Television in Ethiopia
Television in Ethiopia was introduced in 1962 with the government owned ETV. Color television started in 1979 on an experiment basis with regular transmissions starting in 1984 to commemorate the founding of Workers' Party of Ethiopia (WPE).[1] Ethiopia got its first private Television Broadcaster in 2008 with EBS TV, a US based satellite TV channel mostly focused on infotainment.
Until very recently there was only 1 private station with most of the stations being state owned. However, emphasis on liberalization of the TV market eventually led to a wave of privately owned stations coming about recent years. In 2016 and 2017, more private broadcasters such as the news centered ENN TV and others like LTV Ethiopia, Fana TV, EOTC TV all joined the market. Dimtse Woyane and were launched at the end 2018. 7 million households in Ethiopia has at least one television set and about 55 percent of the population has access to the watch television in there homes. .[2]
History
The National public broadcaster EBC (formerly ERTA) started broadcasting in 1962 as the first television station in Ethiopia. In the last couple of the decades the broadcaster had opened multiple regional stations and channels broadcasting in various languages.[3] Privatization of the television industry was a slow process with the first privately run broadcaster, EBS TV, launching in 2008. However, 2016 and 2017 saw a wave of private station entering the market including what became the most popular channel, Kana TV, to increase the total number of private station's in Ethiopia to 45.[2]
In 2016 the government of Ethiopia announced it would be transition the country from analog to digital platform. The American company GatesAir won the contract for the project that will take 5–10 years to fully complete.[4]
TV stations
Government-owned Television Stations
| Stations | Category | Language |
|---|---|---|
| ETV | General, news | Amharic |
| OBN | General, news | Afaan Oromo |
| Amhara TV | General, news | Amharic |
| Addis TV | General, news | Amharic, Afaan Oromoo |
| Tigray TV | General, news | Tigrigna |
| Harar TV | General, news | Harari, Afaan Oromoo |
| SRTV | General, news | Somali |
| Debub TV | General, news | Amharic |
| Dire TV | General, news | Amharic, Afaan Oromoo, Somali language |
| OBN 27 | General, news | Amharic |
| Gambela TV | General, news | Amharic |
Digital cable services
| Provider | Category | Language |
|---|---|---|
| DStv (South Africa) | General | Amharic, English |
| Webspirx IPTV (Ethiopia) | General | Amharic |
Privately owned TV stations
| Station | Category | Language |
|---|---|---|
| General Entertainment | Amharic | |
| News, Entertainment | Somali | |
| LTV Ethiopia | Culture | Amharic |
| EBS TV | News and Entertainment | Amharic |
| ENN TV | News | Amharic |
| JTV Ethiopia | News and Entertainment | Amharic |
| Nahoo TV | News and entertainment | Amharic |
| Walta TV | News | Amharic |
| Fana TV | News | Amharic |
| Aleph TV | General entertainment | Amharic |
| Afrihealth TV | Health | Amharic |
| ARTS | News
Entertainment |
Amharic |
| DW TV | General
News |
Tigrigna |
| Bisrat TV | General entertainment | Amharic |
| Asham TV | News, entertainment | Amharic |
| AHADU TV | News entertainment | Amharic |
| Asrat HD | General
News |
Amharic |
| Arki TV | News Entertainment | Amharic |
| ESAT | General news | Amharic |
| Balageru TV | General Entertainment | Amharic |
| ABN TV | News, entertainment | Amharic |
| Ye Ethiopia Lijoch TV | Children's channel | Amharic |
| TV 9 Ethio | News Entertainment | Amharic |
| SMN-ETH | General News | Sidamian |
| TMH TV | General News | Tigrigna |
| OBS TV | General entertainment | Afaan Oromoo |
| OMN | News Entertainment | Afaan Oromoo |
| FIB | News Entertainment | Afaan Oromoo |
| ONN | Politics | Afaan Oromoo |
| TV ETHIOPIA HD | Entertainment | Amharic |
| Channel 29 | News and entertainment | Tigrigna |
| Zee Alem | Indian entertainment | Amharic |
Weekly market share
Source: Kantar-Geopoll Media Measurement for Ethiopia (March 2017)[5]
| Rank | Channel | Parent Company | Market Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kana TV | Moby Group | 34% |
| 2 | EBC 1 | Ethiopian Broadcasting Corp. | 18% |
| 3 | EBS TV | EBS | 16% |
| 4 | JTV Ethiopia | JTV | 10% |
| 5 | ETV Meznagna | Ethiopian Broadcasting Corp. | 5% |
| 6 | Nahoo TV | Nahoo LLC | 4% |
| 7 | CNN | Turner | 3% |
| 8 | Ethiopia today | Ethiopian Government | 3% |
| 9 | BBC Amharic | British Government | 3% |
| 10 | Other | --- | 4% |
Top 10 programs
| Rank | Program | Channel | TV Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | O'Hayati Benim/የተቀማ ህይወት "Yetekema Hiwot" | Kana TV | 15.3* |
| 2 | Fatmagül'ün Suçu Ne?/ ቅጣት "Kitat" | Kana TV | 14.2* |
| 3 | Pasión y poder / የራስ ምርኮኛ "Ras Mirkogna" | Kana TV | 13.4* |
| 4 | The Time in Between / ስውር ሰፌት "sewer sifaet" | Kana TV | 12.85* |
| 5 | Love of Eve / መንታ ገጽ "Menta Getse" | Kana TV | 12.45* |
| 6 | #Time | Kana TV | 12.5* |
| 7 | News, Business Zegeba | EBC 1 | 11.35* |
| 8 | Anti Mafia Squad / የንስር ዓይን "ye neser ayen" | Kana TV | 11.8* |
| 9 | News, Mihewar | EBC 1 | 10.75* |
| 10 | Acquitted/ባይተዋር "Baytewar" | Kana TV | 10.5* |
See also
References
- ^ African Media Development Initiative: Ethiopia, p. 20 (accessed 24 May 2009)
- ^ a b Jemaneh, Yohanes (10 August 2017). "TV Channels – Growing in Number, Less in Content". All Africa.
- ^ Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency Archived 30 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine, ERTA website (accessed 24 May 2009)
- ^ "GatesAir Wins National Digital TV Transition Project in Ethiopia". GatesAir. 8 March 2016.
- ^ "Media Industry News". Kana Newsletter. 20 March 2017.
