Television was introduced in Czechoslovakia in 1953. Experimental projects with DVB-T started in 2000. Finally on 21 October 2005, multiplex A (DVB-T) was launched with three channels of Česká televize and one of TV Nova and radio channels of

Český rozhlas Český rozhlas (ČRo) is the public radio broadcaster of the Czech Republic operating since 1923. It is the oldest radio broadcaster in continental Europe and the second oldest in Europe after the BBC. The service broadcasts throughout the C ...

. On 12 April 2006, six digital terrestrial television licenses were awarded to commercial broadcasters. The receivers of the licenses were: Z1, TV Pohoda, Regionální televizni agentura (RTA), Febio TV, TV Barrandov and

Óčko Óčko (stylised as Òĉko) is the first Czech Republic, Czech music television channel, which started broadcasting in 2002. Majority of the audience are teenagers and people from the 12–35 age group. The program consists of music videos of ...

. However, because of delays some projects lost investors and will not start (e.g. Fabio, Pohoda) or were cancelled. Z1 provided a news service in from 2008 to January 2011, when it ceased broadcasting.

delivers a music service. TV Barrandov provides general programming services. Czech Republic become the first country in central and eastern Europe to start to end all analogue broadcasts in November 2011. The process completed when the last analogue transmitters in south-east Moravia and northern Moravia-Silesia were shut down on 30 June 2012.

Milestone of digitalization

In September 2008, when multiplex A was available in Prague, Central Bohemian Region, in surrounding areas of

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

, Ostrava, Domažlice and Ústí nad Labem, leave this multiplex with their 4 channels Česká televize. All channels of Česká televize ( ČT1, ČT2, ČT24 and ČT4) is now in multiplex 1 (with can be seen in Bohemia (except few exceptions), in surrounding areas of

and in Ostrava). Multiplex A transform to multiplex 2 with stations

TV Prima Prima televize (previously Prima family, originally Premiéra) is a Czech Republic, Czech private television station. Its channel is broadcast from Prague. Its current owner is FTV Prima, spol. s. r. o., which is majority-owned by Czech investm ...

Prima Cool Prima Cool is a private Czech television station. Prima Cool is TV Prima's second channel. It is targeted primarily at young male audiences. Prima Cool launched on 1 April 2009 as TV Prima's new digital channel. It is available on Czech DVB- ...

TV R1 R1 is a Czech private television station. R1 is the third channel of TV Prima. This channel is compound from content of members of the group R1 (R1 Vřídlo, R1 Zak, ...). Members of group R1 are small regional TV stations, which share their pro ...

, TV Barrandov, TV Nova and Nova Cinema. The cover is very similar as multiplex 1, except southeast part of Bohemie. Multiplex B transform to multiplex 3. Now there are broadcasting "Public TV" (its commercial station), Z1 and until 31 July 2009

. In Prague there is broadcasting multiplex 3 on two frequency. On one of this frequency you can see also Noe TV and Prima HDTV. Multiplex 3 covered just Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň and Ústí nad Labem. This multiplex now had problem to find reliable stations to broadcast. There is also multiplex 4 which is operated by O2, but there is broadcast only ČT1 HD and Nova HDTV and covered is just center of Prague, center of Plzeň, center of Ostrava and center of Brno.

Czech TV crisis

The "Czech TV crisis" occurred at the end of 2000 and lasted until early 2001 as a battle for control of ČT, which included jamming and accusations of censorship. During the Czech TV crisis, ČT reporters organized an industrial dispute by staging a sit-in and occupying the news studio, and rejected attempts by

Jana Bobošíková Jana Bobošíková (born 29 August 1964) is a Czech politician. In the 2004 European Parliament election she was elected a Member of the European Parliament for the Independent Democrats and remained unaffiliated in the European Parliament. In ...

, the newly appointed head of the news department, to fire them. They were supported in their protest by politicians such as the then President Václav Havel and by Czech celebrities, but every time they tried to air their news broadcasts, Jana Bobošíková and

Jiří Hodač Jiří Hodač is a Czech media manager, best known for his short tenure as Director General of Česká televize between December 2000 and January 2001, which spanned the start of the Czech TV crisis. Hodač took up his position as Director Genera ...

would jam the transmission either with a "technical fault" screen reading: "An unauthorized signal has entered this transmitter. Broadcasting will resume in a few minutes," or with their own news broadcasts featuring Bobošíková and a team she had hired to "replace" the staff members she had sought to terminate. The Czech TV crisis eventually ended in early 2001, following the departure from ČT of Hodač and Bobošíková, under pressure by the street demonstration participants and at the request of the Czech Parliament, which had held an emergency session due to the crisis.

Most-viewed channels

The ATO measures television ratings in the Czech Republic. The channels with most share according to ATO's measurements were:

Market share

List of channels

Terrestrial free-to-air channels (DVB-T2 & Satellite)

* Czech Television - public service broadcaster ** ČT1 (HD) - main channel ** ČT2 (HD) - second main channel ** ČT24 (HD) - news channel **

ČT Sport ČT Sport is Czech Republic, Czech national sports channel, operated by Česká televize. History ČT Sport was launched on 10 February 2006 at 'ČT4 Sport', to promote digital television, its main programmes include football (soccer), football, ...

(HD) - sport channel ** ČT :D (HD) / ČT art (HD) - time shared position (channel for kids / art channel) * Nova Group ( PPF) ** TV Nova (HD) - main channel ** Nova Cinema (HD) - movie channel ** Nova Action (HD) - channel for men ** Nova Fun (HD) - channel for younger ** Nova Gold (HD) - archive channel ** Nova Lady (HD) - channel for women **

Nova Sport 1 Nova Sport 1 is focused primarily on mainstream sports and broadcasts sporting events and sport-related programming in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It has broadcasting licenses for major sport leagues and events including the National Hockey L ...

(HD) - sport channel with pay TV ** Nova Sport 2 (HD) - sport channel with pay TV ** Nova Sport 3 (HD) - sport channel with pay TV ** Nova Sport 4 (HD) - sport channel with pay TV * Prima Group ( FTV Prima Group) **

(HD) - main channel **

(HD) - channel for younger **

Prima Love Prima Love is the first niche channel aimed at young, active women in the Czech Republic. The channel, which launched on March 8, 2011, is owned by Modern Times Group and currently has a reach of approximately 94% of the country's 10.5 million p ...

(HD) - channel for women **

Prima Zoom Prima ZOOM is a documentary television channel of FTV Prima group. Prima ZOOM was launched on 1 February 2013, complementing its sister channels Prima Family, Prima COOL, and Prima Love. Prima ZOOM's graphics identity was made by Studio Ofici ...

(HD) - documentary programs ** Prima Max (HD) - movie channel ** Prima Krimi (HD) - crime series programs ** CNN Prima NEWS (HD) - news channel ** Prima Star (HD) - archive channel ** Prima Show (HD) - reality show programs ** Prima +1 - timeshifted channel * TV Barrandov ** TV Barrandov (HD) - main channel ** Kino Barrandov (HD) - movie channel ** Barrandov Krimi (HD) - crime documentary programs * Markíza Slovakia (PPF) ** Markíza International - czech version with Markíza * JOJ Czech (J&T Group) ** JOJ Family - czech version for TV JOJ ** JOJ Cinema (HD) - movie channel with pay TV ** CS Mystery - sci-fi documentary programs (former Kinosvět) * Stanice O **

- music channel ** Óčko Expres - music channel with pay TV ** Óčko Black - hip hop & rock music channel ** Óčko STAR - retro music channel * Seznam.cz ** Seznam.cz TV (HD) - main channel * Paramount Networks EMEAA ** Paramount Network - serial & movie channel * TV NOE * DofE * Šláger Originál * Rebel * Relax (former TV Pohoda) * SPORT 5 * ABC TV * Retro Music TV * Nalaďte se na digitální vysílání CRA * Televize pres antenu

Regional terrestrial free-to-air channels (DVB-T2)

* Praha TV * Brno TV 1 * Info TV Brno a Jižní Morava * Polar * JTV * JČ1 Televize jižní Čechy * JČ2 Televize jižní Čechy * i-Vysočina.cz * LTV PLUS * Plzeň TV * RTM+ * TV Morava * TVS * TV ZAK * Ústecká TV * V1

Premium channels

Film

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

(HD) (version for Czech Republic and Slovakia) * HBO 2 (HD) *

HBO 3 Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television, premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office busi ...

(HD) (former HBO Comedy) * Cinemax (HD) *

Cinemax 2 Cinemax is an American pay television, cable, and satellite television network owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Developed as a companion "maxi-pay" service complementing the offerings shown on parent net ...

(HD) * AMC (former MGM Channel) * TCM (English audio only) *Film Europe (HD) *Film Europe+ * Film+ (HD) *

FilmBox MotionBuilder is a 3D character animation software produced by Autodesk. It is used for virtual cinematography, motion capture, and traditional keyframe animation. It was originally named Filmbox when it was first created by Canadian company Kay ...

*FilmBox Arthouse *FilmBox Plus *FilmBox Premium (HD) *FilmBox Family *FilmBox Extra HD *

CS Film CS Film is a Czech television channel. It was founded and started to broadcast in 2004 by Czechoslovak Film Company ("Československá filmová společnost s.r.o.") and 2019 merger for Slovakia media by JOJ Group. CS Film specializes on cinematog ...

/ CS Horor

Entertainment

* AXN (HD) (version for Czech Republic and Slovakia) * AXN Black *

AXN White AXN White is a channel operated by Sony Pictures Television International Networks Europe. Its programming is focused on comedy and romantic television series and movies. The channel was launched in Portugal on 14 April 2012 and in Spain on 7 May ...

*Canal+ Domo *

Comedy Central Extra Comedy Central Extra is a European pay television channel that launched in the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2003. Followed by the Netherlands in 2011 were it was visible till 31 december 2022. Between 2012 and 2020 it was also available in par ...

(Czech subtitles) * E! *Epic Drama *Fashionbox HD * Fashion TV (version for Czech Republic and Slovakia) * Food Network (English audio only) *

HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. As of February 2015, appr ...

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an As ...

*Hobby TV *Mňam TV *Mňau TV *

SYFY Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

(coming soon)

Documentary

* Animal Planet (HD) * BBC Earth * CBS Reality (former Zone Reality) *

Discovery Channel Europe Discovery Channel (Europe) is the Pan-European version of the Discovery Channel. Over the years, the Discovery Channel has been split into many different channels for specific regions. Most language regions in Western Europe now have their own v ...

(HD) *

Discovery Science Discovery science (also known as discovery-based science) is a scientific methodology which aims to find new patterns, correlations, and form hypotheses through the analysis of large-scale experimental data. The term “discovery science” enco ...

* DTX * Investigation Discovery *Docubox HD (English audio only) *NASA UHD *

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

(HD) (version for Czech Republic and Slovakia) * Nat Geo Wild (HD) * H2 (English audio only) * History Channel (HD) *

Crime and Investigation Network Crime & Investigation (stylized as Crime + Investigation) is an American pay television channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between the Hearst Communications and the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company. The cha ...

*Spektrum (HD) (version for Czech Republic and Slovakia) *Spektrum Home (former TV Deko) * Travel Channel (HD) *

TV Paprika TV Paprika is a Hungarian television channel operated by AMC Networks International Central Europe. Its name is a pun on how peppers for making stuffed peppers Stuffed peppers is a dish common in many cuisines. It consists of hollowed or hal ...

*Fishing & Hunting TV * Wild TV * Travel xp * UP network *

Viasat History Viasat History is a pay television channel owned by the Swedish media company, Viasat World, Viasat World LTD. The channel broadcasts history series from around the world with a focus on the ancient world, historical drama, royal history, travel ...

(HD) *

Viasat Explorer Viasat Explore is a television channel owned by international media company, Viasat World LTD. The channel focuses on fishing, adventure, men at work and engineering. Viasat Explore is a 24-hour channel broadcasting in Central and Eastern Euro ...

(HD) *

Viasat Nature Viasat Nature is a television channel owned by international media company, Viasat World LTD. The channel has a focus on animals and their owners, blue-chip, classic wildlife, ER and animal rescue, the natural world, and parks and sanctuaries. ...

(HD) * Love Nature * Nautical Channel *CS History

Sport

*Canal+ Sport (version for Czech Republic and Slovakia) * Eurosport (HD) * Eurosport 2 (HD) *

Extreme Sports Channel The Extreme Sports Channel is a pay television channel that was launched from Amsterdam on 1 May 1999. The channel broadcasts in over 60 countries and 12 languages, and covers extreme sport and adventure sports which include surfing, skateboardi ...

(Czech subtitles) *Fast&FunBox HD * FightBox (English audio only) *O₂ TV Sport *O₂ TV Fotbal *O₂ TV Tenis * Sport 1 (HD) *Sport 2 (HD) *Sport 5 *Arena Sport 1 (HD) *Arena Sport 2 (HD) *Premier Sport 1 (HD) *Premier Sport 2 (HD) * Auto, Motor & Sport (HD) (version for Czech Republic and Slovakia) * Ginx Esports TV (English audio only) * Golf Channel (HD) (version for Czech Republic and Slovakia)

Kids and teens

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

(former Jetix) (version for Czech Republic and Slovakia) *Disney Junior (English audio only) *

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

* Boomerang * Nickelodeon (version for Czech Republic and Slovakia) * Nick Jr. * Nicktoons * Jim Jam *

Minimax Minimax (sometimes MinMax, MM or saddle point) is a decision rule used in artificial intelligence, decision theory, game theory, statistics, and philosophy for ''mini''mizing the possible loss for a worst case (''max''imum loss) scenario. When de ...

Ducktv Duck TV (stylised ducktv) is a children's television channel which was launched in October 2007 as Bebe TV on UPC and was owned by WICKS Communications, and available in Hungary, Romania, Spain, Slovakia and Czech Republic. Since its launch, the ...

(HD) * Baby TV

Music

* MTV Europe (Czech localization) * MTV Music (UK version) * MTV Hits (UK version) * MTV Live (UK version) *

Club MTV ''Club MTV'' is a half hour television show modeled after ''American Bandstand'' that aired on MTV from August 31, 1987, to June 26, 1992. ''Club MTV'' was part of MTV's second generation of programming, as the channel was phasing out its origi ...

(European version) * MTV 80s (European version) * MTV 90s (European version) * MTV 00s (European version) *Music Box *Retro Music Television (FTA in regional DVB-T) *Šláger Dechovka *Šláger Muzika *Šláger Premium *

Stingray Classica Stingray Classica (formerly Classica and Unitel Classica) is a television channel devoted to classical music, opera, ballet and jazz, currently owned by Stingray Group in Canada. History Classica was owned by Unitel, a distributor of filmed cla ...

Stingray CMusic Stingray CMusic (formerly C Music TV until 30 November 2018) is a British television music channel dedicated to classical and soundtrack music videos, currently owned by Stingray Digital in Canada. The C in the channel's name stands for the g ...

Stingray iConcerts Stingray iConcerts is a Canadian-based video-on-demand television channel broadcasting full-length live musical performances from various genres of music. The channel is owned by the Stingray Group. History Stingray Concerts was founded as an i ...

Mezzo Mezzo is the Italian word for "half", "middle" or "medium". It may refer to: Music *Mezzo-soprano or mezzo, a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices *Mezzo forte ("medium-loud") ...

(French version) *Mezzo Live HD (French version) *

Deluxe Music Deluxe Music is a German free-to-air music television channel, operated by Just Music Fernsehbetriebs and owned by High View Holding. The channel was founded in 2004 by the German media entrepreneurs Markus Langemann and Cosmin Ene and started ...

*360 TuneBox (HD)

Erotica

*Leo TV *Extasy TV *

Blue Hustler Blue Hustler is a subscription based premium adult entertainment television channel distributed throughout Europe and Israel via digital cable and satellite television. It is owned by the Dutch-based company Sapphire Media International BV. Blue ...

* Hustler TV *

Penthouse TV Penthouse TV is an American premium adult entertainment television channel consisting of explicit adult material, primarily hardcore pornographic films and mainstream interviews. The channel's name is licensed from the men's magazine '' Penthou ...

(HD) * Playboy TV (HD) *Brazzers TV Europe (former Private Spice) *

Dorcel TV Dorcel TV is a subscription based pay-TV adult entertainment television channel distributed throughout Europe via digital cable and satellite television. It is owned by Marc Dorcel Marc Dorcel (born in March 1934) is a French-Hungarian pr ...

(HD) *Dorcel XXX (HD) *Private TV (former Daring TV! (former XXX X-Treme)) *EroX (HD) *EroXXX (HD) *Man-X *X-MO *

The Adult Channel Home Video Channel (HVC) was a British cable television service devoted to broadcast low-budget movies (such as horror, action, adventure, science fiction and erotica) from 8.00pm to midnight, and the owners also operated The Adult Channel w ...

(UK version)

News

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

* Arirang * BBC World News * Bloomberg *

CGTN China Global Television Network (CGTN) is the international division of state media outlet China Central Television (CCTV), headquartered in Beijing, China. CGTN broadcasts six news and general interest channels in five languages. CGTN is reg ...

* CNBC * CNN * DW *

Euronews Euronews (styled on-air in lowercase as euronews) is a European television news network, headquartered in Lyon, France. The network began broadcasting on 1 January 1993 and covers world news from a European perspective. The majority of Eurone ...

* France 24 *

NHK World Japan NHK World-Japan (formerly and also known simply as NHK World) is the international arm of the Japanese state-controlled public broadcaster NHK. Its services are aimed at the overseas market, similar to those offered by other national public-ser ...

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

* TA3 (Slovak version) * TRT World

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Television In The Czech Republic 1953 establishments in Czechoslovakia Television networks Czech entertainment-related lists

Milestone of digitalization

Czech TV crisis

Most-viewed channels

Market share

List of channels

Terrestrial free-to-air channels (DVB-T2 & Satellite)

Regional terrestrial free-to-air channels (DVB-T2)

Premium channels

Film

Entertainment

Documentary

Sport

Kids and teens

Music

Erotica

News

See also

References