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The television industry in Turkey includes high-tech program production, transmission, and coverage. Turkish Radio and Television Corporation is Turkey's largest and most powerful national television station. As of 2022, there are 498 television channels in Turkey, ranking fourth in Europe in terms of the number of television channels.[1] Turkey is the world's fastest-growing television series exporter and has currently [when?] overtaken both Mexico and Brazil as the world's second-highest television series exporter after the United States. Turkish television drama has grown since the early 2000s.
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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.[2] Color television was introduced in 1981. Turkey's first private television channel, Star, began broadcasting on 26 May 1989. There was only one television channel controlled by the state until the wave of liberalization in the 1990s which began privately owned broadcasting.[3] 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.[4]
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.[5]
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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.[citation needed]
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.[6] New licenses have been proposed, but as of 2018 Turkey still has no DTT network.[7][8]
However, with the construction of a new "digital" transmitter in Çamlıca Tower and Çanakkale TV Tower, digital broadcasts finally began testing in 2020.[9][10] There are plans building up to 40 more transmitters around the country.[11]
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.
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Government channels (TRT - Turkish Radio and Television Corporation)
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| Channel | Category |
|---|---|
| TRT 1 | General |
| TRT 2 | Art and culture |
| TRT Haber | News |
| TRT Spor | Sports |
| TRT Spor Yıldız | Sports |
| TRT Çocuk | Children |
| TRT Diyanet Çocuk | Children |
| TRT Müzik | Music |
| TRT Türk | General |
| TRT Belgesel | Documentaries |
| TRT Avaz | Programmes in Turkic Languages |
| TRT Kurdî | Programmes in Kurdish Language |
| TRT Arabi | Programmes in Arabic Language |
| TRT World | News in English |
| TRT EBA TV | Education |
| TBMM TV (diffusion with TRT 3) | Parliament |
| TRT 3 (diffusion with TBMM TV) | Youth |
Private national channels
| Channel | Category |
|---|---|
| ATV | General |
| Kanal D | General |
| NOW | General |
| Show TV | General |
| Star TV | General |
| Kanal 7 | General |
| teve2 | General |
| TV8 | General |
| 360 | General |
| TV4 | General |
| 24 TV | News |
| Beyaz TV | General |
| A Haber | News |
| A News | News in English |
| Bengü Türk TV | News |
| CNBC-e | Economy |
| CNN Türk | News |
| Ekol TV | News |
| Haber Global | News |
| Habertürk TV | News |
| Halk TV | News |
| KRT TV | News |
| NTV | News |
| Sözcü TV | News |
| TVNET | News |
| TGRT Haber | News |
| Ulusal Kanal | News |
| Ekotürk | Economy |
| Ülke TV | News |
| Bloomberg HT | Economy |
| TLC | American Series |
| A Spor | Sports |
| A Para | Economy |
| beIN Sports | Sports |
| Eurosport 1 | Sports |
| Eurosport 2 | Sports |
| Fenerbahçe TV | Sports |
| HT Spor TV | Sports |
| sportstv | Sports |
| S Sport | Sports |
| Spor Smart | Sports |
| Dost TV | Religious |
| Meltem TV | General Religious |
| SAT-7 Türk | General Religious |
| Semerkand TV | Religious |
| Cartoon Network | Children |
| Cartoonito | Children |
| Disney Channel | Children (Closed, 2022) |
| MinikaÇocuk | Children |
| MinikaGO | Children |
| Nickelodeon | Children |
| Nicktoons | Children |
| Nick Jr. | Children |
| Smart Çocuk | Children |
| Number 1 TV | Music |
| Powertürk TV | Music |
| beIN İZ | Documentaries |
| DMAX | Documentaries |
| Yaban TV | Documentaries |
| TGRT Belgesel | Documentaries |
| TV100 | News |
| Tele1 | News |
| beIN Movies | Movies |
| Movie Smart | Movies |
| Sinema TV | Movies |
| beIN Series | Series |
| Dizi Smart | Series |
| beIN Gurme | Lifestyle |
| beIN H&E | Lifestyle and entertainment |
Most viewed channels
Most viewed channels for 2023 are:[12]
| Rank | Channel | Group | Share of total viewing (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ATV | Turkuvaz Media Group (Çalık Holding) | 11.06% |
| 2 | Kanal D | Demirören Group | 6.44% |
| 3 | Show TV | Ciner Media Group (Ciner Group) | 6.22% |
| 4 | NOW | Fox Networks Group (Disney) | 6.09% |
| 5 | Star TV | Doğuş Media Group (Doğuş Group) | 5.77% |
| 6 | TV8 | Acun Medya/Doğuş Group | 5.62% |
| 7 | TRT 1 | TRT | 5.32% |
| 8 | Kanal 7 | New World Media Group | 3.11% |
| 9 | TRT Çocuk | TRT | 2.23% |
| 10 | TRT Haber | TRT | 2.52% |
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