# Television in Ethiopia

Television in Ethiopia was introduced in 1962 with the government owned ETV. Color television started in 1979 on an experiment basis with regular transmissions starting in 1984 to commemorate the founding of Workers' Party of Ethiopia (WPE). Ethiopia got its first private television broadcaster in 2008 with EBS TV, a US based satellite TV channel mostly focused on infotainment.
Until very recently there was only one private station with most of the stations being state owned. However, emphasis on liberalization of the TV market eventually led to a wave of privately owned stations coming about recent years. In 2014 the Oromo diaspora launched the one and only television; Oromia Media Network, based in US OMN. In 2016 and 2017, more private broadcasters such as the news centered ENN TV and others like LTV Ethiopia, Kana TV, Qubee TV Is An Entertainment, Educational and News Media Established 2023 With A Great Vision To Be The Best In Ethiopia And East Africa, EOTC TV all joined the market. Dimtsi Weyane and were launched at the end 2018. 7 million households in Ethiopia has at least one television set and about 55 percent of the population has access to the watch television in their homes.

## History

The national public broadcaster EBC (formerly ERTA) started broadcasting in 1962 as the first television station in Ethiopia. In the last couple of the decades the broadcaster had opened multiple regional stations and channels broadcasting in various languages. Privatization of the television industry was a slow process with the first privately run broadcaster, EBS TV, launching in 2008. However, 2016 and 2017 saw a wave of private station entering the market including what became the most popular channel, Kana TV, to increase the total number of private station's in Ethiopia to 45.
In 2016 the government of Ethiopia announced it would be transition the country from analog to digital platform. The American company GatesAir won the contract for the project that will take 5–10 years to fully complete.

## TV stations
### Government-owned television stations

| Stations | Category | Language |
| Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) | General, news | Amharic |
| Oromia Broadcasting Network (OBN) | General, news | Afaan Oromoo |
| Amhara Media Corporation | General, news | Amharic |
| Addis TV | General, news | Amharic, Afaan Oromoo, English |
| Tigrai Tv | General, news | Tigrigna, Amharic, Oromo, Qafar, Saho, Kunama, Arabic and English |
| Harari TV | General, news | Harari, Afaan Oromoo |
| SRTV | General, news | Somali |
| Debub TV | General, news | Amharic |
| Dire TV | General, news | Amharic, Afaan Oromoo, Somali language |
| Gambela TV | General, news | Amharic |
| Afar TV | General, news | Afar |
| Wolaita TV | General,news | Amharic,English and Wolaitta |
| Benishangul Gumuz Media (BGM) | General,news | Benishangul and Amharic |

### Digital cable services

| Provider | Category | Language |
| DStv (South Africa) | General | Amharic, English |
| Webspirx IPTV (Ethiopia) | General | Amharic |
| CANAL+ (France) | General | Amharic, English |

### Privately owned TV stations

| Station | Category | Language |
| A Plus TV | Entertainment | Amharic |
| Kana TV | General Entertainment | Amharic |
| Nabad TV | News, Entertainment | Somali |
| LTV Ethiopia | Culture | Amharic |
| EBS TV | News and Entertainment | Amharic |
| YA TV | News and Entertainment | Amharic |
| ENN TV | News | Amharic |
| JTV Ethiopia | News and Entertainment | Amharic |
| Nahoo TV | News and entertainment | Amharic |
| Walta TV | News | Amharic |
| Fana TV | News | Amharic |
| Aleph TV | General entertainment | Amharic |
| Afrihealth TV | Health | Amharic |
| ARTS TV | News Entertainment | Amharic |
| DW TV | General News | Tigrigna |
| Bisrat TV | General entertainment | Amharic |
| Asham TV | News, entertainment | Amharic |
| AHADU TV | News entertainment | Amharic |
| Asrat | General News | Amharic |
| ESAT | General news | Amharic |
| Balageru TV | General Entertainment | Amharic |
| ABN TV | News, entertainment | Amharic |
| Ye Ethiopia Lijoch TV | Children's channel | Amharic |
| TV 9 Ethio | News Entertainment | Amharic |
| SMN | General News | Sidamian |
| TMH TV | General News | Tigrigna |
| OBS TV | General entertainment | Afaan Oromoo |
| Qubee TV | News, Educational and entertainment | Afaan Oromoo |
| OMN | News Entertainment | Afaan Oromoo |
| FIB | News Entertainment | Afaan Oromoo |
| ONN | Politics | Afaan Oromoo |
| NBC ETHIOPIA | Entertainment | Amharic |
| Channel 29 | News and entertainment | Tigrigna |
| Zee Alem | Indian entertainment | Amharic |
| Abol TV | entertainment | Amharic |
| Hagerie TV | News and entertainment | Amharic |
| Yegna TV | News and entertainment | Amharic |
| Abbay Media TV | News and entertainment | Amharic and Afaan Oromo |

### Religious broadcasters

| Station | Category | Language |
| Africa TV 1 | Islam | Amharic, Afaan Oromo, Tigrigna |
| Zawya TV | Islam | Amharic |
| Nuuralhudaa TV | Islam | Afaan Oromo |
| NesihaSasikumarTV HD | Islam | Amharic, Tigrigna, Afar, Somali, Silte, Guragigna, Hadiya, Afaan Oromo, Welene, Kebenna |
| Hamiltan TV | Islam | Afaan Oromo |
| As-Sunnah TV | Islam | Amharic, Harari, Silte |
| tvislaamaa | Islam | Afaan Oromo, Amharic, Tigrigna, English |
| Harima Tv | Islam | Amharic |
| BST (Bilal Satellite Television) | Islam | Amharic |
| Minber TV | Islam | Amharic, Afaan Oromo, Afar, Somali |
| Daewa Tv | Islam | Amharic |
| Yebereka Lejoch Tv | Islam | Amharic |
| Nuur TV | Islam | Afaan Oromo |
| EOTC TV | Ethiopian Orthodox | Amharic, Afaan Oromoo, Tigrigna |
| EOTC MK | Ethiopian Orthodox | Amharic, Afaan Oromoo, Tigrigna |
| Aleph TV | Ethiopian Orthodox | Amharic |
| OCN | Ethiopian Orthodox | Afaan Oromo |
| Christ Army TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| Bethel TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| Vision TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| JPS TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| JSL TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| Holy TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| CJ TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| Jesus TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| El Shaddai Television Network (ETN HD) | Protestant | Amharic |
| Presence TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| Elhori TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| Elohi TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| MO'A TV HD | Protestant | Afaan Oromo |
| Arara TV | Protestant | Afaan Oromo |
| GMM TV ethiopia | Protestant | Amharic |
| Anointing TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| Christ Mission | Protestant | Amharic |
| Holy Sprit TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| Marcil TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| Evangelical TV HD | Protestant | Amharic |
| Glory TV ETH | Protestant | Amharic |
| Fover TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| WW TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| 7 Spirit TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| Rehobot TV HD | Protestant | Amharic |
| CC TV Ethiopia | Protestant | Amharic |
| IFtiin TV | Protestant | Amharic |
| LJ TV Worldwide | Protestant | Amharic |
| Hope Channel Ethiopia | Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) | Afan Oromo,Amharic, Tigrigna |

### Weekly market share

Source: Kantar-Geopoll Media Measurement for Ethiopia (March 2017)
| Rank | Channel | Parent Company | Market Share |
| 1 | Kana TV | Moby Group | 34% |
| 2 | EBC 1 | Ethiopian Broadcasting Corp. | 18% |
| 3 | EBS TV | EBS | 16% |
| 4 | JTV Ethiopia | JTV | 10% |
| 5 | ETV Meznagna | Ethiopian Broadcasting Corp. | 5% |
| 6 | Nahoo TV | Nahoo LLC | 4% |
| 7 | CNN | Turner | 3% |
| 8 | Ethiopia today | Ethiopian Government | 3% |
| 9 | BBC Amharic | British Government | 3% |
| 10 | Other | --- | 4% |

### Top 10 programs (March 2017)

| Rank | Program | Channel | TV Rating |
| 1 | Zalim Istanbul / ሽሚያ "Shimya" | Kana TV | 15.2* |
| 2 | Cennet'in Gözyaşları / ያልታበሰ እንባ "Yaltabese Emba" | Kana TV | 14.6* |
| 3 | Siyah Beyaz Aşk / ድርና ማግ "Dir Ena Mag" | Kana TV | 14.0* |
| 4 | Doğduğun Ev Kaderindir / ስበት "Sibet" | Kana TV | 13.9* |
| 5 | Öyle Bir Geçer Zaman ki / ማዕበል "Maebel" | Kana TV | 13.6* |
| 6 | #Time / #ጊዜ "#Time" | Kana TV | 12.5* |
| 7 | Kadın (TV series) / ያልተፈታ ህልም "Yaltefeta Hilm" | Kana TV | 11.35* |
| 8 | Kayıp / ፍርደኞቹ "Firdegnochu" | Kana TV | 11.0* |
| 9 | Seifu on EBS ሰይፉ በ ኢቢኤስ "Seifu On EBS" | EBS TV | 10.96* |
| 10 | Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation / "EBC News" | EBC | 10.5* |