AzTV
AzTV
State-controlled national television channel in Azerbaijan
AzTV or Azerbaijan Television (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Televiziyası) is a state-controlled national television channel in Azerbaijan. It is the oldest television channel in the country, having first broadcast from Baku on 14 February 1956 in what was then the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union.[1]
AzTV logo since 2019 | |
| Country |  Azerbaijan |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Azerbaijan United States UK |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | Azerbaijani other languages of Azerbaijan |
| Picture format | 16:9 1080i HDTV |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting Closed Joint-stock Company (Government of Azerbaijan) |
| Sister channels | İdman Azərbaycan TV, Mədəniyyət TV AzTV 2 (1992–2005) |
| History | |
| Launched | 14 February 1956; 68 years ago (1956-02-14) |
| Former names | Baku Television Studio (1956–1968) AzTV 1 (1996–2005) |
| Links | |
| Website | http://aztv.az/en |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Digital terrestrial television | Varies within location |
| Streaming media | |
| AzTV.az | Watch live |
The channel has been owned since 2005 by the Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting Closed Joint-stock Company (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Televiziya və Radio Verilişləri Qapalı Səhmdar Cəmiyyəti),[2] of which the national government is the only shareholder.[3] This company also owns the channels İdman Azərbaycan TV (Sport Azerbaijan TV) and Mədəniyyət TV (Culture TV).
In 2007, an application by AzTV to join the European Broadcasting Union was rejected after the channel was found to be too closely associated with the ruling government.[4]
The channel starts its daily broadcast by airing National anthem of Azerbaijan. Programming on AzTV primarily consists of news, talk shows, documentaries, music shows, and feature films.
Their 1st shows (including music videos) that were recorded in 1956 are stored on film. In 1965, the studio switched to using videotape recording since it became affordable and the quality of their produced shows (including music videos) increased. AzTV maintains a huge archive of all their saved TV programming that was recorded from 1956–present. All of their shows are preserved on different film and videotape formats.
As of March 2014[update], 99.96% of the population of Azerbaijan can receive AzTV via terrestrial, cable, or satellite broadcasting, giving it the largest coverage area of any Azerbaijani television channel.[5]
In addition to broadcasting domestically, AzTV broadcasts internationally on the internet and via free-to-air satellite to Europe, North America, and portions of North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia.[6]
- "History of communication in Azerbaijan". Ministry of Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
- "Television Channels in Azerbaijan". Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan Republic. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
- Huseynov, Emil (2012). "Freedom of Expression in Azerbaijan: The Internet as the last island of freedom". Pluralism and Internet Governance (PDF). Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). p. 90. ISBN 978-92-9234-642-3. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
- "Eurovision Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan at the contest". Eurovisionaz.com. Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
- "Teleradio PU - Statistics". The Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
- "AzTV - LyngSat". LyngSat. Lyngemark Satellite. Archived from the original on 2 October 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
- Official website (in Azerbaijani)
- Official website (in English)
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