Television in Turkey

First national channel TRT 1

Television in Turkey was introduced in 1968 by the government media provider TRT. First Turkish television channel ITU TV Launched in 1952. First national television in TRT 1. Color television was introduced in 1981. Back then it was the only channel with the name of TRT 1, and it broadcast in several times of the dateline. Turkey's first private television channel Star started it broadcast on 26 May 1989.

Until the 1990s there was only one television channel controlled by the state, but with the wave of liberalization, privately owned broadcasting began.[1] Turkey’s television market is defined by a handful of big channels, led by Kanal D, ATV and Show, with 14%, 10% and 9.6% market share, respectively.[2]

The most important reception platforms are terrestrial and satellite, with almost 50% of homes using satellite (of these 15% were pay services) at the end of 2009. Three services dominate the multi-channel market: the satellite platforms Digitürk and D-Smart and the cable TV service Türksat.[3]

Digital

As of 2013, pay television services in Turkey include Digiturk, D-Smart, TeleDünya, Türksat KabloTV and Tivibu.

The Uzan Group made the first digital television transmissions in Turkey with Turkey's first television channel Star TV. As they were on the lead with their channels Star, TeleOn and Kral, the Uzan Group launched Star Digital on Turksat in late 1999. In 2003, the platform's name was changed as DigiFun Club, but it was short lived before became defunct.

Turkey's first pay television provider, CINE5 from MultiCanal (owned by Erol Aksoy) launched in late 1994. It held the rights to the latest movie premieres, series and especially sports such as the Turkish Football League. In 2000, CINE5 launched CINE+Digital on Turksat with some specialty channels, but again in 2003 this platform was taken down.

Digiturk

Turkey's first and leading digital platform, Digiturk, owned by the Çukurova Group, launched in 1999. Digiturk was a lot more professional and had a lot of advantages over the other platforms such as Star Digital and CINE+Digital. Digiturk has the rights of airing the main sports live coverage in Turkey with its channel Lig TV. Digiturk is transmitted to the air via Eutelsat 7 East satellite with the usage of Turksat 42 East satellite. There are options with its own receiver or the subscription with module and card for Eutelsat 7. Digiturk recently launched HD channels of itself such as Lig TV HD, MovieMax HD, EuroSport HD, National Geographic HD, SporMax HD and İZ HD.

D-Smart

Turkey's second digital platform is D-Smart owned by the Dogan Holding. Actually, the first HD television broadcasts were carried out by the Dogan Holding with the two channels Kanal D HD and Discovery Channel HD on their D-Smart platform. Currently, there are some HD channels via D-Smart which are Discovery HD, EuroSport HD, HD Smart, Kanal D HD and Star TV HD. Recently, D-Smart has had some deals with Turkey's MTV Group, MCD and the channels of SinemaTV, SinemaTV 2, SinemaTV Aile and SinemaTV HD have begun to be transmitted to the air firstly by D-Smart. D-Smart uses Turksat 42 East for the transmissions.

Teledünya (Cable service)

Cable network is renamed as Teledünya which has some HD channels at the moment also called as National Geographic HD and EuroSport HD. Lately the cable network has had some deals with Turkey's MTV Network Group, MCD, and French television provider ABSAT. Teledünya is expected to carry out new television channels more than 100 in the following months of 2009. Teledünya broadcasts via the cable network around the country but it is not available largely which blocks the system from reaching every part of the land.

Analog switchoff

Analog broadcast has stopped in Turkey on March 3, 2015.

Government channels (TRT - Turkish Radio and Television Corporation)

Channel Category
TRT 1 General
TRT Haber News
TRT Spor Sports
TRT HD HD Documentaries and General Programs
TRT Türk International, News & Culture
TRT Çocuk (diffusion with TRT Okul) For Children
TRT Müzik Music
TRT Belgesel Documentaries
TRT Avaz Turkic People
TRT Kurdî Programmes in Kurdish Language
TRT el Türkiye Programmes in Arabic Language
TRT Okul Education
TRT Diyanet Religious Programmes
TRT Gap (diffusion with TRT 3 and TBMM TV) Local Projects
TBMM TV (diffusion with TRT 3 and TRT Gap) Parliament
TRT 3 (diffusion with TBMM TV and TRT Gap) Mixed programming

Private national channels

Channel Category
ITU TV General (Closed, 1972)
Kanal D General
ATV General
STAR General
SHOW General
FOX General
Samanyolu General, Religious
Sokak TV General
Kanaltürk General
TV8 General
Kanal 7 General, Religious
tvem General
Cine5 General
Kadırga TV General
TV2 General
Beyaz TV General
NTV News
CNN Türk News
Habertürk TV News
Sky Turk 360 News
Samanyolu Haber TV News
24 News
A Haber News
TVNET News
Bugün TV News
Kanal A News, General
Ulusal Kanal News
CNBC-e Financial, Business, American Series and children
e2 American Series
Flash TV General
Dünya TV Kurdish, General
Meltem TV General Religious
TGRT Haber News
Ülke TV News
Mehtap TV Religious, Culture
NTV Spor Sports
sportstv Sports
Fenerbahçe TV Sports
A Spor Sports
Semerkand TV Religious
Dost TV Religious
a9 TV Religious
Irmak TV Religious
Planet Sinema Cinema, Film
Planet Türk Cinema, Film
Planet Pembe Series
Yumurcak TV Children
Planet Çocuk Children
MinikaGO Children
MinikaÇocuk Children
Disney Channel (Turkey) Children
Cartoon Network (Turkey) Children
Kids/Animez Children
Kral TV Music
Powertürk TV Music
Dream TV Music
Number One TV Music
Number One Türk TV Music
TMB TV Music, Turkic World
Yaban TV Documentaries

Most viewed channels

Source: TNS via Connected VivaKi (16-31 July 2013)[4]

Rank Channel Group Share of total viewing (%)
1 ATV Çalık Holding 9.11%
2 Kanal D Doğan Media Group 8.89%
3 SHOW Ciner Media Group 7.90%
4 FOX Fox International Channels 7.75%
5 STAR Doğuş Holding 6.59%
6 Samanyolu Samanyolu Yayıncılık A.Ş. 4.66%
7 Kanal 7 Yeni Dünya Medya Grubu 4.12%
8 TRT 1 TRT 3.73%
9 Kanaltürk Koza İpek Holding 1.94%
10 Other 45.31%

See also

References

  1. "Competition Issues In Television And Broadcasting, Contribution From Turkey" (PDF). Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  2. "International TV execs talk Turkey". Variety. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  3. "TV and on-demand audiovisual services in Turkey". MAVISE. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  4. "16-31 Temmuz 2013 TV Verileri". Connected VivaKi. Retrieved 7 August 2013.

External links

Turkish TV Market Information Digiturk Sales Digiturk Channels