Televizioni Klan

TV Klan (also known as Televizioni Klan or Klan TV) is a private national television network in Albania. Based in Tirana, it was launched on 25 October 1997 and later became one of the country's two national private television broadcasters. It is the flagship outlet of the Klan media group, which also includes Klan Plus, Klan News, Klan Macedonia, Radio Klan and associated online services. TV Klan was founded by Aleksandër Frangaj, Marsel Skendo and Julien Roche through the company Media 6. The company was later renamed TV Klan Sh.A.; by 2016, ownership had been consolidated by Frangaj and his wife Alba Gina, who held 60% and 40% of the shares respectively. According to the Media Ownership Monitor, TV Klan is one of Albania's largest media groups and the biggest free-to-air media company in the country by revenues and profits. The station broadcasts a mixture of news, political discussion, entertainment, comedy, reality television, music programmes and imported serials. It is particularly associated with the long-running political talk show Opinion, hosted by Blendi Fevziu, and with entertainment formats such as E Diela Shqiptare, Stop, Dance with Me, Kënga Magjike and Love Island Albania. Media-freedom organisations and ownership monitors have repeatedly cited TV Klan within broader concerns about concentration, political influence and the overlap between media ownership, construction, real estate and government-regulated business sectors in Albania. Media Ownership Monitor has described Klan as maintaining amicable relations with successive governments and as having been accused of receiving benefits for a pro-government editorial line, including large volumes of government advertising in the past. In 2025, BIRN and media-freedom experts also linked companies connected to the owners of Albania's main national broadcasters, including TV Klan, with state-backed strategic-investment benefits, raising concerns about editorial independence and media pluralism. History Founding and early years TV Klan was established in 1997 during the period of rapid expansion of private broadcasting in post-communist Albania. It began as part of Media 6, a company created by Aleksandër Frangaj, Marsel Skendo and Julien Roche. The station started broadcasting on 25 October 1997 and received one of Albania's two national private television licences in 2001. The channel's early programming combined news bulletins, imported entertainment formats, Albanian-language productions and political debate. The station became one of the main competitors of Top Channel and the public broadcaster RTSH. In the early 2000s, its national coverage and popularity grew together with the spread of private television, cable and satellite broadcasting in Albania. On 1 August 1998, TV Klan aired its first news report. Early retrospectives by the channel have described the first chronicle as covering the murder of Taulant Buça. By 2002, surveys cited by the Albanian Media Institute reported that TV Klan had become one of the country's most-watched private television stations. Expansion of the group The Klan brand expanded from a single broadcaster into a media group with television, radio and digital interests. Media Ownership Monitor lists Klan's television and radio assets as including TV Klan, Klan Plus, Klan News, Klan Macedonia and Radio Klan, while also noting the Frangaj family's minority interest in ABC News. The group also developed the online service Klani Im, which offers live streaming and programme access through mobile applications and the web. In 2004, the group initiated the satellite platform Satellite+, and in 2006 it launched the sports pay-television platform Supersport through shares held by Alba Gina. Supersport was later sold and merged with DigitAlb. The channel is available by terrestrial digital transmission in Albania and through satellite and pay-television services such as DigitAlb and Tring Digital. TV Klan began broadcasting in high definition in 2012. The station has presented itself as one of the first Albanian national broadcasters to transmit continuously in HD. Satellite databases list Klan HD on Albanian satellite packages and show changes to the channel's distribution through DigitAlb and other platforms. In 2018, TV Klan announced that it had acquired the assets of Art Channel, an Albanian-language broadcaster in North Macedonia. The channel was relaunched as Klan Macedonia (Klan Maqedonia), extending the Klan brand into the Albanian-speaking media market in North Macedonia. According to the Media Ownership Monitor for North Macedonia, Klan Macedonia is part of the Frangaj family's wider regional media activity. Radio and digital services Radio Klan operates under the same group. In 2020, the Audiovisual Media Authority reported that Radio Klan had become the third private radio station to receive national-frequency status in Albania. The group's digital presence includes the TV Klan website, social-media channels, the Klani Im application and web-based live streaming. Ownership and business interests TV Klan Sh.A. is owned by Aleksandër Frangaj and Alba Gina, who hold 60% and 40% of the shares respectively. The current ownership structure was completed in December 2016, when Ervin Gjikola sold his 20% stake to Aleksandër Frangaj, increasing Frangaj's ownership from 40% to 60%. According to OpenCorporates Albania, TV Klan reported annual turnover of 2.321 billion lek in 2024 and 2.463 billion lek in 2023. Media Ownership Monitor has described the Klan group as Albania's largest free-to-air media company by revenues and profits and as one of the few groups controlling a major share of the national television market. Frangaj, a former journalist and co-founder of the daily newspaper Koha Jonë, expanded from media into several other sectors. Media Ownership Monitor lists business interests associated with the Frangaj family or Klan group in construction, real estate, television production, lottery and telecommunications, including AS Construction, Irea.al, Media 66, Portat e Fatit and Towers Network Albania. The same source notes that the family's media interests have included TV Klan, Radio Klan, Klan Plus, Klan News, Klan Macedonia, Klan's online services and a minority position in ABC News. Media-freedom researchers have linked this ownership model to a wider pattern in Albania in which influential media companies are controlled by family-owned groups with substantial non-media businesses. The Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom's 2026 Media Pluralism Monitor assessed Albania as high risk overall and very high risk in market plurality, noting that the market is dominated by a few family-owned conglomerates, including Klan, Top Media and Media Vizion, and that these groups also invest in heavily regulated non-media sectors. Reporters Without Borders has similarly stated that Albania's most influential private-sector media are owned by a small number of companies with links to the political world and to highly regulated sectors such as construction. The organisation has warned that media independence in Albania is threatened by conflicts of interest between business and politics, partisan regulation and intimidation of journalists. Editorial line and media-freedom criticism Alleged pro-government alignment TV Klan has frequently been discussed in Albania's media-freedom literature as part of a system in which large private broadcasters cultivate relations with political power. Media Ownership Monitor states that TV Klan is known for cultivating amicable relations with different governments and has been accused of receiving rewards for a pro-government editorial line, including large volumes of government-paid advertising in the past. The description refers to successive governments rather than a single party, although more recent media-freedom criticism has focused on the period of Edi Rama's Socialist Party governments. In 2014, Balkan Insight and the South East European Media Observatory reported that Albanian television stations closer to government often received rewards through public advertising budgets. The investigation stated that five companies tied to Frangaj received a total of 103 million lek in advertising from state institutions over two years, far more than some rival broadcasters, and that public contracts were awarded to companies connected to TV Klan managers or Frangaj family members. The report concerned public advertising during the government of Sali Berisha and has been cited as an example of the long-running clientelistic relationship between Albanian governments and media owners. The wider problem of state-linked media finance has continued under later governments. RSF has described state funding as a major revenue source for Albanian media and warned that its opaque and discriminatory distribution raises suspicions of influence peddling. The Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom has also reported that ownership concentration and the overlap between political, economic and editorial interests undermine independence and encourage self-censorship in Albanian newsrooms. Strategic-investor benefits and clientelism concerns In August 2025, BIRN Albania reported that companies connected to the owners of Albania's three main national private broadcasters—Klan, Top Channel and Vizion Plus—had benefited from government strategic-investor schemes or related projects. The report argued that such benefits raised concerns that state-backed economic advantages could affect editorial independence in a market where the same broadcasters control a large share of the audience. According to the report, Aleksandër Frangaj became linked to the strategic-investment scheme after purchasing the "White Roads" hotel project from the Gjikuria company in April 2025. The project had previously received strategic-investor status in 2022, together with 9,000 square metres of public land at a symbolic rent of one euro; in August 2023 the Strategic Investment Committee approved an additional 22,000 square metres of public land for the resort, and at the end of 2023 it received "5-star accommodation structure—special status" with additional fiscal and procedural advantages. Media experts quoted by BIRN warned that when media owners are involved in heavily regulated businesses, journalists may avoid reporting critically on issues that affect the owner's commercial interests. Blerjana Bino, a media researcher, argued that national television stations with broad audience control were increasingly moving toward propaganda and avoiding critical reporting on issues of public interest, while Koloreto Cukali of the Albanian Media Council described the relationship between media-related businesses and government benefits as damaging to journalism. The article also quoted opposition politician Arlind Qori, who argued that benefiting from public property and state funds in a corrupt institutional environment could not avoid affecting editorial independence. These allegations are disputed in the broader Albanian political context, where governments usually present strategic-investor schemes as instruments for economic development, tourism and job creation. However, media-freedom organisations have argued that the combination of concentrated ownership, state economic benefits and the limited transparency of media financing creates a structural risk for pluralism and accountability. 2025 election coverage During the 2025 Albanian parliamentary election, BIRN Albania analysed audiovisual media monitoring data published by the Audiovisual Media Authority. The report focused on 18 central television stations with the highest national reach and included a qualitative analysis of the flagship political talk shows Opinion on TV Klan, Top Story on Top Channel and Quo Vadis on Vizion Plus. Across the 18 monitored stations, BIRN found that the two largest political forces dominated news coverage: the opposition Alliance for a Great Albania received 9,049 minutes, or 51% of total news-bulletin electoral coverage, while the Socialist Party received 7,624 minutes, or 42.9%. All other electoral subjects together received only 1,085 minutes, or 6.1%. On the three leading private national stations—Top Channel, TV Klan and Vizion Plus—the Socialist Party slightly outpaced its main rival in news-bulletin airtime, receiving 52% of electoral airtime compared with 44.5% for the Alliance for a Great Albania; all other subjects combined received less than 4%. The monitoring also found a highly personalised campaign narrative built around Edi Rama and Sali Berisha. In news bulletins on the three main private national broadcasters, Edi Rama dominated individual political-actor coverage with 49.4% of airtime, while Sali Berisha received 42% and all other actors received 7.8%. BIRN concluded that Albanian flagship political talk shows appeared pluralistic in format but provided limited balanced confrontation, relying instead on pre-set formats, leader-centred narratives and editorial choices that privileged visibility over scrutiny. A preliminary statement by international election observers for the 2025 elections found that the campaign was competitive but lacked a level playing field and was marked by widespread misuse of public resources, institutional advantages for the ruling party and concerns over pressure on voters and public employees. Media-freedom analysts connected the media-monitoring imbalance to broader concerns over ownership concentration and self-censorship among journalists. Broadcasting outlets Television Radio and online Programming News and political programming TV Klan's news output includes daily bulletins and special coverage of national and international developments. Its best-known political programme is Opinion, hosted by Blendi Fevziu, which has been one of Albania's longest-running political talk shows and a major platform for party leaders, government officials, analysts and public figures. Other political or investigative formats associated with TV Klan include Stop, a satirical-investigative programme focused on consumer complaints, administrative abuses and local social problems, and Uniko, a crime-investigation programme. The channel has also aired special election programmes, interviews with party leaders and campaign debates. Entertainment and reality television TV Klan has developed a large entertainment schedule, including music shows, Sunday variety programmes, comedy, talent shows, dance competitions and reality formats. Among its best-known entertainment productions are E Diela Shqiptare, Dance with Me, Kënga Magjike, Këngët e Shekullit, Gjeniu i Vogël, X Factor Albania, Love Island Albania, Your Face Sounds Familiar, Aldo Morning Show, Rudina, Jo Vetëm Modë, Xing me Ermalin and Klanifornia. The channel also broadcasts imported serials, particularly Turkish dramas, Latin American telenovelas and selected American and European series. In the 2000s and 2010s, imported serials were a significant part of TV Klan's afternoon and evening schedule, while later years saw a stronger emphasis on local entertainment, talk formats and reality television. Selected programmes Reception and influence TV Klan has been one of the most influential private television stations in Albania since the early 2000s. Media Ownership Monitor has described it as a national station with a broad mix of entertainment and information content and as part of one of the country's largest media groups. Its political talk show Opinion has been treated by researchers as one of the flagship formats shaping electoral discourse, alongside Top Story on Top Channel and Quo Vadis on Vizion Plus. At the same time, the channel's influence has made its editorial position and ownership structure subjects of frequent scrutiny. In Albania's highly polarised media environment, ownership concentration, large non-media business interests and dependence on state-related benefits have been cited as factors that can limit critical reporting. RSF, the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom, Media Ownership Monitor and BIRN have all raised concerns about the structural vulnerability of major Albanian broadcasters, including TV Klan, to political and economic influence. See also Television in Albania Mass media in Albania Audiovisual Media Authority (Albania) Top Channel Klan Kosova ABC News (Albania) Klan Macedonia Opinion (Albanian TV program) References External links Official website Klani Im streaming platform