# Mediawan Thematics

Mediawan Thematics (formerly known as AB Groupe) is a French television channel business and audiovisual distribution group in the field of broadcasting that is owned by Mediawan.

## History

Mediawan Thematics had its roots under the name of AB Productions which it was founded in 1977 by Jean-Luc Azoulay and Claude Berda as a music production company, and in 1987 went into the world of television.
In 1991, AB Productions created their own music record publishing label named AB Disques who had published their own music videos.
In December 1995, AB Groupe launched their first television channel named AB Channel 1 (now AB1).
In July 1996, AB Productions announced that they've expanded their catalogue by acquiring Pierre Grimblat's French production company Hamster Productions and its parent company The Hamster Group which had merged with AB Productions to become the biggest French television production company with Hamster Productions became a subsidiary of AB Productions.
In July 1999, AB Productions announced that their co-founders Jean-Luc Azoulay and Claude Berda had professionally separated and had split the AB Productions company into two companies which were
In late-January 2016, AB Groupe announced that they've acquired Pascale Breugnot's production company Ego Productions.
In January 2017, it was announced that French special acquisition group Mediawan had entered exclusive negotiations to acquire AB Groupe along with their channels and four production companies along with their own distribution division AB International Distribution from its co-founder Claude Berda who had a 53% stake of the company alongside media company TF1 Group who owned a 33.5% stake, for €270 million in order for the former to build a European premium content leader and an audiovisual production and distribution group. The deal could hand over AB Groupe's production companies and their distribution division to Mediawan Two months later in late-March of that same year, AB Groupe announced that French special acquisition group Mediawan had completed their acquisition of AB Groupe along with their channels, four production companies and their international distribution division from its co-founder Claude Berda who had a 53% stake of the company alongside media company TF1 Group who owned a 33.5% stake with AB Groupe becoming a fully owned subsidiary of Mediawan, marking Mediawan's first step into the premium production and distribution activities.
On 11 October 2018 AB Groupe was rebranded to Mediawan Thematics after the purchase by Mediawan in 2017.

## Television

| Channel | Country | Category | Information |
| AB1 | France | Entertainment | Pay-TV |
| AB3 | Belgium | General | |
| ABXplore | Belgium | Documentary | |
| Action | France | Movie channel | Pay-TV |
| Animaux | France | Documentary | Pay-TV |
| Automoto La chaîne | France | Motorsports | |
| Chasse et Pêche | France | Documentary | Pay-TV |
| Crime District | Luxembourg | Entertainment documentary | Pay-TV |
| Clubbing TV | France | Dance Music | Pay-TV |
| Science et Vie TV | France | Documentary | Pay-TV |
| Trek | France | Documentary | Pay-TV |
| Mangas | France | Teen | Pay-TV |
| Lucky Jack.tv | Luxembourg | Games | |
| RTL9 | Luxembourg | General | Pay-TV |
| Toute l'Histoire | France | Documentary | Pay-TV |
| XXL | Netherlands | Adult | Pay-TV |

### Former channels

| Channel | Country | Category | Start date | Close date |
| Vidéoclick | Belgium | Youth | 3 April 2007 | 29 July 2009 |
| AB4 | Belgium | Entertainment | 28 October 2002 | 13 September 2017 (replaced by ABXplore) |
| AB Moteurs | France | Sport | 26 March 1999 | 5 November 2018 (replaced by Automoto La chaîne) |
| Encyclo | France | Documentary | 6 June 1996 | 30 March 2015 |
| Escales | France | Documentary | 2 April 1996 | 2 February 2015 |
| Ciné Box | France | Movie channel | 1996 (Ciné Palace) September 2002 | 24 August 2004 |
| Ciné Comic | France | Movie channel | 2 April 1996 (Rire) 2002 | 24 August 2004 |
| Ciné Pop | France | Movie channel | 21 August 2006 | 15 July 2007 |
| Ciné First | France | Movie channel | 31 December 2007 | 30 September 2010 |
| Ciné FX | France | Movie channel | 15 September 2002 | 31 July 2018 |
| Ciné Polar | France | Movie channel | 2 April 1996 | 31 July 2018 |
| Fit TV | France | Fitness | 2 April 1996 | 15 October 2007 |
| Musique classique | France | Music | 2 April 1996 | 15 October 2007 |
| Melody | France | Music | 1996 | 10 April 1997 |
| Nostalgie la télé | France | Music | 10 April 1997 | July 1999 |
| RFM TV | France | Music | 5 July 1999 | March 2005 |
| Golf Channel | Luxembourg | Sport | 26 September 2010 | 1 September 2024 |
| Ultra Nature | France | Documentary | 19 May 2016 | 2022 |
| 'Zik | France | Music | 25 April 1998 | 31 December 2007 |
| France Courses | France | Sport | 9 September 1996 | 25 April 1998 (replaced by 'Zik on AB Sat, and recovered by the PMU and relaunched as Équidia) |
| AB Sports | France | Sport | 23 December 1996 | May 1999 (sold to Pathé and relaunched as Pathé Sport) |
| Onyx.tv | Germany | Music | 6 January 1996 | 15 September 2004 |
| NT1 | France | General | 31 March 2005 | June 2009 |
| TMC | Monaco | General | 19 November 1954 | June 2009 |
| Terranova | Germany | Documentary | 15 September 2004 | 10 July 2007 |
AB sold many channels, notably the free national channels TMC and NT1 taken over by TF1 when they were the main shareholder of AB Groupe.