Television in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. Terrestrial television viewing was estimated at 20% of total television households in 2011.

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...

is offered by

Maroc Telecom Maroc Telecom (IAM, ) is the main telecommunications company in Morocco. Currently employing around 11,178 employees, it is the largest telecommunications network in the country with 8 regional delegations and 220 offices present across Morocco. ...

. Digital terrestrial television is gradually spreading, with 41 national and foreign channels. The national broadcaster SNRT aimed to complete digital switchover by 2015. Morocco has nine domestic free-to-air channels: seven government-owned, one privately-owned, and one of mixed ownership.

2M TV 2M is a Moroccan free-to-air television network. It was established by the royal-owned conglomerate, ONA, before being sold to, in part, the Moroccan government. Of 2M, 45.3% is owned by Bank of Africa, while approximately 32.5% by the Moro ...

started out in 1989 as the first private terrestrial channel in Morocco, however it later became a mixed ownership channel as 70% of its capital was bought by the government. It is by far the most watched channel in Morocco, as cited by 84% of TV viewers. Medi 1 TV (formerly Medi 1 Sat) is a privately-owned channel, although 50% of its shares are owned by companies from the public sector. The other seven channels are all government-owned.

beIN SPORTS beIN Sports ( ) is a Qatari multinational network of sports channels owned and operated by the media group beIN. The network has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its ...

is the most popular pay-TV bouquet in Morocco, accounting for around 65% of the local pay-TV market.

History

Morocco was a pioneer in television in the Arab world. In the 1950s, the country had a first experience undertaken by a French company, known as TELMA, who saw in the European community in Morocco a potential audience. In 1951, the authorization of broadcasting was ceded to TELMA, which did not begin to transmit until February 1954. The experiment was short-lived and the station ceased broadcasts soon after covering the return of Sultan Mohammed V (later King) to Morocco on November 16, 1955. The cancellation was over political reasons generated by the Moroccan nationalist movement, which ultimately deprived the company of advertising resources, local advertisers gradually withdrawing their contracts for fear of possible reprisals, as reported in an interview with Abdellah Chakroun, former Director of Moroccan Television, author of the book "Reflections on the Audiovisual and Theater". According to the technical guide "World Radio Television Handbook" of the time 2, TELMA broadcast in the standard 819 French lines (Standard E) format from its studios in the Ain Chock district of

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

. It had two transmitters, one in Casablanca on the F12 channel, the other in

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...

on the F8 channel (both connected by radio link) and planned to open two more in 1955 in Fes and

Meknes Meknes (, ) is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco, located in northern central Morocco and the sixth largest city by population in the kingdom. Founded in the 11th century by the Almoravid dynasty, Almoravids as a military settlement, Mekne ...

. The main shareholders, the management and technical staff were mainly French, notably Jean Luc in the Programs Department, who had previously held this position on RTF Television. The programs were mainly of French origin, with magazines and varieties "kinescopés" (recorded on film), serials and films. Abdellah Chakroun noted that in 1960, the Moroccan government bought TELMA for a symbolic sum of 100 million francs, and that as director he then called on Italian public television

RAI (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

to help him set up his own public channel, which was set up at Mohammed V Theater in Rabat. The technical standard adopted was the 625 "European" lines (Standard B) with specific channels in Morocco (channels M4 to M10 on band III). Like TELMA, it initially had only two transmitters, in Rabat (channel M10) and Casablanca (channel M7). The Moroccan public channel began on the day of the celebration of the first year of Hassan II's reign on March 3, 1962. Colour (SÉCAM IIIb process) was introduced in 1972. The status of the TVM has moved successively from the regime of legal capacity and financial autonomy to that of the public institution, and then to its integration into the central administration of the Ministry of Communication, with a subsidiary budget. In terms of resources, the TVM ensures the balance of its budget through a grant from the State, in addition to a contribution-based contribution indexed to the energy consumption of households, the surplus of revenues of the Autonomous Advertising Service (SAP), as well as miscellaneous and accidental revenues resulting from the income from its services.

List of channels

Al Aoula ( or 'The First'); formerly called RTM (; , lit. 'Moroccan Television'), is the first Moroccan public television channel. It is a part of the Public broadcasting, state-owned SNRT Group along with Arryadia, Athaqafia, Al Maghribia, Assadissa, Af ...

: SD and HD *

: SD * Arryadia: SD and HD * Arrabia: SD and HD * Al Maghribia: SD and HD * Assadissa: SD and HD * Aflam TV (TNT only): SD and HD * Tamazight TV: SD and HD * Medi 1 TV (Afrique / Arabic / Maghreb): SD and HD * Laayoune TV: SD and HD * Télé Maroc: SD *Chada TV: SD *Wissam TV: SD *Al Ons TV: HQ

References

{{Africa topic, Television in

Television stations A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...

History

List of channels

Most viewed channels

See also

References