Tele7ABC (Romanian pronunciation: [ˌtele ˈʃapte ˌabeˈtʃe]) was a television station in Romania, popular in the mid-1990s. One of the country's first three privately owned networks, it was launched in August 1994 by Mihai Tatulici and other defectors from the state-owned TVR network, with assistance from a group of investors. Though offering substantial pay to its on-air talents, it had a reduced budget for technical matters, and as such was always at risk at being surpassed by other commercial channels. Many of its prime time series were syndicated American shows filmed in previous decades, when Romania was under communism. In its first four years, Tele7 earned most of its dedicated viewership with talk shows (including one hosted by Tatulici until his departure in 1995), investigative journalism, and breakfast shows. Its staff at that time featured many young entertainers and journalists who became household names in Romania, such as Mihaela Rădulescu, Teo Trandafir, and Mircea Badea. Tele7's editorial stance was initially anti-communist, including by openly discussing crimes committed by the Securitate agency and the latter's alleged continuity with post-communist intelligence. This course was maintained for three more years after Tatulici's departure; during that interval, the station also lost viewers and employees to the rapidly expanding Pro TV. It fought off this pressure by increasing its entertainment package and pioneering infotainment formats that its rivals arguably copied. Its most recognized hosts of the period included Tudor Barbu, Radu Coșarcă, Gabriel Cotabiță, Gabriela Cristea, and Cornel Todea, in addition to Badea and Trandafir. These figures ended their contracts around 1998, as Tele7 was entering a deep financial crisis. The first revival attempt came in August 1998, when Aristide Buhoiu took over as director of programming. Under his watch, Tele7 became a venue for communist nostalgia and the national-communist synthesis, for instance by consulting Securitate general Nicolae Pleșiță about his political views. By many accounts, the station was experiencing a massive decline in quality and experimenting with controversial practices (including native advertising and a focus on the paranormal), losing much of its traditional audience. As part of his revival strategy, Buhoiu launched Dan Diaconescu into the journalistic mainstream, with sensationalist scoops—including claims about the sex life of the then-President of Romania, Emil Constantinescu; as result, the station found itself monitored by the National Audiovisual Council. In 2000–2001, after Buhoiu's sacking, the station was largely associated with Diaconescu and national-communist poet Adrian Păunescu, the latter of whom hosted a nighttime show that critics described as abysmal. As part of a debt restructuring, Tele7 was taken over by Israeli businessman Freddy Robinson. Diaconescu went off the air due to his many legal problems, while Păunescu took his format elsewhere; the station also lost its only remaining hit, a variety show headlined by Cătălin Crișan. Robinson worked instead with Florin Călinescu, a consecrated television star, who was given editorial control in December 2001. The infusion of money and new talent failed to win back the public, and the station itself faded into obscurity. In its final two years, Tele7 was primarily noted for its failure to pay wages to its remaining staff, as well as for always being in danger of losing its broadcast license. It stopped airing in April 2005, after filing for bankruptcy.
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