The General Organization of Radio and TV ( ar, الهيئة العامة للإذاعة والتلفزيون), also known as from French ''Organisation de la Radio et la Télévision Arabe Syrienne '' (in short ORTAS), is the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

and

public broadcaster 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 ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and reports to the Ministry of Information. Earlier names were Radio and Television (RTV Syria) and Syrian Radio & Television (SRT). The legal basis is a legislative decree from 2010, which, however, was largely not implemented. Sūmar Wassūf became head of the commission in December 2018. Several television channels and

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

s are being run by this organization, including

Syria TV Syria TV ( ar, القناة الفضائية السورية), also known as Syrian Satellite Channel, is a satellite television channel a nationwide public broadcasting, state-funded by the Syrian General Organization of Radio and TV and broadc ...

and Damascus Radio. ORTAS is an active member of the

Arab States Broadcasting Union The Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) ( ar, إتحاد إذاعات الدول العربية) is an Arab joint-action institution related to the League of Arab States and the Pan-Arab Association of Public Service and Commercial Broadcasters. ...

(ASBU), associate 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 ...

(EBU) and formerly a member of

International Radio and Television Organisation The International Radio and Television Organisation (official name in French: Organisation Internationale de Radiodiffusion et de Télévision or OIRT (before 1960 International Broadcasting Organization (IBO), official name in French: ''Orga ...

(OIRT).

Services

The General Authority for Radio and Television is the governmental body responsible for radio and television broadcasting in Syria. It is divided into two parts:

Radio

Radio broadcasting began in the

First Syrian Republic The First Syrian Republic, officially the Syrian Republic, '; french: link=no, République syrienne was formed in 1930 as a component of the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, succeeding the State of Syria. A treaty of independence was made ...

upon its independence on 17 April 1946 on

shortwave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...

. As early as 1942, Radio Damas, a counterpart to Radio Levant in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, Lebanon existed in the French League of Nations mandate. Nationwide radio programs include: * دمشق, Iḏāʿa Dimašq – Radio Damascus (since 1947) * صوت الشباب, Ṣaut aš-Šabāb – voice of youth (since 2002) * سوريان, Sūryānā (since 2015) * Radio Amwaj FM * Al Karma FM * Cham Radio * صوت الشعب, Ṣaut aš-Šaʿb – voice of the people (1979–2017) Regional radio programs are (from north to south): *Radio Waves, in

Latakia , coordinates = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 11 , elevation_ft = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , area_code = Country code: 963 City code: 41 , geocode ...

*Radio

Tartus ) , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = Tartus corniche Port of Tartus • Tartus beach and boulevard Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa • Al-Assad Stadium&n ...

*Radio Zenobia, in

Homs Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...

*Radio Vine, in

As-Suwayda , timezone = EET , utc_offset = +2 , timezone_DST = EEST , utc_offset_DST = +3 , coordinates = , grid_position = 296/235 ...

The international broadcaster

Radio Damascus Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

has existed since 1957. According to the frequency announcements in the program, both FM (VHF) and AM (medium wave) are broadcast.

Television

The

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

is based in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

since July 1960. The channel airs programmes in Arabic, English and French. It was broadcast in black and white until 1976. A second channel was added in 1985 (discontinued in 2012 due to the civil war) and in 1996, the satellite service

began broadcasting. On September 5, 2012, Syrian Television channel broadcasts were broken off on

Arabsat The Arab Satellite Communications Organization (often abbreviated as Arabsat) is a communications satellite operator in the Arab World, headquartered in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Arabsat was created to deliver satellite-based, public and ...

and

Nilesat Nilesat (; , ''or'' ) is an Egyptian company and the name of a series of Egyptian communications satellites. It was established in 1996 with the purpose of operating Egyptian satellites and their associated mission control center and ground st ...

, including Syria TV. Syria TV and Syrian Drama TV broadcasts were stopped on

Hot Bird Hot Bird (also styled HOTBIRD) is a group of satellites operated by Eutelsat, located at 13 °E over the equator ( orbital position) and with a transmitting footprint over Asia, Europe, North Africa, Americas and the Middle East. Only digital r ...

on October 22, 2012. The digital television switchover (DVB-T) in Syria has been restarted since mid-2018, in the provinces of Damascus,

Daraa Daraa ( ar, دَرْعَا, Darʿā, Levantine Arabic: , also Darʿā, Dara’a, Deraa, Dera'a, Dera, Derʿā and Edrei; means "''fortress''", compare Dura-Europos) is a city in southwestern Syria, located about north of the border with Jordan ...

, As Suwayda,

Rif Dimashq Rif Dimashq Governorate ( ar, محافظة ريف دمشق, ', literally, the "Governorate of the Countryside of Damascus", Damascus Suburb) is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in the southwestern part of the c ...

, Tartus, Latakia,

Quneitra , ''Qunayṭrawi'' or ''Qunayṭirawi'' , population_density_metro_sq_mi = , population_urban = , population_density_urban_km2 = , population_density_urban_sq_mi = , population_blank1_title = , population_bla ...

and Hama, however there is still no date for an analog disconnect. ORTAS satellite television channels: *

Noor Al-Sham Noor Al-Sham, also spelled Nour El-Sham (Arabic , literal translation "The Light of the Levant" is a state-run, religious satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from ...

(religion; since 2011) – The channel intends "to convey a broad and genuine understanding of Islam and its legal rules", according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). *

(since 1995), also known as Syrian Satellite Channel * Syrian Drama TV (since 2009) * Syrian Education TV (since 2008) * Syrian News Channel, also known as Alikhbaria Syria or Al-Ikhbariyah Syria (since 2010) * (since 2014) – a regional channel from

Latakia , coordinates = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 11 , elevation_ft = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , area_code = Country code: 963 City code: 41 , geocode ...

; Latakia Radio and Television Center was established in 1987 for the hosting of the

1987 Mediterranean Games The X Mediterranean Games ( ar, ألعاب البحر الأبيض المتوسط 1987), commonly known as the 1987 Mediterranean Games, were the 10th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Latakia, Syria, from 11 to 25 September 1987, wher ...

Former channels include Syrian Medical TV and

Talaqie TV Talaqie TV (Arabic قناة تلاقي, literal translation "Meeting") was a television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that ...

which both closed in 2016; terrestrial channels Channel 2 and Channel 1 (now Syria TV) closed down in 2012. The ''Syria Insider Weekly'' program is broadcast in English, French and Spanish. Russian television news is broadcast daily.

References

External links

*
www.rtv.gov.sy
(former homepage, archived in 2003) {{DEFAULTSORT:Organisme de la Radio-Télévision Arabe Syrienne 1960 establishments in Syria Mass media companies established in 1960 Mass media companies of Syria Mass media in Damascus State media Radio in Syria Television companies of Syria Government-owned companies of Syria Multilingual broadcasters Arabic-language radio stations Arabic-language television stations European Broadcasting Union members

Services

Radio

Television

See also

References

External links