Česká televize

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Logo of Česká televize's ČT1 channel. A star sign is used when transmission is not suitable for children.
Logo of Česká televize's ČT1 channel. A star sign is used when transmission is not suitable for children.

Česká televize IPA: [ʧɛskaː tɛlɛvɪzɛ] (Czech television) is the public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic. It broadcasts 4 channels:

  • ČT1 (national terrestrial)
  • ČT2 (national terrestrial)
  • ČT24 (digital terrestrial and satellite, news channel)
  • ČT4 Sport (digital terrestrial and satellite, sport channel)

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Channels

[edit] ČT1

ČT1 is a general purpose channel, showing family-oriented television, Czech movies, children's programming, news and documentaries.

[edit] ČT2

ČT2 broadcasts documentaries and nature-oriented shows such as fishing shows. This channel also frequently shows foreign films in the original versions with Czech subtitles, including many English-language movies.

[edit] ČT24

ČT24 is a 24-hour news channel, it broadcasts live over the internet, as well as over the satellites Astra 3A and Astra 1KR. It is also carried on Czech pay-tv providers and digital terrestrial services.

[edit] ČT4

ČT4 is a sports channel, it broadcasts live over the satellites Astra 3A and Astra 1KR. It is also carried on Czech pay-tv providers and digital terrestrial services.

[edit] History

The direct predecessor of Česká televize was (since May 1, 1953) Czechoslovak television (Československá televize, ČST).

Česká televize was founded on 1 January 1992 under the Czech Television Act as a public service broadcaster. It broadcast on the former ČTV channel and produced news for channel F1 (federal) of the joint Czechoslovak television service until the end of 1992, when Czechoslovakia peacefully separated and ČST was abolished.

From 1 January 1993 to February 1994 it broadcast three channels in the Czech Republic, until one frequency was given to the new commercial station TV Nova.

New channels (news channel ČT24 and sports channel ČT4 Sport) were added in 2005 and 2006 because of planned digital terrestrial broadcasting. ČT24 went on air on May 2, 2005 and ČT4 Sport on February 10, 2006.

[edit] Czech TV Crisis

The "Czech TV crisis" occurred at the end of 2000 and lasted until early 2001 as a battle for control of the airwaves, which included jamming and accusations of censorship. One evening during the Christmas holiday, viewers in the Czech Republic who had tuned in to the regular evening news broadcast noticed it was being jammed and interrupted by Jana Bobošíková, a familiar face at Czech TV and the newly-appointed head of the news department, sitting next to Jiří Hodač, a former BBC employee who had been appointed general manager of Czech TV amid accusations by critics that he was close to Václav Klaus' Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and to the then director of private TV channel Nova, Vladimír Železný, and would undermine the editorial independence of the TV network.

The image reproduced here on a rare t-shirt appeared for a couple days on Czech Television as its only programming during the height of the crisis. It reads: Czech Television General Manager Jiří Hodáč has turned to the Council of the Czech Republic for Radio and Television Broadcasting with a request that it decide which programming of Czech Television is legal and authorized programming in accordance with the Act on Czech Television and which is not. Until the Council issues its decision, Czech Television will broadcast this statement as its programming.
The image reproduced here on a rare t-shirt appeared for a couple days on Czech Television as its only programming during the height of the crisis. It reads: Czech Television General Manager Jiří Hodáč has turned to the Council of the Czech Republic for Radio and Television Broadcasting with a request that it decide which programming of Czech Television is legal and authorized programming in accordance with the Act on Czech Television and which is not. Until the Council issues its decision, Czech Television will broadcast this statement as its programming.

During the Czech TV crisis, Czech TV reporters organized an industrial dispute by staging a sit-in and occupying the news studio and rejected attempts by Bobošíková to fire them. They were supported in their protest by politicians such as the then President Václav Havel and by Czech celebrities, but every time they tried to air their news broadcasts, Jana Bobošíková and Jiří Hodač would jam the transmission either with a "technical fault" screen reading: "An unauthorized signal has entered this transmitter. Broadcasting will resume in a few minutes," or with their own news broadcasts featuring Jana Bobošíková and a team she had hired to "replace" the staff members she had sought to terminate.

These broadcasts began being referred to as "Bobovize" by the disputing TV reporters and their supporters who opposed the new management. On the other hand, throughout the crisis, Bobošíková's supporters, such as Václav Klaus and the then Czech Prime Minister Miloš Zeman, accused the protesting Czech TV reporters of law infringement and claimed that those reporters who rejected the changes were not so independent after all. Železný also criticized the Czech TV reporters during his show on TV Nova, "Call the Director."

The fake "technical fault" screens and jamming of the news broadcasts by Bobošíková caused tens of thousands of people to march in the streets of Prague and other Czech cities and towns, calling for restoration of freedom of the press, demanding an end to what they perceived as censorship at Czech TV. The demonstrations even drew support from a few international organizations representing reporters and made world headlines. The demonstrators also demanded Bobošíková's resignation and the dismissal of the allegedly biased general manager Jiří Hodač. Hodač was even briefly hospitalized during the events.

The Czech TV crisis eventually ended in early 2001, following the departure from Czech TV of Hodač and Bobošíková, under pressure by the street demonstration participants and at the request of the Czech Parliament, which had held an emergency session due to the crisis.

Most of the reporters who rebelled against Bobošíková are still at Czech TV today, including the current general manager Jiři Janeček, who was one of the news anchors who occupied the studio in protest. Jana Bobošíková was later hired to moderate the political discussion program Sedmička on private TV Nova. She is now a member of the European Parliament.

[edit] Funding and management

Česká televize is funded through television license fees (larger part of revenue) and from advertising (where it is less successful than commercial television stations). During 2004 and 2005 the organization lobbied the Czech government to increase the license fee so that advertising could be eliminated.

Media occasionally raise questions about how much Česká televize is able to withstand pressure both from the governing parties and the opposition and maintain unbiased and critical coverage of politics.

The current General Manager of Česká televize is Jiří Janeček, who was elected for a six-year term by the Czech Television Council (Rada České televize).

[edit] External links

Some articles about the 2000/2001 Czech TV crisis

BBC news articles about crisis

Other articles/commentaries

Coordinates: 50°03′N, 14°25.57′E

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