed new expansions, in 2010 in Belgium and the OUTtv Deutschland channel was launched in 2012 and in Luxembourg in 2014. The Spanish tv-channel started in 2016 at Orange ES. In Israel, the channel was launched at HOT -named PRIDEtv- with a Hebrew subtitles in 2018.
At the initial launch in 2008 the OutTV Canada channel also was with the same name launched a couple of years earlier in Canada. Some of the programmes were licensed initially with support of OUTtv in Canada.OUTtv Signs Licensing Deal to Create the Netherlands` First Gay Lifestyle Television Network ; Echelon Magazine, 2008-04-24
An HD-simulcast started through Ziggo in the Netherlands on 30 November 2017. Since 2025 all European operators offer the HD version with mostly catch-up services.
Programming and audience OUTtv is a lifestyle and entertainment channel which offers a broad range of programs, such as drama, comedy, talk shows, documentaries and films. Its content is mostly targeted towards the LGBTQ community, and its main audience consists of gay men, though there is a high percentage of 40% female (mainly straight) viewers.
Series and films OUTtv differentiates itself with a varied programming of quality shows and qualitative art-house films.
Several well-known shows which are or were broadcast on OUTtv are: Queer as Folk, (US edition) - the first major gay-tv series showing a gay lifestyle RuPaul's Drag Race - multiple Grammy Award winning series - being broadcast first in Europe by OUTtv Six Feet Under - premium HBO tv-series The Golden Girls- classical tv comedy from the eighties and nineties, highly popular among the gay-audience La Veneno - TV series that stimulated the adaptation of the transgender law in Spain Award winning LGBTQ+ arthouse films - daily broadcast on the channel provided by its film distribution daughter CINEMIEN
OUTtv also broadcasts their own productions, such as the current affairs programmes OUTtv News and OUTtv Reports; and the travel show Travel Experience, hosted by Ian van der Putten. It has shown specials covering several pride celebrations, the yearly Emmy Awards live from LA and the Eurovision Song Contest. OUTtv supports via its film distribution subsidiaries Cinemien Deutschland and Cinemien Benelux to produce film productions and distribute films in various European countries.
Availability Country ProviderCaiwayDeltaOdidoKPNZiggoTelenetOrange BelgiumProximusTele2OrangeTivifyunder brand name PRIDEtvHotMeoPOST LuxembourgNetCologneMagentaTVWaipuJoyn Next to European tv-operators OUTtv has closed a European partnership since 2020 with Amazon Prime; subscribers can select the OUTtv channel as a separate option including an on-demand catalogue.
OUTmusic Part of the daily programming is the music channel OUTmusic, offering daily a mix of classic music videoclips and popular clips of today combined with specific space for (upcoming) queer music artists. On March 1, 2010, OUTtv started its own internet radio station under the name OUTmusic. This channel mostly targets gay men and “like-minded” listeners and primarily brings new and well-known hits of the 1990s and 2000s. In the evening lounge music can be heard and in the weekend well-known Gay Classics. Next to the standard programme blocks, OUTmusic also offers room for pop divas, well-known DJs of famous gay clubs, new artists and the Eurovision Song Contest.
OUTmusic Award Since OUTmusic's launch in 2010, OUTtv has presented the OUTmusic Award, an award given annually honoring the favorite Eurovision Song Contest entry by viewers. The winner of the award is determined through a large-scale online poll conducted every year in March and April and is announced before the start of the contest in order to avoid influencing the voting patterns of the contest's LGBT audience. The prize is personally awarded to the winner during OutTV's annual Eurovision Calling programme.
+Table keyWinnerThird placeEntry selected but did not competeUpcoming event
Year Country Artist Song Place Points Host city Lena "Satellite" 1 246 Oslo Eric Saade "Popular" 3 185 Düsseldorf Loreen "Euphoria" 1 372 Baku Emmelie de Forest "Only Teardrops" 1 281 Malmö Sanna Nielsen "Undo" 3 218 Copenhagen Måns Zelmerlöw "Heroes" 1 365 Vienna Sergey Lazarev "You Are the Only One" 3 491 Stockholm Francesco Gabbani "Occidentali's Karma" 6 334 Kyiv Netta "Toy" 1 529 Lisbon Duncan Laurence "Arcade" 1 498 Tel Aviv Victoria "Tears Getting Sober" colspan="2" X Rotterdam Destiny "Je me casse" 7 255 Rotterdam Kalush Orchestra "Stefania" 1 631 Turin Loreen "Tattoo" 1 583 Liverpool Nemo "The Code" 1 591 Malmö KAJ "Bara bada bastu" 4 321 Basel
See also Szivárvány TV Notes
References