The channel started transmissions on May 6, 1971, transmitting on Channel 27 on the UHF dial when in Italy there was still no private TV on aerial. The channel had a crucial advantage: it was mostly in colour. This made the channel popular in its coverage area, the Croatian part of Istria and the Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It was Yugoslavia's 2nd color station after RTS2. When TV Koper-Capodistria appeared and met with a favorable response in parts of Italy adjacent to Yugoslavia, some enterprising Italians established a network of private transmitters across Italy, breaking the monopoly established by RAI as viewers embraced the channel's diet of cartoons, subtitled movies, sports, popular series, and more internationally oriented news. TV Koper-Capodistria also helped Italy to adopt the PAL color TV standard, as many Italians bought PAL TV sets in order to tune the channel. In 1976, Italy's constitutional court ruled that privately owned, fully commercial stations could be established on Italian soil. As a consequence of this, hundreds of local television stations appeared in the following years, all in color. TV Koper-Capodistria’s unique role was over, and advertising revenue began to dry up. Between 1987 and 1990, TV Koper-Capodistria enjoyed a brief resurrection as a major television player. It signed a deal with Silvio Berlusconi, the owner of Italy’s three major private networks, that allowed him to operate, but not own the channel, of course. Berlusconi turned the station into an all-sports service, once again making it popular throughout Italy. Viewers from around the country, as well as Yugoslavia, eagerly tuned into sports events that were not available on the other channels, including exclusive coverage of NBA basketball, with legendary commentary by US-born Dan Peterson, who spoke Italian with a charming American accent. But this arrangement did not last long. With pay television on the horizon, Berlusconi decided to end his all-sports channel in 1990. TV Koper-Capodistria was left without any transmitters in Italy and finally became what it was designed to be back in 1971: a regional service primarily intended for the Italian community in Istria. In 2006, in the spirit of the new cooperation between Slovenia and Italy, with the support of the means of the Italian government and the Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, through collaboration between the Italian Union and the People's University of Trieste, TV Koper starts to broadcast via satellite across Europe through Eutelsat Hot Bird 13° east. It is a new impetus to the growth of the channel and dissemination of its programs. On 18 May 2010 TV Koper-Capodistria returns in Italy with the spread of its programming throughout the national territory through the Italian satellite television platform Tivù Sat operating within the satellite Eutelsat Hot Bird 13° east, although some programmes are only available on Slovenian territory, hence those are encrypted via satellite. On 30 November 2010, the channel ended its analogue broadcast, starting broadcasts in digital terrestrial television.
Popular shows
The channel covers international, regional, and local news from both sides of the border. The editorial section for culture programmes shows Artevisione, Istria e… dintorni, L’Universo e`... and Itinerari. The shows, with documentaries, reports, and magazine formats, focus on the regional and local cultural life in Slovenia, Italy, and Croatia. The channel is notable by the first music video TV show, not only in the former Titoist Yugoslavia, but also in the neighboring Italy, featuring popular Western music videos during the 1980s with its host Dario Diviacchi enjoining a star status among his young TV audience. The show, first under the name "Alta Pressione" and later "Video Mix", was on air every Thurdsday evening. A phone-in format with the TV viewers choosing among the music videos to be aired on the show, was introduced later with host Alex Bini. The music program made the channel popular in Italy, where the show was the third most viewed TV show in 1985.
