The Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU; ar, إتحاد الإذاعة والتلفزيون المصري ''Itteh'ad Al-Edhaa'a wa at-Televezyon al-Mis'ri'') is the

public broadcaster Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

of Egypt, operated by the Egyptian government. It is a member of the European Broadcasting Union.

History

Egyptian Radio began broadcasting on 31 May 1934 in agreement with the Marconi Company. The General Manager of the station for the period was Said Basha Lotfi who presided over the station from May 1934 to December 1947. In December 1947, the contract with Marconi was suspended in favour of an Egyptian national broadcasting station. The station is known also for its call "This is Cairo" (in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

هنا القاهرة pronounced Houna al Qaahira). It is considered the First Program (in

البرنامج الأول) of the ERTU. Later on three main new radio channels were added, namely the pan-Arab The Voice of the Arabs (صوت العرب) in 1953, Egyptian Radio's Second Programme (البرنامج الثاني) in 1957 and the pan-Arab Middle East Radio (إذاعة الشرق الأوسط) in 1964. All four stations broadcast on high powered medium wave transmitters covering most of the Middle East and North and East Africa.

Egyptian television Television in Egypt is mainly received through free satellite, while analog terrestrial represents 41% of total viewers. The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) said the average time an Egyptian spends watching televisio ...

began broadcasting six hours daily on 21 July 1960 with a state-run channel that held a monopoly on terrestrial broadcasts. In 1971 a new decree established the Arab Radio and Television Union, and created four distinct sectors: radio, television, engineering, and finance, each of which had a chairman who reported directly to the

minister of information An information minister (also called minister of information) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with information matters; it is often linked with censorship and propaganda. Sometimes the position is given to ...

. The name of the Union was changed to the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, the name by which it is still known. Today, its total daily broadcast time on its various channels amounts to 490 hours. Already in 1950 its predecessor the Egyptian State Broadcasting (الإذاعة الحكومية المصرية) was one of the founding members of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950. After the admittance of the Israel Broadcasting Service in 1958, it cancelled its active memberships, as did the Syrian Broadcasting Services. It was readmitted as an active member 1 January 1985.

Services

Radio

General stations

* General Programme Radio (إذاعة البرنامج العام) or Egyptian Radio, established in 1934 as the main channel of the network * Voice of the Arabs (إذاعة صوت العرب) established in 1953 as a pan-Arab station *The Second Program (البرنامج الثاني) established in 1957 **Now replaced and converted into the Cultural Radio (إذاعة البرنامج الثقافي) * Middle East Radio (إذاعة الشرق الأوسط) established in 1964 as a pan-Arab station *European Program Radio (إذاعة البرنامج الأوربي) broadcasting in English, French, Greek, Italian and German

Specialized (thematic) stations

*Cultural Radio (إذاعة البرنامج الثقافي) (replaced The Second Program) *Youth and Sports Radio (إذاعة الشباب والرياضة) (established in 1975) *Radio Greater Cairo (إذاعة القاهرة الكبرى) (established in 1981) *Songs Radio (إذاعة الأغاني) (established in 2000) *News and Music Radio (إذاعة الأخبار والموسيقى) * Radio Masr or Egypt Radio (إذاعة راديو مصر) (established in 2009) *Al Qur'an al Karim Radio (إذاعة القران الكريم) Muslim religious broadcasting *Educational Radio (الإذاعة التعليمية) *Voice of Palestine (صوت فلسطين)

Regional programming radio stations

*North of Saaeed Radio (إذاعة شمال الصعيد) *Nile Valley Radio (إذاعة وادي النيل) *Middle Delta Radio (إذاعة وسط الدلتا) *Radio Alexandria (إذاعة الإسكندرية)

International stations

*Radio Cairo (International) including Radio Cairo World Service 1 to 7 (various channels, shortwave and satellite)

Television

National

* ERTU 1 (Al Oula) – Generalist and informative programming. It began its broadcasts in 1960. * ERTU 2 (Al Thanya) – focused on fiction, entertainment and current affairs programming, launched in 1961. * Al Masriya – Channel aimed at the Egyptian diaspora, available since 1990. * Channel Egypt

Regional

There are six state-owned broadcast and satellite channels in Egypt: * Six regional channels, each providing specialized services for a number of

governorates A governorate is an administrative division of a state. It is headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either states or provinces, the term ''governorate'' is often used in translation from ...

: **Cairo Channel: broadcasting from

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

and covering Greater Cairo governorates, i.e.

, Giza and Qalioubia. **Alexandria Channel: broadcasting from

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

and covering

, Al Buhayrah and parts of Matrouh. **Canal Channel: broadcasting from

Ismailia Ismailia ( ar, الإسماعيلية ', ) is a city in north-eastern Egypt. Situated on the west bank of the Suez Canal, it is the capital of the Ismailia Governorate. The city has a population of 1,406,699 (or approximately 750,000, includi ...

and covering Suez Canal governorates, i.e.

Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same bou ...

and Port Said. **Delta Channel: broadcasting from

Tanta Tanta ( ar, طنطا ' , ) is a city in Egypt with the country's fifth largest populated area and 658,798 inhabitants as of 2018. Tanta is located between Cairo and Alexandria: north of Cairo and southeast of Alexandria. The capital of Gharbia ...

and covering Central

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...

governorates, i.e. Al Gharbiyah, Al Minufiyah,

Ad Daqahliyah Dakahlia Governorate ( ar, محافظة الدقهلية ', ) is an Egyptian governorate lying northeast of Cairo. Its area is approximately 3,500 km2. Although the capital of the governorate is Mansoura, it got its name from the ancient to ...

, Kafr ash Shaykh and Dimyat. **Upper Channel: broadcasting from Minya and covering Northern

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient E ...

governorates, i.e. Minya, El-Fayoum, Beni Suef and

Asiut AsyutAlso spelled ''Assiout'' or ''Assiut'' ( ar, أسيوط ' , from ' ) is the capital of the modern Asyut Governorate in Egypt. It was built close to the ancient city of the same name, which is situated nearby. The modern city is located at ...

. **Thebes Channel: broadcasting from

Aswan Aswan (, also ; ar, أسوان, ʾAswān ; cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲁⲛ ) is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate. Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dam on the east bank of the ...

and covering Southern

governorates, i.e. Suhag,

Qena Qena ( ar, قنا ' , locally: ; cop, ⲕⲱⲛⲏ ''Konē'') is a city in Upper Egypt, and the capital of the Qena Governorate. Situated on the east bank of the Nile, it was known in antiquity as Kaine (Greek Καινή, meaning "new (city)"; ...

, Al Uqsur and

Nile Television

Nilesat Nilesat (; , ''or'' ) is an Egyptian company and the name of a series of Egyptian communications satellites. It was established in 1996 with the purpose of operating Egyptian satellites and their associated mission control center and ground st ...

allowed for the launch of several specialized TV channels in addition to Egyptian Satellite Channel (ESC) and

Nile TV Nile TV International is a public Egyptian television channel. It is the second Egyptian satellite television news network in Egypt, and the first Arab satellite channel to broadcast its programs in foreign languages; English, French, and former ...

. All are owned by the Egyptian state. Specialized channels include: * Al Nile *Nile Culture channel *Nile Comedy channel *Nile Drama channel, specialized in Drama, mainly movies and TV series. *Nile Educational channels, several channels for primary, preparatory, secondary, medical and language education. *Nile Family channel *Nile Sports channel *Nile Variety channel, specialized in various forms of entertainment mainly

concerts A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variet ...

music videos A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

, contests and some

talk shows A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sho ...

. *Tanweer channel

References

External links

Official website
* ( ERTU Building) 1971 establishments in Egypt Publicly funded broadcasters European Broadcasting Union members Television stations in Egypt Arabic-language television stations Television channels and stations established in 1971 Mass media in Cairo State media Government agencies of Egypt {{Interwiki extra, qid=Q30314623