İctimai Television ( , “Public Television”), or İTV, is a

public television Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

channel in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. It officially began broadcasting on 29 August 2005 after being created by law in the beginning of 2004, as the first independent public broadcaster in Azerbaijan. The channel is based in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

Organisation

İTV is primarily funded through advertising and government payments. The law of January 2004 creating the channel called for funding to come from a

television licence A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence f ...

fee beginning in January 2010, but this portion of the law has currently yet to be implemented as of . The channel is operated by the Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (), which consists of a nine member council whose members are approved by the

President of Azerbaijan The president of the Republic of Azerbaijan is the head of state of Azerbaijan. The Constitution states that the president is the embodiment of executive power, commander-in-chief, "representative of Azerbaijan in home and foreign policies", ...

and a director general elected by the council and also approved by the President. The company also operates the public radio station ''İctimai Radio'', which commenced broadcasting on 10 January 2006. This arrangement as well as the continued state financing has been subject to criticism by

non governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

s on the grounds that the channel may be too closely connected to the government to be fully independent and unbiased.

Programming

İTV became a member of the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...

on 5 July 2007, allowing it to take part in events such as the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

, which it entered for the first time in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. Following Azerbaijan’s win in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2011 The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song "Satellite" by Lena. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union ...

, İTV hosted the competition of

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

in Baku. The broadcaster was also supposed to host the

Third Eurovision Dance Contest The Eurovision Dance Contest was an international ballroom dancing competition that was held for the first time in the United Kingdom on Saturday 1 September 2007. The contest was similar in format to the long-running Eurovision Song Contest a ...

in Baku, but this event was postponed indefinitely due to the lack of participants.

Logo history

İctimai TV (Azerbaijan) (2005-2007).png, 2005–2007 İTV Logo.svg, 2007–2013 İctimai TV logo (2013-2018).jpg, 2013–2018 İctimai TV (2019-h.h.).png, 2019–2020 İctimai TV (2021-h.h.).svg, 2021

References

External links

Official website
Television stations in Azerbaijan Television networks in Azerbaijan Azerbaijani-language television stations Publicly funded broadcasters European Broadcasting Union members Television channels and stations established in 2005 2005 establishments in Azerbaijan State media {{Azerbaijan-stub