Ariana Television Network (ATN) (

Dari Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī ...

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

: ) is a private

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid ...

based in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into #Districts, 22 municipal dist ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

. The channel was launched by Afghan-American

Ehsan Bayat Ehsanollah "Ehsan" Bayat ( Persian: احسان الله بیات, born July 15, 1963) is an Afghan American business entrepreneur who is the founder and chairman of Bayat Group, Afghanistan's largest private company. Early life and education Bay ...

(owner of

Afghan Wireless Communication Company Afghan Wireless Communication Company, also known as Afghan Wireless and AWCC, is Afghanistan's first wireless communications company. Founded in 1998, it is based in Kabul, Afghanistan with various regional offices. Headquartered in Kabul, Afgha ...

) in 2005 and started broadcasting internationally the following year. ATN is one of the leading television channels in Afghanistan and has terrestrial coverage in 33 of 34 provinces in the country.

History

The channel was launched in summer 2005 and aired internationally from 2006. In 2014 the channel had a new logo. That same year its sister channel

Ariana News Ariana Television Network (ATN) ( Dari/ Pashto: ) is a private television network based in Kabul, Afghanistan. The channel was launched by Afghan-American Ehsan Bayat (owner of Afghan Wireless Communication Company) in 2005 and started broadca ...

, broadcasting news all day, was launched.

Programming

ATN has social, cultural, political and entertaining programs focusing to show pure Afghan culture. Some long running shows include ''Entekhāb-e Binendahā'' (''Viewer's Choice'', a music show), Parwāna-hā (''Butterflies'', a children's show), ''Cinemā'', ''Warzesh'' (''Sports''), ''Setārahā-ye Rangin'' (''Colored stars'', a music show) and the annual ''

ATN Awards The ATN Awards is an annual music award ceremony held by Ariana Television Network. Viewers cast votes via SMS and online. Bassir Bayat is the executive producer of ATN Awards along with his team in Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially t ...

''. ''59-Minute Duel'' is a popular cooking show airing since 2011 in which two rival cooks have exactly 59 minutes to cook a three part course for the judges. Every week, a unique ingredient would be provided, and the meals had to be based around it. The prize is the title of "The Golden Chef", awarded to the winner after the scores had been given by the usually celebrity judges. On many occasions, the chefs would be an Afghan and a foreigner, such as a soldier from the American or British base. Ariana has also been the product of a well known comedy character ''Motakhases'', who appeared on the former ''Khanda Hāy-e Girya Dār'' comedy show and later on ''Hekāyat Hāye Motakhases''. Other airing programs of Ariana Television Network are: * ''Mehmān-e Man'' * ''Yādeman'' * ''Yoz-Ma-Yuz'' ( Uzbek) * ''Bouy-e Māh'' * ''Darman'' * ''Techpedia'' * ''Saat-e-10'' * ''Musafir'' * ''Sobh-o-Zendagi'' * ''Marā Bebakhsh'' (Dari translation of Turkish drama ''Beni Affet'')

Former notable programming

*''Top 5'', a music show *''Ariāna dar Nim-e roz'', a talk and cultural show *''Haqiqat'' (''The Truth''), an investigative political show *''Khanda Hāy-e Girya Dār'', a comedy show *''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and l ...

'', Afghan version of the British game show *''Chashme Shishayi'', a cinema show Ariana Television Network has aired various Indian soap dramas, some of which achieved high popularity in Afghanistan. *''

Banoo Main Teri Dulhann ''Banoo Main Teri Dulhann'' (English:''I will become your Bride'') (international title: ''The Vow'') is an Indian soap opera that aired on Zee TV from 14 August 2006 to 28 May 2009. It starred Divyanka Tripathi and Sharad Malhotra in the lead ro ...

'' *''

Kumkum – Ek Pyara Sa Bandhan ''Kumkum – Ek Pyara Sa Bandhan'' (; A lovely bond) is an Indian television series that aired on Star Plus from 15 July 2002 to 13 March 2009 in the afternoon slot. Hussain Kuwajerwala and Juhi Parmar played the lead roles Sumeet and Kumkum. ...

'' *'' Heena'' *''

Khwaish ''Khwaish'' is an Indian television series which aired Sony Entertainment Television from 16 July 2007 to 24 April 2008. The show started earlier in Pakistan on ARY Digital from 25 June 2007, becoming the first Indian television show legally be ...

'' *'' Mitwa Phool Kamal Ke'' *'' Zaara'' *''

Sasural Genda Phool ''Sasural Genda Phool'' is an Indian television drama series that aired on StarPlus starring Ragini Khanna and Jay Soni. It aired during weekday evenings from 1 March 2010 to 21 April 2012. Its plot was written at the same time as Star Jalsha ...

'' *'' Bidaai'' *''

Maayke Se Bandhi Dor Maayke Se Bandhi Dor is a soap opera that aired on Star Plus. It is a remake of Tamil serial Kolangal of Sun TV. The show ran from 14 February 2011 to 2 October 2011. The show was also broadcast on a television channel in Afghanistan called A ...

2008 journalist arrest

Ariana Television Network gained international attention when Mohammad Nasir Fayyaz, a journalist and presenter of Ariana's hard-talk political debate show ''Haqiqat'' (''The Truth'' in English), was detained by Afghan authorities on July 29, 2008. Fayyaz was critical of members of the country's

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

at the time. He was detained by the intelligence agency

National Directorate of Security The National Directorate of Security (NDS; ps, د ملي امنیت لوی ریاست; prs, ریاست عمومی امنیت ملی) was the national intelligence and security service of Afghanistan. The headquarters of the NDS was in Kabul, ...

(NDS) whilst he was presenting the show, and was released after one day but again returned to detention.

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...

warned the Afghan government to protect press and media freedom from the NDS. He was eventually released without charge and continued to present ''Haqiqat''.

References

External links