The Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation is a

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 multichannel video programming distributo ...

. It is

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

's national network and is government-owned and operated.

History

Radio broadcasts began on 1 July 1951. Until 1994, there was no single television network operating on mainland Tanzania. The only station of the United Republic was Television Zanzibar (TVZ), which was established in the early 1970s. Whereas other African countries had decided to establish television shortly before or soon after independence Mwalimu

Julius Kambarage Nyerere Julius Kambarage Nyerere (; 13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian anti-colonial activist, politician, and political theorist. He governed Tanganyika as prime minister from 1961 to 1962 and then as president from 1962 to 1964, af ...

’s cabinet resisted the introduction of television at all, insisting that the medium was too expensive and that Tanzania’s radio coverage was yet too imperfect. Moreover, it was argued that such an expansion would merely serve the upper and wealthy strata of the population as an entertainment medium. On the contrary, television proponents claimed that the medium could be an effective instrument in the national development process since it produced social awareness among the people. As a consequence acceptance of and participation in various development programmes could be ensured. But in June 1974, President

Julius Nyerere Julius Kambarage Nyerere (; 13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian anti-colonial activist, politician, and political theorist. He governed Tanganyika as prime minister from 1961 to 1962 and then as president from 1962 to 1964, aft ...

settled the matter by saying: "When we have a satellite that would make it possible to cover the whole country I will go for television ... and not until then.“ As a result, the schemes of many institutions, such as

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

, Swedish Telecommunications Administration (Swedtel),

Nippon Electric Corporation is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

, or the British Marconi Company, were simply archived. In addition, the importation of TV sets was banned by law in 1974. Despite this, after the launch of many private TV stations, the government decided in 2001 to award a TV channel to TBC.

Programming

Programming includes news and entertainment. TBC operates its television programs through 3 television profiles namely TBC 1, TBC 2 and newly established Tanzania Safari Channel (A wildlife channel). Also it operates four radio stations, TBC Taifa, TBC FM and TBC Arusha in Swahili and TBC International in English.

Stations

TBC broadcasts on three TV channels and 4 radio stations (though private television channels and radio stations also exist) and is also available via

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

and online.

History

Programming

Stations

See also

References

See also