Television has a long history in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, where regular

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

broadcasting started during the Soviet years in 1951. However the first ever TV broadcast took place on 1 February 1939 in Kyiv. Since then TV broadcasting has expanded, particularly after the

fall of Communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nat ...

in 1989, and now there are many different channels and groups in the Ukrainian TV market.

History

The first official broadcast took place in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

on 1 February 1939. It was 40 minutes long and showed the portrait of

Sergo Ordzhonikidze Sergo Konstantinovich Ordzhonikidze,, ; russian: Серго Константинович Орджоникидзе, Sergo Konstantinovich Ordzhonikidze) born Grigol Konstantines dze Orjonikidze, russian: Григорий Константино ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, on 6 November 1951, a Kyiv tele-centre made a debut with a live broadcast of the patriotic movie "The Great Glow". The next day the telecentre went on the air again celebrating the 34th anniversary of the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

with a special live broadcast. On 1 May 1952, a concert went on air (shot in the small and only pavilion of the telecentre known as "Studio B") of Ukrainian singers, soloists of the Kyiv

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko ( uk, Тарас Григорович Шевченко , pronounced without the middle name; – ), also known as Kobzar Taras, or simply Kobzar (a kobzar is a bard in Ukrainian culture), was a Ukrainian poet, wr ...

Opera Theater. The anchorwoman of the concert was the Kyiv Telecentre's first announcer – Novella Serapionova. In 1953, the construction of the building of the Kyiv Telecentre on

Khreshchatyk Khreshchatyk ( uk, Хрещатик, ) is the main street of Kyiv, Ukraine. The street has a length of . It stretches from the European Square (northeast) through the Maidan and to Bessarabska Square (southwest) where the Besarabsky Market ...

was completed, right after the finishing of the

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

and

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Telecentres. Regular programs started to go on air in 1956. Until that year, the Telecentre went on air twice a day showing feature films or documentaries. Live broadcasting was the only form of broadcasting. Videotaped productions became the usual form in the mid-1960s. The first regular national channel began airing on January 20, 1965, under the name UT-1 (Ukrainian television-1, today UA:First, while on March 6, 1972, a second channel, UT-2, signed on, making the UT network a republic service. In 1983, construction began on new broadcasting studios at 42 Melnyk Street, which opened after the fall of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in 1993. After the

Orange Revolution The Orange Revolution ( uk, Помаранчева революція, translit=Pomarancheva revoliutsiia) was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate afterm ...

, Ukrainian television became more free. In February 2009 the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting claimed that "political pressure on mass media increased in recent times through amending laws and other normative acts to strengthen influence on mass media and regulatory bodies in this sphere". As of January 2009,

Ukrainian Prime Minister The prime minister of Ukraine ( uk, Прем'єр-міністр України, ) is the head of government of Ukraine. The prime minister presides over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of th ...

Yulia Tymoshenko Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko ( uk, Юлія Володимирівна Тимошенко, ; Hrihyan ();Inter TV Channel Denies Businessman Firtash's Being Among Shareholders Of Company
,

Ukrainian News Agency The Ukrainian News Agency ( uk, Інформаційне агентство "Українські Новини"; ''Informatsiyne ahentstvo "Ukrayins'ki Novyny"'') is a Kyiv-based Ukrainian news agency. It produces and provides political, business ...

(January 23, 2009) In early March 2014, Ukraine-based TV channels were removed in Crimea ahead of the Russian annexation

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

. Later that month, the Ukrainian National Council for TV and Radio Broadcasting ordered measures against some Russian TV channels accused of broadcasting misleading information about Ukraine. In February 2015 the law "On protection information television and radio space of Ukraine," banned the showing (on Ukrainian television) of "audiovisual works" that contain "popularization, propaganda, propaganda, any action of law enforcement agencies, armed forces, other military, military or security forces of an invader" was enacted. One year later Russian productions (on Ukrainian television) had decreased by 300 to 400 percent.During the year, showing Russian media product fell to 3-4 - National Council
Den (5 February 2016) 15 more Russian TV channels were banned in March 2016. According to the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No.509 dated June 13, 2018, analogue broadcasting was disconnected on the territory of the Kirvograd region and Kyiv from July 31, 2018. The date of the switch-off of analogue broadcasting on the rest of Ukraine is August 31, 2018 A

Research & Branding Group Research & Branding Group ( uk, Дослідницька та бренд-консалтингова компанія) is a Ukrainian non-governmental marketing and sociological research company. Research and Branding undertake a number of signifi ...

February 2021 poll found that for the first time Ukrainians preferred the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

as their primary news source instead of television (51% preferred the Internet and 41% TV).

Digital television

In 2007 and 2008, experimental DVB-T broadcasts of few channels started in Kyiv and

Odesa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrati ...

. Those turned out to be successful. Yet the DTT National Program is not approved by the government, thus the process is stuck. Because there are two versions of the program submitted: from the Ministry of Transport and Communications as well as from the State Committee of Television and Radio, there is no particular progress in 2008. On 26 November 2008, the National Program of the Ministry was approved, but the final version and the public announcement of this fact is still on hold. Current version of the program does not take into notice any kind of Government financing, and the budget is to be private only, which will highly affect the TV industry and commercial broadcasters. Besides there are 3rd parties, such as Television Industry Committee and National Association of Broadcasters which represent the communities of National and regional broadcasters respectively. Both organizations help the switchover not to affect the business of over 20 National and over 150 regional broadcasters. The International Forum 'Digital Broadcasting in Ukraine' is the annual event that takes place in Kyiv, Ukraine. Its mission is to gather the most of international consultants and Ukrainian specialists to solve industry's problems in the DTT field. In 2008 the 2nd International Forum took place in Kyiv also.

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...

and the Ministry of Communications of Finland representatives share the vision of possible plan of DTT implementation in Ukraine, delivering the best experiences from UK, Finland, France and US. Still none was taken into notice yet. It is now confirmed that Ukraine's national terrestrial TV network, which is scheduled to be launched in September 2011, will use the DVB-T2 standard for all four nationwide FTA multiplexes, for both SD and HD broadcasts. Before settling for DVB-T2, Ukraine was testing both DVB-T/MPEG-2 and DVB-T/MPEG-4 options, and some experimental transmitters operating in those standards are still alive.

Other technologies

Commercial MMDS digital TV services work in Kyiv and some other cities. DVB-C services delivering premium channels (in addition to standard analogue channels) launched in cable networks of

Kremenchuk Kremenchuk (; uk, Кременчу́к, Kremenchuk ) is an industrial city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnipro River. The city serves as the administrative center of the Kremenchuk Raion (district) in Poltava Oblast (pr ...

, Poltava,

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: cities' alternative names), is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine loca ...

and some other cities.

Broadcasting

As of February 2019, television broadcasting in Ukraine is available in a colour digital format, via: *

digital TV Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative adva ...

satellite TV Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commo ...

* cable television (

Volia ''Volia'' is an extinct monospecific genus of mekosuchine crocodylians from Fiji named in 2002.; ; 2002: An extinct Pleistocene endemic mekosuchine crocodylian from Fiji. ''Journal of vertebrate paleontology'', 22: 612–628. It was around ...

, regional operators) * online services and IPTV (the most famous ones are Divan TV, Sweet TV, MEGOGO, Handy TV) There is a choice between several free-to-air commercial broadcasters as well as the public broadcaster, the

Suspilne The Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine ( uk, Національна суспільна телерадіокомпанія України, Natsionalna Suspilna Teleradiokompaniia Ukrainy; abbr. NSTU), shortened to Suspilne ( uk, Суспіль� ...

. In addition to its metropolitan asset,

Pershyi Pershyi ( uk, Перший, ; meaning First) is the Ukrainian public television channel, operated by the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine. It is the only Ukrainian TV channel covering over 97% of Ukraine's territory. Its programs are orient ...

and an art station, Suspline Kultura, the

also owns regional stations in all regions of Ukraine. A national parliamentary channel, Rada, is available too. Commercial television is dominated by three major broadcasters:

1+1 media 1+1 Media Group (Trade name, doing business as TRK «Studiia 1+1», LLC, uk, ТОВ «ТРК „Студія 1+1“») is one of the largest media conglomerates in Ukraine. The General Director of the Group is Yaroslav Pakholchuk. Structure 1+1 ...

StarLightMedia Starlight Media (stylised as starlight.media), previously stylised as StarLightMedia is the largest Ukraine, Ukrainian broadcasting group, composed of six television stations and nine other media and advertising companies. It was founded 11 Nove ...

and Inter Media Group, which is the smallest Ukrainian major broadcaster. One of the main Ukrainian news channels, Channel 5, belongs to a former president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko. Regional television in Ukraine consists primarily of independently owned networks not affiliated with major broadcasters in each region. Subscription television consists of various providers. The largest providers are

Kyivstar Kyivstar ( uk, Київстар) is a Ukrainian telecommunications company, providing communication services and data transmission based on a broad range of fixed and mobile technologies, including 4G (LTE) in Ukraine. The Kyivstar mobile netw ...

Viasat Viasat may refer to: *Viasat (American company) (founded 1986) * Viasat (Nordic television service) (founded 1991) * Danish 1st Division, officially Viasat Divisionen, second-highest football league in Denmark * Viasat Cup, 2006 Danish football to ...

and

. In remote areas, there are many small independent providers that provide either satellite or cable television services. Community television launched in mid-2010s to broadcast Euromaidan protests. As of 2019, the sector is represented by Hromadske.tv which is an Internet television station.

List of channels

Terrestrial channels

Satellite and cable

English Club TV English Club TV is a TV channel for those who study English. The channel’s content consists of documentaries, feature films, cartoons and music videos, which are adapted for learning English. English Club TV programmes are broadcast in a specia ...

* Music Box UA * 8 channel * Bigudi * EU Music * 4ever Music * BoutiqueTV * Eko-TV * Milady Television * Malyatko TV * Pershyi Avtomobilny Channel * Pershyi Dilovyi Channel * Telekanal 24 * CHP.Info * Nadiya (Hope Channel Ukraine) * Sonce TV * PORT-MONE TV * CNL Ukraine * Discovery Channel Ukraine * TLC Ukraine * National Geographic Channel Ukraine * Da Vinci Learning Ukraine * Deutsche Welle

Local

Kyiv TV Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

* Typovyi Kyiv * Lviv-TV * Black Sea TV *

ATR ATR may refer to: Medicine * Acute transfusion reaction * Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related, a protein involved in DNA damage repair Science and mathematics * Advanced Test Reactor, nuclear research reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory, ...

* Lale *

Glas TV Odessa Glas may refer to: * Hans Glas GmbH, a former German automotive company * ''Glas'' (film), a 1958 Dutch documentary film * ''Glas'' (book), a 1974 book by Jacques Derrida * ''Glas'' (publisher), a Russian publishing house * Glas (surname) * Eo ...

International

* 1+1 International * Inter+ * FreeDom

Criticism

Some political and public activists criticize Ukrainian television, mainly some national channels, for broadcasting large amounts of content of Russian origin. According to calculations of

Boycott Russian Films Boycott Russian Films ( uk, Бойкот російського кіно, ''Boykot rosiys'koho kino'') is a Ukrainian civic campaign that supports a boycott of Russian films and television series. It is a part of a broader boycott campaign c ...

activists, in September 2014 the amount of Russian productions on the leading Ukrainian channels (" Ukrayina", " ICTV", "NTN", "

Novyi Kanal Novyi Kanal (Ukrainian: Новий Канал) is a Ukrainian television channel. The channel is a part of the Starlight Media broadcasting group, created by Viktor Pinchuk. History The channel was launched on July 15, 1998. At first, it was ...

", "

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a form ...

", "

STB State Security ( cs, Státní bezpečnost, sk, Štátna bezpečnosť) or StB / ŠtB, was the secret police force in communist Czechoslovakia from 1945 to its dissolution in 1990. Serving as an intelligence and counter-intelligence agency, it d ...

", " 2+2", " TET", "K1", " 1+1") was approximately 40%. In October and December activists noticed increasing of amounts of Russian content on these channels, then Ukraine was at war with Russia. Also activists (who? Citation needed) criticise Ukrainian channels for their language policy. In October 2014 activists have published statistics on content language on Ukrainian channels. According to them, at the time 29% was completely

Ukrainian language Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state lan ...

content, 39.3% completely Russian language content, 23.5% Russian language content with Ukrainian subtitles, and 8.2% bilingual content (both Ukrainian and Russian).

2019 Ukrainian presidential election

During the

2019 Ukrainian presidential election The 2019 Ukrainian presidential election was held on 31 March and 21 April in a two-round system. There were 39 candidates for the election on the ballot. The Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia an ...

, various Ukrainian television channels supported a candidate for President of Ukraine. Five groups supported Poroshenko:

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko ( uk, Петро́ Олексі́йович Пороше́нко, ; born 26 September 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. Poroshenko se ...

's Channel 5 and Pryamiy supported Poroshenko and were very critical of

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, ; russian: Владимир Александрович Зеленский, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zelenskyy, (born 25 January 1978; also transliterated as Zelensky or Zelenskiy) is a Ukrainian politicia ...

and

Yulia Tymoshenko Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko ( uk, Юлія Володимирівна Тимошенко, ; Hrihyan ();Dmytro Firtash Dmytro Vasylovych Firtash ( uk, Дмитро́ Васи́льович Фі́рташ; born 2 May 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman who heads the board of directors of Group DF. He was highly influential during the Yuschenko administration and th ...

's very powerful

supported

Yuriy Boyko Yuriy Anatoliyovych Boyko ( uk, Юрій Анатолійович Бойко, russian: Ю́рий Анато́льевич Бо́йко; born 9 October 1958) is a Ukrainian politician who served as one of the Vice Prime Ministers of Ukraine betwe ...

and Poroshenko.

Rinat Akhmetov Rinat Leonidovych Akhmetov, ; russian: Ринат Леонидович Ахметов, ; tt-Cyrl, Ринат Леонид улы Әхмәтов, translit=Rinat Leonid uly Äkhmätov (born on 21 September 1966) is a Ukrainian billionaire and b ...

's TRK Ukraina, which is owned by Akhmetov's System Capital Management Holdings, supported Poroshenko,

Oleh Lyashko Oleh Valeriiovych Liashko ( uk, Олег Валерійович Ляшко; born. 3 December 1972) is a Ukrainian politician, journalist and soldier who was a long time member of the Verkhovna Rada and leader of the Radical Party. Liashko was ...

, and

Oleksandr Vilkul Oleksandr Yuriyovych Vilkul ( uk, Олексaндр Юрійович Вiлкул; born 24 May 1974), also known as Aleksandr Yuryevich Vilkul (russian: Александр Юрьевич Вилкул) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician wh ...

. Akhmetov's Opposition Bloc nominated Vilkul.

Viktor Medvedchuk Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk ( uk, Віктор Володимирович Медведчук, ; born 7 August 1954) is a Ukrainian lawyer, business oligarch, and politician who is since September 2022 living in exile after being handed over ...

's Channel 112 and

Yevheniy Murayev Yevheniy Volodymyrovych Murayev ( uk, Євгеній Володимирович Мураєв; born 2 December 1976) is a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician and media owner. He is the current leader of the political party Nashi. Murayev has been ...

's NewsOne supported Poroshenko, Lyashko, and Boyko. Medvedchuk's

Opposition Platform — For Life The Opposition Platform – For Life ( uk, Опозиційна платформа – За життя; russian: Оппозиционная платформа – За жизнь, OPZZh) was a parliamentary and now banned pro-Russian and Euros ...

nominated Boyko. The godfather of Medvedchuk's daughter is

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

Petro Dyminskyi Petro Petrovych Dyminskyi ( uk, Петро́ Петро́вич Димі́нський; born 27 November 1954) is a Ukrainian politician, businessman and former footballer for FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih. Biography In the 1990s, Dyminskyi worked as a d ...

's ZIK supported Poroshenko's allies allowing them to explain their story while they were under investigation. Three TV groups were very critical of Poroshenko: Ihor Kolomoisky's 1+1 media group supported

. Kolomoisky and Zelenskyy are business partners.

Andriy Sadovyi Andriy Ivanovych Sadovyi ( uk, Андрій Іванович Садовий, ''Andriy Ivanovych Sadovyi'') is a Ukrainian politician. He is the mayor of Lviv, the administrative center of the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine, former leader of the ...

's Channel 24, supported

Anatoliy Hrytsenko Anatoliy Stepanovych Hrytsenko ( uk, Анатолій Степанович Гриценко; born 25 October 1957) is a Ukrainian politician, independent member of the current Ukrainian parliament, former Minister of Defence, member of the Our U ...

and opposed Poroshenko.

's Nash TV supported Vilkul and was against Poroshenko but neutral to Tymoshenko and Lyashko. Under the state-owned National Public Broadcasting Company, UA:Pershyi was critical of Poroshenko. Victor Pinchuk's ICTV,

and

were neutral.

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

Since the start of the

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity aggressively enter territory (country subdivision), territory owned by another such entity, gen ...

on , most Ukrainian television channels switched over to the signal of Rada TV. The channel was made state-owned at the end of 2021. Following , the four biggest broadcasters including the TV channels 1+1, 2+2,

24 Kanal Channel 24 ( uk, 24 Канал, 24 Kanal) is a Ukrainian 24/7 TV channel. Originally called News Channel 24, it is the part of the Lux Television and Radio Company, a media conglomerate in Ukraine. Channel 24 programming covers politics, the econ ...

, and TRC Ukraina began broadcasting a 24/7 united newscast called ''United News'' () that is produced in turn by the various channels and amended with official information by governmental agencies to "objectively and promptly provide comprehensive information from different regions of the country 24/7".

References

Bibliography

* Wilson,A. ''Virtual Politics - Faking Democracy in the Post-Soviet World''. "

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

", 2005.

External links

History of television in Ukraine and the Ukrainian Channel One
{{DEFAULTSORT:Television In Ukraine

Television channels A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...

* Ukrainian entertainment-related lists