Eri-TV (acronym for Eritrean Television) is an

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

n state-owned television network. Headquartered in the nation's capital

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera (), is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region (Eritrea), Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the List of capital cities by altitude, sixth highest capital in the wo ...

, it broadcasts 24 hours a day. The station offers around-the-clock news bulletins, talk shows, and propaganda programs. Eri-TV has a large viewership base outside of Eritrea, which the state-run channel acknowledges and utilizes to communicate with Eritreans living abroad. The network has an estimated 1–2 million weekly viewers. Eri-TV recognizes Eritrean Minority Culture and has largely adopted an equal time share between each of the country's spoken languages. Eri-TV is governed and funded by the Eritrean Ministry of Information.

History

Before the independence of Eritrea, Ethiopia's ETV had planned to build a transmitter in

with a tentative opening date scheduled for December 1976, on VHF channel 5 with an ERP of 1kW. After the referendum that led to its independence, Eri-TV was created in January 1993, with the help of

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

technicians. Satellite broadcasts and internet streaming started in 2003 to cater to the Eritrean diaspora.

Channel

Eri-TV 1

Eri-TV 1 broadcasts internationally via satellite along with its sister radio station, Dimtsi Hafash. Broadcasts on the channel are typically either news, music videos or dramas. It also airs both domestic and international films. The station broadcasts mostly in Tigrinya,

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, Tigre and English. It also airs a few programs in Italian,

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

and Somali

Eri-TV 2

Eri-TV 2 is the second television channel in Eritrea. It broadcasts only for domestic viewers. it provides mostly educational content. This includes English, mathematics and science programs.

Eri-TV 3

Eri-TV 3 is the third channel in Eritrea. It broadcasts national and international sports news.

Leadership

Following the

Eritrean War of Independence The Eritrean War of Independence was an War, armed conflict and insurgency aimed at achieving self-determination and independence for Eritrea from Ethiopian rule. Starting in 1961, Eritrean insurgents engaged in guerrilla warfare to liberate ...

, Seyoum Tsehaye, Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) member and war journalist became the first head of Eri-TV. He was arrested in 2001 after publishing a statement in favour of

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

References

External links

* Television channels in Eritrea State media Television channels and stations established in 1993 {{Eritrea-stub