Top Channel

What is Top Channel?

Top Channel is a commercial television broadcaster in Albania. Its written sport coverage sits on a path of the broadcaster's domain, top-channel.tv/sport, under the copyright line “© Top Channel 2001 - 2026”.^[1]

The regulator lists the company. The Autoriteti i Mediave Audiovizive's list of audiovisual providers, dated 10 September 2026, gives Shoqeria “Top Channel” Sh.a. with a national licence.^[2] Its ownership page for the company, recording beneficial owners “sipas QKB”, lists Lorela Hoxha, Vjollca Hoxha, Itan Hoxha, Sara Hoxha and Redia Hoxha, each with 20% held directly; the page was last modified on 23 August 2024.^[3] The Media Ownership Monitor Albania's outlet entry states that “Vjollca Hoxha and her four children own 100 % of the company.”^[4]

The Media Pluralism Monitor 2026 names the group among the largest in the country: “The largest groups include Klan, owned by the Frangaj family; Top Media, owned by the Hoxha family; and Media Vizion, owned by the Dulaku brothers.”^[5]

What does Top Channel cover?

When retrieved on 24 September 2026, the sport page carried items dated 23 September, among them one headed “Elbasani në hartën sportive të Europës, shpallet ‘Qyteti Europian i Sportit 2027’”, alongside items on foreign club football and on national teams. Its sections covered the UEFA Champions League, Serie A and Albania's Kategoria Superiore.^[1]

Live rights are dated. Top Channel announced on 2 August 2026, under the headline “Futbolli i kthehet Top-it/ Sezoni i ri i Champions League ekskluzivisht në Top Channel”, that “Futbolli europian, dhe trofeu më prestigjioz i kontinentit, UEFA Champions League, do të jetë pjesë e ekranit të Top Channel.” The announcement concerns the 2026–27 season and gives no match count.^[6] The characterisation of the competition is the broadcaster's own.

The regulator lists “Top Channel” sh.a. as a direct shareholder, with 3.20%, of Digit-Alb sh.a., the company behind the pay-television platform DigitAlb.^[9]

Outside sport, the Media Ownership Monitor describes a schedule mixing international formats such as Big Brother and The Voice with locally produced programmes, among them the comedy show Portokalli and the investigative news programme Fiks Fare.^[4]

How large is Top Channel's audience?

No audited audience figure for Top Channel or its sport output could be retrieved. The Media Pluralism Monitor 2026 states: “Although work with industry has begun to establish an audience-measurement tool for television, Albania still lacks an official and transparent mechanism.”^[5] The Media Ownership Monitor's entry cites audience-share data from Idra Media for 8 May 2022 to 8 May 2023, but no percentage is printed in it.^[4]

The available measure is revenue. The business magazine Monitor, in an analysis published on 7 August 2026 from financial statements filed with the National Business Center, gives Top Channel revenue of 1.95 billion lekë for 2025, up 3.3%, and profit of 242 million lekë. It puts the revenue of the ten main stations at about 6.8 billion lekë and states that TV Klan and Top Channel took “të dyja së bashku 63% të tregut në 2025-n”.^[7] That is a single secondary analysis, and revenue is not audience.

Reporters Without Borders lists Top Channel among the “major media outlets” in its 2026 description of the Albanian media landscape.^[8]

Since when has Top Channel existed?

The Media Ownership Monitor Albania gives 2001 as the founding year of Top Channel.^[4] The broadcaster's own copyright line runs from 2001.^[1] Both are dates for the broadcaster; no launch date for its sport service as a separate brand could be retrieved, and none is given here.

The ownership record carries its own dates. AMA's register page for the company was last modified on 23 August 2024, and the Media Ownership Monitor's financial data are for 2022.^[3][4] No later change of shareholder was found in the regulator's list dated 10 September 2026, which still gives the company under the same name and licence.^[2]

Why does Top Channel matter in Albania's sport?

It announced on 2 August 2026 that it would show the Champions League exclusively in 2026–27.^[6]

It sits inside a group with a stake in pay-television sport. AMA's register for Digit-Alb sh.a. lists “Top Channel” sh.a. among its direct shareholders, and lists members of the Hoxha family among Digit-Alb's shareholders and beneficial owners.^[9]

Ownership is a monitored subject in Albania. Reporters Without Borders states that “The ownership of much of the Albanian media landscape is concentrated in the hands of just four or five companies.”^[8] The Media Pluralism Monitor 2026 states that “The Albanian media market is dominated by a small number of media groups with cross-ownership across television, radio and digital media.”^[5] Those are the monitoring bodies' words.