Vizion Plus

Establishment and early development

The company behind Vizion Plus traces its origins to the late 1990s. According to Media Ownership Monitor Albania, Artan Dulaku and Genci Dulaku entered the media market as co-founders of a television station initially known as Gjeli Vizion. In 2000, Artan Dulaku and Genci Dulaku, together with Agim Buxheli, registered the company Media Vizion, which owned the television station.^[3] After Buxheli left the company, the station continued under the name Vizion Plus and Adrian Dulaku also became a shareholder.^[2]

Vizion Plus began broadcasting in 1999 in Tirana and was initially a local station. It later expanded its signal and programming to cover the national market.^[1] The channel developed as a generalist broadcaster, airing news, political programmes, entertainment, music, comedy, reality formats, lifestyle content, films and imported drama series.

Foreign investment and 2012 ownership consolidation

During the late 2000s and early 2010s, Media Vizion had foreign shareholders alongside the Dulaku family. Public registry summaries and media reports show that foreign companies such as OST Holding GmbH, Spot AG and later Media Holdings Beteiligungs AG held significant stakes in the company between 2008 and 2012.^[8] The WAZ media group was also reported to have entered the Albanian market through a stake in Vizion Plus and then sold its share back to the previous owners in 2012.^[9][10]

By 2012, the other shareholders had sold their stakes and Media Vizion was owned solely by the three Dulaku brothers, each holding equal voting rights and roughly one-third of the company.^[2] Media Ownership Monitor lists the Dulaku family as the 100% ultimate individual owner of the company that owns Vizion Plus.^[4]

Digital broadcasting and expansion

Vizion Plus expanded alongside the development of digital television and pay-television platforms in Albania. The Dulaku family's business interests include Tring, a digital and satellite television platform founded by family members and later reorganised under Concord Investment Group.^[4] The channel has also been available through digital terrestrial broadcasting, IPTV and OTT platforms.

The Albanian digital-switchover process was long and contested. Media Ownership Monitor described the distribution of digital licences as delayed and affected by disputes and court cases, noting that the licensing process was completed two years after the June 2015 deadline for the analogue switch-off.^[11] Vizion Plus was among the country's historical private national television broadcasters during this transition.

Programming development

During the 2000s and 2010s, Vizion Plus competed with other major Albanian commercial broadcasters through entertainment formats, imported series and locally produced talk shows. It aired Zonë e Lirë, hosted by Arian Çani, from 2007 to 2011, before the programme moved to other broadcasters.^[12] The station also became associated with versions of international entertainment formats such as Dancing with the Stars Albania, Albania's Got Talent and later Ferma VIP.

The channel's entertainment identity was strengthened by comedy and variety formats including Apartamenti 2XL, Grand Hotel 2XL, By Pass Show and Al Pazar. In later years, Vizion Plus also hosted political and current-affairs programmes including Quo Vadis, which was among three flagship political talk shows monitored by BIRN Albania during the 2025 parliamentary election campaign.^[13]

Media Vizion and the Dulaku family

Vizion Plus is owned by Media Vizion, a company controlled by the Dulaku family. Media Ownership Monitor Albania states that Media Vizion has been fully owned since 2012 by the three Dulaku brothers, Artan Dulaku, Adrian Dulaku and Genci Dulaku, each of whom holds an equal share and equal voting rights.^[2] Genci Dulaku has served as chief executive of Media Vizion since the early 2000s.^[2]

Media Ownership Monitor describes Media Vizion as part of Concord Investment Group, a family business group that includes companies in television broadcasting, publishing, construction, real estate, trade, hotels and tourism.^[3] The Dulaku family's media-related interests have included Vizion Plus, Tring, Living magazine and Living television, while their non-media interests have included construction, property development, shopping centres, telecommunications, port infrastructure, hotels and tourism.^[3][4]

Relationship with Tring and other media assets

The Dulaku family's interests have long been linked to Tring, one of Albania's main pay-television platforms. Media Ownership Monitor reports that the spouses of the Dulaku brothers were among the founders and original owners of Tring and that the family also has interests in other media-related businesses.^[2] Tring has distributed Vizion Plus and other Albanian channels through satellite, cable, IPTV and OTT services.

The wider group has also been associated with Living, a lifestyle magazine and television channel, and other media-production activity. Holta Dulaku, the wife of Artan Dulaku, has been listed by Media Ownership Monitor as a member of the supervisory boards of Tring TV and Media Vizion and as a producer of several television shows.^[3]

Media concentration in Albania

Vizion Plus is frequently mentioned in analyses of Albania's concentrated media market. In 2018, Reporters Without Borders and BIRN Albania presented the Media Ownership Monitor Albania project, which concluded that audience and market concentration distorted the Albanian media market and reduced plurality.^[6][14] The Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom reported in 2026 that the Albanian media market remained dominated by a small number of family-owned groups with cross-ownership across television, radio and digital media. It named Media Vizion, owned by the Dulaku brothers, alongside Klan and Top Media as one of the largest groups, and noted that these groups also held investments in heavily regulated non-media sectors, making them potentially susceptible to government pressure.^[5]

AidData's profile of Albanian media ownership similarly listed Vizion Plus as the fourth most-viewed television station in Albania and described it as owned by the Dulaku brothers through Edil Al Group/Media Vizion. The report argued that many leading private media owners in Albania had ties to political figures and that Albania's media space was largely controlled by wealthy, politically connected elites.^[7]

Alleged relationship with Edi Rama and the Socialist Party

Several sources have specifically connected Vizion Plus and the Dulaku family's wider business interests with allegations of favourable coverage toward Edi Rama and the Socialist Party of Albania. AidData's profile stated that the Dulaku brothers reportedly had ties to Rama and the Socialist Party, which it linked to their construction business and the need for building permits during Rama's tenure as mayor of Tirana. The report further alleged that favourable business contracts were accompanied by positive reporting from Vizion Plus about Rama.^[7] These statements are best treated as attributed allegations in the context of media-capture studies rather than as uncontested facts.

Media Ownership Monitor also reported that, because of the Dulaku family's involvement in the construction business, the founders of Vizion Plus had been perceived as close to Tirana mayors due to the role of municipal authorities in issuing building permits.^[2] The same source notes that the company has denied accusations that it censored content for political or business reasons.^[2]

During the 2025 Albanian parliamentary election campaign, media monitoring by Citizens.al and BIRN Albania found that Albania's main national private broadcasters provided more visibility to the largest political parties and their leaders than to smaller parties. Citizens.al monitored Top Channel, TV Klan and Vizion Plus between 1 and 20 April 2025 and reported that the Socialist Party dominated airtime in all three channels' news editions, while new parties and candidates received very little visibility.^[15] BIRN Albania's later audiovisual monitoring report, based on data collected by the Audiovisual Media Authority, found that on Vizion Plus news bulletins the Socialist Party received 50.8% of airtime, the opposition Alliance for a Great Albania received 46.4%, and all other electoral subjects received 2.8%.^[13] BIRN also found that on the three major private national broadcasters together, Top Channel, TV Klan and Vizion Plus, Edi Rama dominated the actor-specific news-bulletin airtime with 49.4%, compared with 38.4% for Sali Berisha and 12.2% for all other political actors combined.^[13]

Strategic-investor benefits and clientelism concerns

The Dulaku family's non-media businesses have also been cited in discussions about clientelism and media independence in Albania. A 2025 OSCE-supported report on media ownership transparency stated that all three of Albania's largest private media groups had been granted strategic-investor status by the government for projects linked to tourism, infrastructure and construction.^[16] The report described public funding for the media as a major source of distortion and said that opaque allocations could distort market competition and affect editorial independence.^[16]

Citizens.al, summarising Media Ownership Monitor research, stated that the Dulaku family had secured government subsidies as strategic investors for real-estate development projects, while other major media-owning groups had benefited from public funds, concessions or similar state-linked advantages.^[17] A 2026 report by New Lines Magazine stated that companies linked to the Dulaku family had received strategic-investor status in 2021 for tourism developments including Gone Perivol in Dhërmi and San Pietro on the Adriatic coast, while noting that there was no evidence that the companies involved acted unlawfully or obtained benefits improperly.^[18]

Critics have argued that this combination of media ownership, construction and tourism investment, state-controlled permits, public resources and strategic-investor status creates incentives for self-censorship and favourable coverage of the government. Supporters of such investments argue that they contribute to economic development, tourism and employment. In encyclopedic terms, the issue is usually described as part of Albania's broader media-capture and clientelism debate rather than as a proven legal finding against Vizion Plus or its owners.

Allegations of censorship

Vizion Plus has also been connected with allegations of editorial interference. Media Ownership Monitor reported that in 2016 the owners were accused of censoring an investigative show that was due to air a critical story about waste management in Tirana and alleged abuses by mayor Erion Veliaj; the company denied the accusations.^[2] In 2025, Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa cited the case of journalist Jetmir Olldashi and his team, who said they left Vizion Plus after being told that a story related to the death of Ardit Gjoklaj at a landfill could not be aired. Olldashi attributed the decision to business connections, while the story was later reported by other media.^[19]

Such allegations have contributed to the channel's inclusion in broader research on media ownership, political influence and self-censorship in Albania. They are also part of a wider pattern reported by media-freedom organisations, which have warned that Albanian journalists face pressure from political actors, owners' business interests, advertisers and public authorities.^[20]

News and current affairs

Vizion Plus broadcasts regular news editions and current-affairs programming. Its political programming has included campaign coverage, interviews, debates and flagship talk shows. During the 2025 Albanian parliamentary election campaign, BIRN Albania included Quo Vadis on Vizion Plus among three major political talk shows, alongside Opinion on TV Klan and Top Story on Top Channel, for qualitative analysis of guest composition, format, tone and electoral discourse.^[13]

Notable news and current-affairs programmes associated with the channel have included:

Entertainment and reality programming

Vizion Plus has aired a wide range of entertainment, lifestyle and reality shows. The channel has broadcast Albanian versions of international formats and locally produced entertainment programmes.

Comedy and variety

Comedy and variety programmes have been an important part of Vizion Plus's identity.

Talk shows, lifestyle and magazine programmes

Imported series and animation

Vizion Plus has aired imported drama series, telenovelas, sitcoms, animation and children's programming. Programmes broadcast by the channel have included American, Turkish, Mexican, Brazilian, Venezuelan, Japanese, Italian, German and French productions. Examples have included The King of Queens, Dawson's Creek, Ghost Whisperer, Revolution, Scandal, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Winx Club, Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Oggy and the Cockroaches, Grizzy & the Lemmings, Sturm der Liebe, Kara Sevda, Yemin, Rebelde, Teresa and Triunfo del Amor.