ETV Ethiopia

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Ethiopian Television (ETV) was established in 1964, during the time of Emperor Haile Selassie, with the technical help of the British firm, Thomson. ETV was initially established to highlight the Organization of African Unity (OAU) founding heads of state meeting in Addis Ababa in that same year. Color television was introduced in 1982 by the military government in order to commemorate the founding of the Workers’ Party of Ethiopia (WPE). Since its establishment, ETV has remained in the hands of government, with its operations and content regulated by government. These days the common complaint about ETV is of a gradual decline in the quality of its programmers (Simon, 2005). Some viewers, especially in Addis Ababa, subscribe to the South African-based MultiChoice Africa DStv satellite pay-TV service, MyTV Africa, SHOWTIME Arabia, GTV and the ArabSat satellite service.

There have been few significant changes in the television marketplace in the past seven years, with the state-owned broadcaster ETV retaining its monopol ETV Channel 1, which broadcasts in Tigrigna, Oromiffa, Somalia, Amharic and English for around Twelve hours (9:00–21:00 GMT) each day except Saturdays and Sundays. On weekends, the broadcast hours increase to more than 16 hours. The only regional/local free-to-air channel is ETV Channel 2, which broadcasts to the capital city Addis Ababa in Amharic for about four hours per day. This is owned by the Addis Ababa regional government.

There has been no significant investment in television over the past few years. Some organizations, such as those working on development issues and entertainment, have started programmes by buying air-time on the state ETV channels. Most of these are NGOs working on development and advocacy issues. Others, such as Fassil Dan Communication, work in conjunction with ETV to prepare talk shows and similar programmes. The income from such endeavors is not, however, significant for ETV, and such organizations complain about the lack of studios and necessary equipment made available by ETV for their programmes. ETV broadcasts in three Ethiopian languages (Amharic, Oromiffa and Tigrigna) and in Somalia and English. The station has one regular and standing programme on women, youth and children. Religious issues do not have permanent programmes on ETV, as it is a national policy that religion is a private matter.

Some organisations buy air-time on ETV to broadcast talk shows on social and cultural issues. Some of these talk shows have become popular and it seems there is a growth in popular participation in these programmes. These talk shows, such as Tea Coffee (Shay Buna) or Fifty Lemons (Amsa Lomi) and the like, are believed to give ordinary people the chance to express their views. These shows focus on social issues, including HIV/AlDS. ETV also has Entertaining programs like the Ethiopian Idol, which has similar content like that of American Idol with some additions in dancing competitions. In recent years ETV transmits few matches per week from some Europe Leagues (2007 Spanish La Liga, 2008 English Premier League) plus some international matches. ETV transmits its programmes on 4 satellite stations, among those ETV can be watched locally on Arabsat, -ARABSAT BADR3 - KU-BAND -DOWN LINK FREQUENCY 11727.MHZ -Symbol Rate - 27500 -FEC 3/4 -Polarization - Horizontal

[edit] External links

For further Information http://www.erta.gov.et/