Top Channel

Top Channel (often abbreviated as TCH) is an Albanian national commercial television network based in Tirana, Albania. It was founded by media entrepreneur Dritan Hoxha and officially launched on 20 December 2001 after experimental broadcasts earlier that year. The channel is part of Top Media, a family-controlled media conglomerate that includes television, radio, digital and distribution assets such as DigitAlb, Top News and Top Albania Radio. Top Channel became one of Albania's most influential private broadcasters in the 2000s, combining daily news bulletins, political talk shows, entertainment, comedy, reality television and investigative or satirical programming. Its best-known programmes have included Fiks Fare, Portokalli, Top Story, E Diell, Top Show, Shqip, Top Fest, The Voice of Albania, Big Brother Albania and Big Brother VIP Albania. Because of its audience reach and ownership structure, Top Channel has also been discussed in studies of media concentration, political influence and media capture in Albania. The Media Ownership Monitor has described Top Channel as having long carried a public perception of closeness to Edi Rama, while also noting periods of conflict with Rama's government and periods in which the broadcaster aired critical stories about it. Wider assessments by Reporters Without Borders, the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom and Albanian civil-society monitors have described Albania's media market as highly concentrated in the hands of a few family-owned groups with non-media business interests, creating risks of political and economic pressure on editorial independence. History Founding and early development In the 1990s, Dritan Hoxha, an entrepreneur associated with the coffee-import business in Tirana, entered the Albanian media market with Top Albania Radio. He later founded Top Channel as the television branch of what became Top Media Group. The channel began experimental broadcasts on 30 July 2001 from the International Centre for Culture, commonly known as the Pyramid of Tirana, and officially launched on 20 December 2001. Top Channel expanded quickly during the early 2000s. A survey cited by the channel in 2003 ranked it as the most-watched television station in Albania, with a reported audience share of 50%, up from 11.9% in 2002. Its growth coincided with the development of entertainment formats, improved studio production, an emphasis on current-affairs programming and the rise of Albania's commercial television market. In 2004, Dritan Hoxha launched the pay-television platform DigitAlb, strengthening Top Media's distribution position and allowing Top Channel and related channels to be distributed through satellite and subscription services. Since September 2003, Top Channel has also been available by satellite in Europe through DigitAlb and through Albanian-language television packages serving diaspora communities. Technology and broadcasting Top Channel adopted widescreen broadcasting and high-definition production during the late 2000s and early 2010s. It has broadcast in standard-definition and high-definition formats and has been distributed terrestrially, by satellite, through cable and IPTV providers, and through DigitAlb's online and OTT services. Its programming has also been accessible to the Albanian diaspora in countries such as the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Germany and Italy through Albanian-language television packages and online platforms. The channel was initially based inside the Pyramid of Tirana. On 18 March 2013, following a decision by the Supreme Court of Albania, Top Channel was evicted from the building. The Albanian Media Institute reported that Top Channel described the eviction as politically motivated and that the broadcaster had claimed a lease valid until 2025 under a decision of the Council of Ministers during the Sali Berisha government. The channel later moved its studios and headquarters to Kashar, near Tirana. After Dritan Hoxha's death Dritan Hoxha died on 23 May 2008 in a car accident. After his death, the companies he founded were inherited by his widow Vjollca Hoxha and their children Lorela, Sara, Redia and Itan Hoxha. According to the Media Ownership Monitor, Vjollca Hoxha kept a low public profile for several years but became more directly involved in Top Channel's administration in 2015, when she filed a lawsuit against other shareholders over ownership of the company. The ownership dispute concerned shares that Vjollca Hoxha alleged had been transferred without her consent. In 2017, she won control of 100% of Top Channel together with her children, according to the 2018 Media Ownership Monitor profile. A later 2023 profile by the same project stated that the legal saga ended when the Supreme Court of Albania recognized Dritan Hoxha's heirs as the sole shareholders. 2023 attack on headquarters On 27 March 2023, gunmen opened fire on Top Channel's headquarters near Tirana, killing security guard Pal Kola. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Albanian authorities to investigate whether the attack was connected to the broadcaster's work and to ensure that those responsible were brought to justice. Press-freedom organisations including the European Federation of Journalists, the International Press Institute, Article 19 and others condemned the killing and urged a swift investigation. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay also condemned the killing, saying attacks on media institutions and personnel undermine freedom of expression. Top Channel described the shooting as a terrorist attack on the broadcaster and stated that Kola had been on duty in front of the building when he was killed. The motive for the attack was not immediately established. Ownership and management Top Channel is owned through Top Media, a group of companies controlled by the Hoxha family. The Media Ownership Monitor has described the Hoxha family as controlling one of Albania's largest media groups, including Top Channel, Top News, Top Albania Radio, Top Gold, My Music, DigitAlb and other companies. The group developed around Dritan Hoxha's radio and television ventures and later expanded into pay television, digital broadcasting, publishing, music distribution and other businesses. Top Media is not a single legal entity but a group of companies, according to the Media Ownership Monitor. Financial and ownership data for Top Channel, Top Albania Radio and DigitAlb have been obtained from Albania's National Business Centre, while audience data in the monitor was based on market measurements available to the project. The concentration of these assets has made Top Media one of the main examples cited in studies of cross-media ownership in Albania. The Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom's 2026 Albania profile identified Top Media, owned by the Hoxha family, among the country's largest family-owned media conglomerates, alongside Klan and Media Vizion. It stated that the Albanian media market is highly concentrated and that major groups often have investments in other regulated sectors, making them potentially vulnerable to government pressure. Reporters Without Borders has similarly stated that Albania's most influential private-sector media are owned by a handful of companies with links to the political world and to highly regulated sectors such as construction. Editorial line and political criticism Relationship with governments Top Channel's political positioning has changed over time and has been the subject of public debate. In the 2000s, Dritan Hoxha and Top Channel were involved in public conflicts with the government of Sali Berisha, including over satellite broadcasting and the channel's investigations into corruption allegations concerning the Democratic Party-led government. The Media Ownership Monitor stated that these conflicts helped create a public perception that Top Channel was close to Edi Rama, who at the time was the mayor of Tirana and the leader of the opposition Socialist Party of Albania. The same monitor also noted that Top Channel later aired critical stories targeting Rama's government, which some observers interpreted as a change in editorial line after many years. In November 2022, Rama publicly accused Top Channel of seeking payment from a government agency for promotional programming; Top Channel denied the allegations and described the prime minister's comments as attacks following critical reporting. Because of these fluctuations, the channel is best described in encyclopedic terms as a major private broadcaster whose editorial line and ownership have repeatedly been scrutinized in the wider context of Albania's politicized media market, rather than as a formally party-affiliated outlet. Media-freedom organisations and ownership monitors have generally framed the problem as structural: concentrated ownership, opaque funding, state advertising or public benefits, and the dependence of media owners on non-media businesses that may require government permits or concessions. Pro-government and clientelism allegations Top Channel has been included in broader criticism that Albania's main national broadcasters have often favoured the governing Socialist Party or have operated within a system of media capture and clientelism. In 2021, Exit News reported, based on data from the Audiovisual Media Authority (AMA), that Albanian television stations had given preference to Prime Minister Edi Rama, the Socialist Party and its candidates during the first weeks of the parliamentary-election campaign. In 2025, BIRN Albania published an independent analysis of audiovisual media coverage during Albania's parliamentary election campaign, based on daily monitoring data from AMA. The report examined 18 central television stations and found that the two largest political forces dominated airtime, while smaller parties had limited visibility and several forms of electoral-code violations were recorded across audiovisual media. BIRN's qualitative sample included Top Story on Top Channel among three flagship prime-time political talk shows, together with Opinion on TV Klan and Quo Vadis on Vizion Plus. A 2025 investigation by VNA/BIRN about state-granted strategic-investor benefits reported that companies linked to the families behind Albania's three private national broadcasters had benefited from strategic-investor status or related state advantages. The article stated that behind the company Anima Con stood Lorela Hoxha, a director and shareholder of Top Media, and that the company had obtained strategic-investor status in April 2025 for a hotel project in Tirana. The same article cited experts and media-freedom advocates who argued that such benefits risk creating self-censorship and weakening the editorial independence of broadcasters whose owners depend on administrative favours, public property, permits or other state decisions. During the 2025 campaign, according to the same VNA/BIRN article, the Socialist Party received 52% of news-broadcast time on the three private national television stations—TV Klan, Top Channel and Vizion Plus—compared with 44.5% for the opposition Alliance for a Greater Albania, while all other electoral candidates received less than 4%. The article presented this as part of a wider pattern in which Albania's dominant broadcasters, which together control a large share of the television audience, have become intertwined with state-controlled economic benefits and political power. International organisations have also described the Albanian electoral and media environment as problematic. The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights stated in its final report on the 2025 parliamentary elections that the vote was competitive and professionally managed but did not provide contestants with a level playing field, citing misuse of public resources, pressure on public employees and the need to require political party and government footage to be labelled as political advertising and banned from news and editorial programmes. Coverage of civic protests Top Channel has also been criticised by some commentators and civic groups for the way it has covered anti-government protests and controversies surrounding major development projects. In June 2026, a commentary published by the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) on the Flamingo Revolution and the proposed Zvërnec tourism development accused mainstream Albanian media of ignoring live coverage or spreading disinformation and specifically stated that Top Channel and ABC News had aired AI-generated images claiming Greek sponsorship of the protests. The commentary placed this within a broader allegation of captured media and efforts to delegitimise civic mobilisation. Such allegations remain politically contested and should be attributed to the organisations or commentators making them. They nonetheless reflect a recurring theme in assessments of Albanian media: that ownership concentration, state benefits, business interests and political pressure create incentives for editorial alignment with the government, particularly for national broadcasters with major business exposure. Programming Top Channel is a generalist channel with news, political debate, investigative satire, reality television, comedy, entertainment and lifestyle programming. Its programming strategy has frequently mixed local formats with adapted international formats. Over the years it has reduced the role of foreign films and imported series in favour of domestic entertainment and studio-based productions. News and current affairs Top Channel airs daily news bulletins and special reports covering Albanian politics, economy, crime, culture, international events and developments in Kosovo and the wider region. Its news division has traditionally been one of the channel's most visible components, alongside current-affairs programmes such as Top Story, Top Show and Shqip. Top Story has served as a political talk show and investigative-debate format, hosted at different times by figures such as Sokol Balla and Grida Duma. Shqip, hosted by Rudina Xhunga, was one of Top Channel's best-known political interview programmes during the 2000s and early 2010s. Top Show, hosted by Alban Dudushi, covered politics, society, culture and public debate before being discontinued. Investigative and satirical programming Fiks Fare is one of the channel's longest-running programmes. It combines satire, hidden-camera material, public complaints and investigative segments on corruption, administrative abuses and social problems. The format has contributed to the channel's public image as both an entertainment broadcaster and an outlet willing to expose misconduct, although its impact and methods have also been the subject of public discussion. Portokalli, launched in 2003, is a sketch-comedy and satire show that has become one of the best-known Albanian-language entertainment programmes. It has featured political parody, social satire, musical performances and recurring characters, and has served as a platform for numerous Albanian comedians. Entertainment and reality television Top Channel has produced and broadcast a wide range of entertainment formats. E Diell is a long-running Sunday entertainment programme combining interviews, games, music and lifestyle segments. Other programmes have included Ftesë në 5, Wake Up, Shqipëria Live, Për'puthen, Top Talent, The Voice of Albania, Top Fest, Top Awards and Top Music Awards. Reality television has become a major part of Top Channel's schedule. The channel broadcast Big Brother Albania and later Big Brother VIP Albania, one of its highest-profile entertainment formats. The network has also aired dating, talent and competition formats, some of them adapted from international formats and others developed locally. Selected programmes Distribution and related outlets Top Channel is distributed through terrestrial television in Albania, through DigitAlb, and through Albanian-language television services abroad. Its sister outlets include Top News, Top Albania Radio, Top Gold Radio, My Music Radio and other Top Media properties. DigitAlb has played a key role in distributing Top Channel and other Albanian-language channels by satellite, cable and online platforms. Top Channel's relationship with DigitAlb and other distribution companies has been cited in media-ownership studies as an example of cross-media concentration. The Media Ownership Monitor reported that the Hoxha family controlled Top Channel and also had major holdings in DigitAlb, while Top Channel was involved in Hightel Tower Albania, a joint-venture company with TV Klan and businessman Samir Mane. See also Mass media in Albania Television in Albania Top Media Group (Albania) DigitAlb Dritan Hoxha References External links Official website