General Organization of Radio and TV (Syria)

33°30′44.4″N 36°16′32.2″E

Organisation de la Radio et la Télévision Arabe Syrienne (ORTAS)

Type	Broadcast radio, television and online
Country	Syria
Availability	National
Headquarters	Umayyad Square, Damascus
Owner	Government of Syria
Launch date	July 1960; 64 years ago (1960-07) (television)
Former names	Radio and Television (RTV Syria) Syrian Radio & Television (SRT)
Official website	ortas.online

The General Organization of Radio and TV (Arabic: الهيئة العامة للإذاعة والتلفزيون), also known in French as Organisation de la Radio et la Télévision Arabe Syrienne (in short ORTAS), is the state and public broadcaster in Syria and reports to the Ministry of Information. Earlier names were Radio and Television (RTV Syria) and Syrian Radio & Television (SRT).^[1]

The legal basis is a legislative decree from 2010, which, however, was largely not implemented. Sūmar Wassūf became head of the commission in December 2018.

Several television channels and radio stations are being run by this organization, including Syria TV and Damascus Radio. ORTAS is an active member of the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU), associate member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)^[2] and formerly a member of International Radio and Television Organisation (OIRT).

Services

The General Authority for Radio and Television is the governmental body responsible for radio and television broadcasting in Syria. It is divided into two parts:

Radio

See also: List of radio stations in Syria

Radio broadcasting began in the First Syrian Republic upon its independence on 17 April 1946 on shortwave. As early as 1942, Radio Damas, a counterpart to Radio Levant in Beirut, Lebanon existed in the French League of Nations mandate.

Nationwide radio programs include:

• دمشق, Iḏāʿa Dimašq – Radio Damascus (since 1947)
• صوت الشباب, Ṣaut aš-Šabāb – "voice of youth" (since 2002)
• سوريان, Sūryānā (since 2015)

Former radio station:

• صوت الشعب, Ṣaut aš-Šaʿb – "voice of the people" (1979–2017)

Regional radio programs are (from north to south):

• Radio Sanabel FM, in Al Hasakah
• Radio Aleppo FM, in Aleppo
• Radio Amwaj FM, in Latakia
• Radio Tartus, in Tartus
• Radio Zenobia, in Homs
• Radio Al Karma, in As-Suwayda

The international broadcaster Radio Damascus has existed since 1957. According to the frequency announcements in the program, both FM (VHF) and AM (medium wave) are broadcast.

Television

Further information: Television in Syria

The television station is based in Damascus, Syria since July 1960.^[3][4] The channel airs programmes in Arabic, English and French.^[5] It was broadcast in black and white until 1978. A second channel was added in 1985 (discontinued in 2012 due to the civil war) and in 1996, the satellite service Syria TV began broadcasting. On September 5, 2012, Syrian Television channel broadcasts were broken off on Arabsat and Nilesat, including Syria TV. Syria TV and Syrian Drama TV broadcasts were stopped on Hot Bird on October 22, 2012.^[6]

The digital television switchover (DVB-T) in Syria has been restarted since mid-2018, in the provinces of Damascus, Daraa, As Suwayda, Rif Dimashq, Tartus, Latakia, Quneitra and Hama, however there is still no date for an analog disconnect.

ORTAS national and satellite television channels:

• Syrian Local Channel (since 2022), distributed through digital terrestrial television (DTT)
• Noor Al-Sham (religion; since 2011) – The channel intends "to convey a broad and genuine understanding of Islam and its legal rules", according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).^[7]
• Syria TV (since 1995), also known as Syrian Satellite Channel, distributed through DTT
• Syrian Drama TV (since 2009)^[8]
• Syrian Education TV (since 2008)
• Syrian News Channel, also known as Alikhbaria Syria or Al-Ikhbariyah Syria (since 2010), distributed through DTT
• Drama 24, distributed through DTT
• Sports TV, distributed through DTT
• Sakaker Kids TV, distributed through DTT
• Syriana TV Radio and TV
• Ugarit TV [ar] (since 2014) – a regional channel from Latakia;^[9] Latakia Radio and Television Center was established in 1987 for the hosting of the 1987 Mediterranean Games

Former channels include Syrian Medical TV and Talaqie TV which both closed in 2016; terrestrial channels Channel 2 and Channel 1 (now Syrian local channel) closed down in 2012.

The Syria Insider Weekly program is broadcast in English, French and Spanish. Russian television news is broadcast daily.

See also

• Mass media in Syria

References

1. European Neighborhood Journalism Network (n.d.). "Syria-media profile". European Neighborhood Journalism Network. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
2. "EBU Associate Members". ebu.ch. EBU. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
3. Mariam Ghorbannejad (February 12, 2011). "Broadcast media: Open to new players?". Forward Syria. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
4. "Television Factbook" (PDF). 1977. p. 1109. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
5. European Neighborhood Journalism Network (n.d.). "Syria-media profile". European Neighborhood Journalism Network. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
6. "Hotbird Suspends Broadcasting Syrian Satellite Channels.. Journalists' Union condemns Step". SANA. October 22, 2012. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
7. "In Lieu of Worshipping". Syria Today. 6 September 2012. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
8. "آخر تحديثات" ضبط تردد سوريا دراما لمتابعة المسلسلات الحديثة 2021". www.klma.org. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
9. S, T. (January 3, 2014). "Ugarit TV, Karameh Radio Begin Broadcasting in Latakia, Sweida". Retrieved 18 November 2022.

External links

• Official website (in Arabic)
• www.rtv.gov.sy (former homepage, archived in 2003)