Television in Turkey


Television in Turkey was introduced in 1952 with the launch of ITU TV. The first national television channel in Turkey was TRT 1, which was introduced in 1968. Color television was introduced in 1981. Turkey's first private television channel, Star, began broadcasting on 26 May 1989.
There was only one television channel controlled by the state until the wave of liberalization in the 1990s which began privately owned broadcasting. Turkey's television market is defined by a handful of large channels, led by Kanal D, ATV and Show, with 14%, 10% and 9.6% market share, respectively.
The two most used reception platforms are terrestrial and satellite, with almost 50% of homes using satellite 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.

Digital platform

, pay television services in Turkey include Digiturk, D-Smart, TeleDünya, Vodafone TV, Turkcell TV Plus, Türksat KabloTV and Tivibu.
The Uzan Group launched the first digital television transmissions in Turkey with Turkey's first television channel, Star TV. They also launched Star Digital on Turksat in late 1999. In 2003, the platform's name was changed to DigiFun Club, but the name change was short lived.
Turkey's first pay television provider, CINE5 from MultiCanal, 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 this platform was taken down in 2003.

Digiturk

, owned by the Çukurova Group, was launched in 1999. 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 the Eutelsat 7 East satellite with the usage of the Turksat 42 East satellite. Digiturk recently launched HD channels of itself such as Lig TV HD, MovieMax HD, EuroSport HD, National Geographic HD, SporMax HD and İZ HD.
Digiturk was acquired by the beIN MEDIA GROUP in September 2016.

D-Smart

Turkey's second digital platform is D-Smart, which is owned by the Dogan Holding. The first HD television broadcasts in Turkey were performed by Dogan Holdinga with the two channels Kanal D HD and Discovery Channel HD on their D-Smart platform. Currently, there are several HD channels available 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 by D-Smart. D-Smart uses Turksat 42 East for the transmissions.

KabloTV (Cable service)

KabloTV cable television was introduced in Turkey in 1988. Cable television launched in Turkey in 1991. The cable network was renamed to KabloTV. KabloTV has some HD channels at the moment, such 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. KabloTV was expected to introduce more than 100 new television channels in 2009. KabloTV broadcasts via the cable network around the country but it is not widely available, which blocks the system from reaching every part of the land. As of 2020, cable TV infrastructure was available to 24 provinces.

Analogue switchoff

Turkey analogue terrestrial television will be terminated in 17 June 2020 without digital terrestrial television transition. Analogue satellite television terminated in last TRT 1 and Cine5. Cable television using analogue switch-off not yet planned.

Digital terrestrial television

Turkey's planned digital terrestrial television in 28 August 1998 at Bilkent University. Ankara Dikmen 1,5 kW DVB-T transmitter started test broadcasting in 1 December 2003.
Turkey began digital transmissions in February 2006. The Turkish government was expected to gradually handle the switchover, with a completion date of March 2015. In 2013, the broadcasting regulator awarded a license to a firm; this was cancelled in 2014 after the AYM upheld a complaint against the process. New licenses have been proposed, but as of 2018 Turkey still has no DTT network.
The DVB-T2 official launch was expected in Turkey in 2020/2021. However, construction DVB-T2 new transmitter Çanakkale or İstanbul Küçük Çamlıca broadcasting towers completes later the DTT will test transmission.
The İstanbul Küçük Çamlıca Tower test of digital broadcasting was expected in May 2020. However, DVB-T2 or DAB+ test transmission suspended due to coronavirus instead.
As of 2020 Turkey's terrestrial television watching usage penetrated % 0.1 too low in Europe.

DTT switchoff

On 1 June 2017, Turkey's last DTT network TRT 4K was discontinued. As of 2020 Turkey has no DTT network.

Government channels (TRT - Turkish Radio and Television Corporation)

ChannelCategory
TRT 1General
TRT 2Art and culture
TRT HaberNews
TRT SporSports
TRT Spor 2Sports
TRT ÇocukChildren
TRT MüzikMusic
TRT TürkGeneral
TRT BelgeselDocumentaries
TRT AvazTurkic People
TRT KurdîProgrammes in Kurdish Language
TRT ArabiProgrammes in Arabic Language
TRT WorldNews in English
TBMM TV Parliament
TRT 3 Youth
Diyanet TV Religion
EBA TV İlkokul Education
EBA TV Ortaokul Education
EBA TV Lise Education

Private national channels

ChannelCategory
ITU TVGeneral
Kanal DGeneral
ATVGeneral
STARGeneral
SHOWGeneral
FOXGeneral
SamanyoluGeneral, Religious
Sokak TVGeneral
KanaltürkGeneral
TV8General
Kanal 7General, Religious
tvemGeneral
Cine5General
Kadırga TVGeneral
TV2General
Beyaz TVGeneral
NTVNews
CNN TürkNews
Habertürk TVNews
Sky Turk 360News
Samanyolu Haber TVNews
24News
A HaberNews
TVNETNews
Bugün TVNews
Kanal ANews, General
Ulusal KanalNews
TLC American Series
e2American Series
Flash TVGeneral
Dünya TVKurdish, General
Meltem TVGeneral Religious
TGRT HaberNews
Ülke TVNews
Mehtap TVReligious, Culture
NTV SporSports
sportstvSports
Fenerbahçe TVSports
A SporSports
Semerkand TVReligious
Dost TVReligious
a9 TVReligious
Irmak TVReligious
Planet SinemaCinema, Film
Planet TürkCinema, Film
Planet PembeSeries
Yumurcak TVChildren
Planet ÇocukChildren
MinikaGOChildren
MinikaÇocukChildren
Disney Channel Children
Cartoon Network Children
Kidz TVChildren
Kral TVMusic
Kral Pop TVMusic
Powertürk TVMusic
Dream TVMusic
Number One TVMusic
Number One Türk TVMusic
TMB TVMusic, Turkic World
Yaban TVDocumentaries

Most viewed channels

Source: TNS via Connected VivaKi
RankChannelGroupShare of total viewing
1ATVÇalık Holding9.74%
2FOXFox International Channels9.48%
3Kanal DDemirören Group8.40%
4STAR TVDoğuş Media Group8.29%
5SHOWCiner Media Group6.86%
6TRT 1TRT5.27%
7TV8Acun Media & Doğuş Holding5.17%
8Kanal 7New World Media Group4.13%
9TRT ÇocukTRT3.27%
10Other–39.10%