| RTA | |
|---|---|
| Launched | 1974 (founded) 1978 (launched) |
| Owned by | Radio Television Afghanistan |
| Picture format | SDTV |
| Audience share | 8% as of July 2010 (, ) |
| Country | Afghanistan |
| Broadcast area | Afghanistan Europe North America |
| Headquarters | Kabul |
| Website | www.rta.org.af/en (English) |
RTA, known as تلویزیون ملی (Telvizun-E-Milli, meaning National Television) in Persian, is a television channel originally founded in 1974; the first in Afghanistan. It is owned by Radio Television Afghanistan (from the Afghan government).
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RTA became famous worldwide when Afghan President Hamid Karzai made a live speech to the world minutes after dozens of insurgents attempted to assassinate him at an Afghan military parade. The assassination attempt was thwarted by the Afghan National Army.[1] The scene of the attempt was also broadcast live to RTA viewers in Afghanistan and picked up by the international media.[2]
RTA became available in Europe, Middle East, North Africa and North America on 5 January 2008. The channel's broadcasting hours were originally 06:00 to 00:00 (local Afghan time), corresponding to 01:30 to 19:30 GMT. Later in 2008, RTA became a 24-hour channel, and this allowed viewers Internationally to watch it at more convenient hours.
RTA's original logo had three squares (black, red, green, corresponding to the Afghan flag), with the letters R, T and A.
On 12 March 2010, a shelter was added at the top of the three squares, and the font was slightly changed and was smaller in size. Also, the top of the squares became round-shaped instead of straight. It is thought that the shelter is the top of a mosque.
In May 2011, a second logo was introduced which had the letters (from right to left) ﺮ ,ﻣ and ﺖ on it. This phonetically means MRT, which stands for Milli Radio Telvizun. This means National Radio Television in English. On 26 July 2011, even a third logo was introduced - a brown-coloured symbol, stating ﺮ ,ﻣ and ﺖ.
5 days later, this brown logo appeared as the only on-screen logo on RTA.
On 8 July 2011, the brown logo was removed and was replaced by a logo stating 'ﻣﻠﯽ' with the flag's background colours: black, red and green.
Out of all channels in Afghanistan, RTA has had the most logo changes.
Strangely, RTA's website still features the old logo used before 12 March 2010.