Television in Latvia was first tested in 1937
and introduced in 1954. Latvia was the first country in the
Baltic States
The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...
which started broadcasting.
Initial research into television broadcasting in Latvia started in 1932, and the first experimental broadcast of television in Latvia took place on 10 November 1937 during a public viewing at the Latvian Radio Society () in
Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
, using an amateur-made
oscilloscope
An oscilloscope (informally a scope) is a type of electronic test instrument that graphically displays varying electrical voltages as a two-dimensional plot of one or more signals as a function of time. The main purposes are to display repetiti ...
with the screen size of 45x50
cm. A
Philips custom-built
Nipkow disk transmitter used a frequency channel provide by the Department of the Post and Telegraph (''Pasta un telegrāfa departaments,'' PTD) to transmit moving images with the speed of 12,5
frames per second. There were plans to launch regular broadcasts of "visual radio" by the
Latvian Radiophone in the early 1940s, but these were suspended by the
occupation of Latvia and
World War II.
The first contemporary test broadcasts started on 6 November 1954 from a studio in
Soviet Riga in
black-and-white, which were seen by all 20 then-owners of television sets. Regular scheduled broadcasting of
Latvian Television
Latvian may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Latvia
**Latvians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to what is modern-day Latvia and the immediate geographical region
**Latvian language, also referred to as Lettish
**Latvian cuisine
**Latvi ...
(LTV) started on 20 November 1954 with a premiere of the 1954 Soviet Latvian war epic ''
Victorious Return
Victorious Return' (, russian: Возвращение с победой, Vozvrashchenye s pobedoy) is a 1947 Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Latvian film directed by Aleksander Ivanov and . The film was directed by the Riga Film Studio.
...
''. At the beginning, LTV didn't have rights to create their own programming except live shows. In 1955, the Riga Television studio in Nometņu iela,
Āgenskalns
Āgenskalns (historically known also as ''Hāgenskalns'' or ''Hagensberg'') is a district in Riga, located on the left bank of the Daugava, an old neighbourhood, mainly built in the late 19th to early 20th century. The total area of Āgenskalns ...
was created to produce its own programming and the first TV tower in Latvia was built. In 1986, a new TV building and
broadcasting tower
Broadcasting Tower is a university building in Broadcasting Place in Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, England. Adjacent to other university buildings, it forms part of Leeds Beckett University; it houses the Faculty of Arts, Environment and Technology, wh ...
were unveiled in
Zaķusala
Zaķusala ( en, 'Hare Island') is one of several islands in the Daugava river in the central part of Riga, the capital of Latvia. A part of the city's Salas neighbourhood, Zaķusala is home to the Riga Radio and TV Tower, which was completed in 1 ...
.
Since 1991, the first private television studios started broadcasting.
Color television
Color television or Colour television is a television transmission technology that includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improves on the monochrome or black-and-white t ...
was introduced in 1974. At the beginning, color system used was
SECAM and only color programming that was available in color, was a retransmission of the Moscow Central Television. But in 1998 SECAM was swapped for PAL.
Digital television was started testing in May 2002 and all terrestrial analogue stations stopped broadcasting on 1 June 2010 after introducing it.
Advertising on public broadcasters, such as Latvian Television (LTV) was phased out on 1 January 2021.
The independent, state budget-financed National Electronic Mass Media Council (NEPLP) is the national media watchdog (similar to
Ofcom
The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom.
Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
in UK).
Most of the non-Latvian television programs are dubbed, some are subtitled, but some are both dubbed and subtitled. This is a list of
television channels that broadcast for a
Latvian language audience.
TV Channels
Local / regional / international TV stations
*
TV Kurzeme – only in
Liepāja
*
Lemon TV – Cable TV (Latvia), DVB-T – only in
Vidzeme area
*
LRT – Latgale Regional Television (only in
Latgale
Latgale ( ltg, Latgola; ; ger, Lettgallen; be, Латгалія, Łathalija; pl, Łatgalia; la, Lettgallia), also known as Latgalia is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region and is north of the Daugava River. While m ...
)
*
Kurzemes TV – only in
Kurzeme
*
OTV (Ogres TV) – only in
Ogre
*
LRT+ – cable TV, only in
Daugavpils
Daugavpils (; russian: Двинск; ltg, Daugpiļs ; german: Dünaburg, ; pl, Dyneburg; see other names) is a state city in south-eastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. The parts of the c ...
*
Valmieras TV – only in
Valmiera
*
TV Viļāni – only in
Viļāni
Viļāni () (german: Welonen, pl, Wielony) is a town in Rēzekne Municipality in the Latgale region of Latvia. The railway line Riga-Moscow, and the motor highway Riga-Moscow, and the road Preiļi-Balvi cross Viļāni. The Malta River, Malta riv ...
*
VTV (Vidzemes TV) – only in
Vidzeme
Defunct channels
*
MTV Latvia - Interrupted broadcast at November 2009 due to budget issues. Later replaced with MTV Lithuania & Latvia, which closed at the end of 2009 due to this same budget issues.
*
RBS TV
RBS TV is a Southern Brazilian television network owned by Grupo RBS, and one of the oldest Rede Globo affiliates. The acronym originally stood for Rede Brasil Sul de Televisão (English: "Brazil South Television Network"), but currently the ne ...
- Interrupted broadcast in October 1995.
*
LZK (Latvia) (Latvijas Ziņu kanāls – Latvian News Channel) - Announced defunct at 9 December 2011.
*
TV5 - Interrupted broadcast on 31 March 2016 due to budget issues.
*
LNT - Interrupted broadcast in 28 February due to rebranded television model in TV3 Group. Channel got replaced by TV3 Life on 1 March 2020.
*
Kanāls 2 - Interrupted broadcast in 28 February due to rebranded television model in TV3 Group. Channel got replaced by TV3 Mini on 1 March 2020.
*
Sportacentrs.com TV - Interrupted broadcast at January 1st 2022, with all sports programs of the channel moving to TV4.
*
PBK Igaunija – Estonian branch of the Russian
Channel One, closed on 2 March 2022, after checking.
*
PBK Lithuania - Lithuanian branch of the Russian
Channel One, closed on 2 March 2022, after checking.
*
Dozhd (TV Rain) - Revoked license on 6th December 2022 and closed on 8th December 2022 due to violations.
References
{{Television in Europe
Television channels
Television