ARB, abbreviated from Azerbaijani Republic Broadcaster (), is an Azerbaijani privately owned national terrestrial television channel launched on 10 May 2014 as Region TV with the merger of six regional television stations. It was rebranded as ARB in 2016. ARB is headquartered in the

Yasamal raion Yasamal is a settlement and raion in Baku, Azerbaijan. As of 2023, it had a population of 225,600. It is one of the central districts of Baku. History Yasamal district was established in 1932 as the administrative unit of the district, from the ...

of Baku and owned by the ARB Media Group, which operates eight television channels in total including ARB itself, along with a radio station Kapaz FM.

History

A tender for establishing a new nationwide television channel was announced and organized from 22 January to 22 February 2014. Three companies participated in the tender, namely Baku LLC, Fatiyev Company LLC, and Region TV LLC, of which the latter was announced as the winner. The National Television and Radio Council granted Region TV its license to broadcast on 14 March 2014, set to become the tenth national television channel in Azerbaijan. The channel would be formed with the merger of six regional television stations, namely Kapaz TV of

Ganja ''Ganja'' (, ; ) is one of the oldest and most commonly used synonyms for cannabis flower, specifically marijuana or hashish. Its usage in English dates to before 1689. Etymology ''Ganja'' is borrowed from Hindi (, IPA: �aːɲd͡ʒa� ...

, RTV of Khachmaz, CTV of

Lankaran Lankaran (, ) or Lánkon () is a city in Azerbaijan, on the coast of the Caspian Sea, near the southern border with Iran. As of 2021, the city had a population of 89,300. It is next to, but independent of, Lankaran District. The city forms a disti ...

EL TV EL TV is an Azerbaijani privately owned regional terrestrial television channel serving the Central Aran Economic Region and launched on 17 July 2009. It is owned by Yevlakh TV LLC and headquartered in the city of Yevlakh. History EL TV was fo ...

Yevlakh Yevlakh (, ) is a city in Azerbaijan, 265 km west of the capital of Baku. It is surrounded by but administratively separate from the Yevlakh District. Etymology The settlement is mentioned by the 13th century Armenian historian Stephen O ...

, Kanal S of Shaki, and TTV of Tovuz. The channel was set to debut in May 2014. Not only would it broadcast from its own station in Baku throughout the

Absheron Peninsula The Absheron Peninsula () is a peninsula in Azerbaijan. It is the location of Baku, the most populous city of the country, and the Baku Metropolitan Area, with its satellite cities Sumqayit and Khyrdalan. It extends eastward into the Caspian S ...

, but also from the studios of the aforementioned regional television stations. It would also broadcast via satellite using

Azerspace-1 Azerspace-1/Africasat-1a', is Azerbaijan's first satellite in space. Built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, it was launched by Ariane 5 into orbit on February 7, 2013 from Kourou in French Guiana at orbital positions 46° east. The satellite cover ...

, as well as cable and internet television. Region TV began official broadcasts on 10 May 2014. On 19 September 2016, Region TV was rebranded as ARB. Its associated stations were also renamed; TTV to ARB 24, Kapaz TV to ARB Kapaz, Kanal S to ARB Shaki,

to ARB Aran, CTV to ARB Canub, RTV to ARB Shimal, Alternativ TV to ARB Ulduz, and Günəş TV to

ARB Günəş ARB Günəş (; ) is an Azerbaijani privately-owned children's television channel owned by ARB Media Group, primarily airing animated series and educational content voiced over or produced in the Azerbaijani language. It was officially launched on ...

. ARB organized a concert at the

Heydar Aliyev Palace Heydar Aliyev Palace (Azeri language, Azeri: Heydər Əliyev Adına Saray, also known as Baku Palace, formerly Republic Palace (Respublika Sarayı) and during the Soviet Union, Soviet era known as Lenin Palace (Лeнин aдынa) is the main musi ...

as a part of its ''Söhbət Var'' program on 31 May 2019. The channel commenced high-definition broadcasts on 5 April 2021.

Broadcast suspensions

During the broadcast of one of its programs, ''Elgizlə izlə'', on 18 April 2020, an expert was seen using inappropriate expressions, which is considered a violation of guidelines regarding the use of such language. ARB was ordered to cease transmissions for six hours on 21 April. Later on 9 May, the channel was found to be violating guidelines again as it explicitly showed the use of tobacco products during the airing of the film ''Bakıda Küləklər Əsir''. Its broadcasts were suspended for an hour on 18 May. On 14 August 2020, ARB was ordered to suspend operations for three hours on 17 August by the National Television and Radio Council as it was airing advertisements exceeding 16 minutes, violating guidelines. Xazar TV was also urged to do so for the same reason. On 3 May 2022, during the broadcast of the aforementioned ''Elgizlə izlə'', ARB was found to be violating guidelines regarding the promotion of violence and cruelty while the channel was being monitored. ARB was ordered to suspend operations for three hours on 8 May. Accusing ARB, alongside

and

Azad Azerbaijan TV Azad Azerbaijan TV (), also known by its acronym ATV, is an Azerbaijani privately-owned national terrestrial television channel. It is owned by the Azad Azerbaijan Independent Teleradio Company. ATV began broadcasting on 25 December 2000, and is he ...

, of the unauthorized broadcast of certain television series without proper rights of doing so, the council urged the channels to halt transmissions for three hours on 11 July 2024.

Programming

List of programming

References

External links

Official website
{{Television in Azerbaijan Television networks in Azerbaijan Azerbaijani-language television stations Television stations in Azerbaijan Television channels and stations established in 2014 Azerbaijani companies established in 2014