Television in Ethiopia


Television in Ethiopia was introduced in 1962 with the government owned ETV. Color television was introduced in 1984 to commemorate the founding of Workers' Party of Ethiopia. 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 1 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 2016 and 2017, more private broadcasters such as the news centered ENN TV and others like LTV Ethiopia, Fana TV, EOTC TV all joined the market. Dimtse Woyane and were launched at the end 2018. 7 million households in Ethiopia has at list one television set and about 55 percent of the population has access to the watch television in there homes. .

History

The National public broadcaster EBC 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

StationsCategoryLanguage
ETVGeneral, newsAmharic
OBNGeneral, newsAfaan Oromo
Amhara TVGeneral, newsAmharic
Addis TVGeneral, newsAmharic, Afaan Oromoo
Tigray TVGeneral, newsTigrigna
Harar TVGeneral, newsHarari, Afaan Oromoo
ESTVGeneral, newsSomali
Debub TVGeneral, newsAmharic
Dire TVGeneral, newsAmharic, Afaan Oromoo, Somali language
OBN 27General, newsAmharic
Gambela TVGeneral, newsAmharic

Digital cable services

Privately owned TV stations

StationCategoryLanguage
Africa TV 1IslamAmharic, Afaan Oromo
Zawya TVIslamAmharic
Nuuralhudaa TVIslamAfaan Oromo
Nesiha TV HDIslamAmharic
Hamiltan TVIslamAfaan Oromo
As-Sunnah TVIslamAmharic
NEW AFRICA AmharicIslamAmharic
NEW AFRICA OromoIslamAfaan Oromo
tvislaamaaIslamAfaan Oromo
EOTC TVEthiopian OrthodoxAmharic
Christ Army TVProtestantAmharic
Bethel TVProtestantAmharic
Vision TVProtestantAmharic
Holy TVProtestantAmharic
CJ TVProtestantAmharic
Jesus TVProtestantAmharic
El Shaddai Television Network ProtestantAmharic
Presence TVProtestantAmharic
Elhori TVProtestantAmharic
Elohi TVProtestantAmharic
MO'A TV HDProtestantAfaan Oromo
Arara TVProtestantAfaan Oromo
GMM TV ethiopiaProtestantAmharic
Anointing TVProtestantAmharic
Aleph TVEthiopian OrthodoxAmharic
Christ MissionProtestantAmharic
Holy Sprit TVProtestantAmharic
Marcil TVProtestantAmharic
Evangelical TV HDProtestantAmharic
Glory TV ETHProtestantAmharic
Fover TVProtestantAmharic
WW TVProtestantAmharic
7 Spirit TVProtestantAmharic
Rehobot TV HDProtestantAmharic

Weekly market share

Source: Kantar-Geopoll Media Measurement for Ethiopia
RankChannelParent CompanyMarket Share
1Kana TVMoby Group34%
2EBC 1Ethiopian Broadcasting Corp.18%
3EBS TVEBS16%
4JTV EthiopiaJTV10%
5ETV MeznagnaEthiopian Broadcasting Corp.5%
6Nahoo TVNahoo LLC4%
7CNNTurner3%
8Ethiopia todayEthiopian Government3%
9BBC AmharicBritish Government3%
10Other---4%

Top 10 programs