Television in Turkey

History

Early years and monopoly

Television in Turkey was introduced in 1952 with the launch of ITU TV. The first television broadcast work carried out as a closed-circuit television broadcast in Turkey was prepared in June–July 1966. The first national television channel in Turkey was TRT 1, which was introduced in 1968. In 1972, TRT broadcast its service exclusively to Ankara four nights a week, yet viewers in border areas were enticed by TV channels from neighboring countries. Sophisticated antennas were installed in Istanbul before the start of TRT's service in the city, aimed at Bulgaria, the closest country that had functional signals. Color television was introduced in 1981, becoming regular in 1984. In 1983, during the conversion period, the government rejected a proposal from Polly Peck to assemble color television sets in Turkey. A second TRT channel, initially based out of Istanbul, followed in 1986. With TRT still holding a monopoly, taking advantage of technological developments and the rise in satellite technology, it later opened a third channel in 1989, a fourth channel devoted to education in 1990 and an international channel for the diaspora in the same year.

Development of private television

In the mid-1980s, discussions emerged on the creation of a private television station to end TRT's monopoly.

Turkey's first private television channel, Star 1, was established on 3 August 1989, owned by Magic Box Incorporated, which was registered in Germany. There was only one television company controlled by the state until the wave of liberalization in the 1990s which began privately owned broadcasting. The successive appearance of commercial television stations was seen without regulation at first, as these channels had no license to operate due to TRT's de facto legal monopoly. When Star 1, owned by Ahmet Özal's Magic Box, started broadcasting, it used the studios and facilities of the German channel Sat.1 to deliver its programs for five hours a day. This was followed by numerous other private channels: Teleon, Show TV, HBB, Kanal 6, Cine 5, TGRT, Kanal D, ATV, STV and others. To counter the lack of regulation in the private sector, a new law was passed on 20 April 1994, ending TRT's monopoly.

Turkey's television market is defined by a handful of large channels, led by Kanal D, ATV and Show, with 14%, 10% and 9.6% market share, respectively.

The two most used reception platforms are terrestrial and satellite, with almost 50% of homes using satellite (and 15% of those pay for services) by the end of 2009. Three services dominate the multi-channel market: the satellite platforms Digiturk and D-Smart and the cable TV service Türksat.

Digital terrestrial television

Turkey's planned digital terrestrial television on 28 August 1998 at Bilkent University. Ankara Dikmen 1,5 kW DVB-T transmitter started test broadcasting on 1 December 2003.

Turkey began digital transmissions in February 2006. The Turkish government was expected to gradually handle the switchover, with a completion date of March 2015. In 2013, the broadcasting regulator awarded a license to a firm; this was cancelled in 2014 after the AYM upheld a complaint against the process. New licenses have been proposed, but as of 2018 Turkey still has no DTT network.

However, with the construction of a new "digital" transmitter in Çamlıca Tower and Çanakkale TV Tower, digital broadcasts finally began testing in 2020. There are plans building up to 40 more transmitters around the country.

As of December 2024, it is uncertain that digital terrestrial television will officially start in Turkey. There is no DTT auction due to political reasons. However, DVB-T2 test broadcasting is expected to start soon at Çamlıca Tower.

List of channels

Government channels (TRT - Turkish Radio and Television Corporation)

Government channels (Independent)

Private national channels

Most viewed channels

Most viewed channels for 2024 are:

References

References

1. "RTÜK | Haberler".
2. (1 March 1972). "Going mad about television...". New Nation (retrieved from NLB).
3. (31 August 1983). "Turkey refuses aid for television project". The Straits Times (retrieved from NLB).
4. (2015). "Historical, Economic And Political Development Of Television Broadcasting In Turkey An Industry Analysis".
5. "Competition Issues in Television And Broadcasting, Contribution From Turkey". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
6. (5 October 2022). "Televizyon".
7. (10 March 2012). "International TV execs talk Turkey". Variety.
8. "TV and on-demand audiovisual services in Turkey". MAVISE.
9. (August 2023). "Unknown}}{{dead link".
10. (14 October 2016). "New hope for DTT in Turkey?".
11. "Status of the transition to Digital Terrestrial Television (DSO)".
12. "DVB-T2 nin etkileri hkk.". Metan Tek. Müm. ve Tic. AŞ..
13. "Çamlıca Kulesi'nden yayın verilmeye başlandı".
14. "Metan Tek. Müm. ve Tic. AŞ. – Sennheiser ProAudio Türkiye Genel Distribütörü (1992)".
15. "Yakın zamanda Çamlıca kulesinden ilk olarak denemeye yayınlarını vermeyi planlıyoruz.Anten A.Ş ekibi ile Ankara da yaptığımız 1 yıllık deneme sürecinde ne kadar gerekli bir yayın platformu olduğunu… {{!}} Burhan Kandemir".
16. "Tablolar | TİAK | Televizyon İzleme Araştırmaları A.Ş.".