Country | Nepal |
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Network | Broadcast television, satellite, optical and online |
Headquarters | Singha Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal |
Programming | |
Language(s) |
|
Picture format | 4:3 (576i, SDTV) 16:9 (1080i, HDTV) |
Ownership | |
Owner | Government of Nepal |
History | |
Launched | January 5, 1985 |
Links | |
Website | www |
Availability | |
Terrestrial | |
Analogue | VHF band |
Streaming media | |
Nepal Television (NTV National) | http://ntv.org.np/?page_id=1165 |
Nepal Television (NTV Kohalpur) | http://ntv.org.np/?page_id=1167 |
Nepal Television (NTV Plus) | http://ntv.org.np/?page_id=1299 |
Nepal Television (NTV News) | http://ntv.org.np/?page_id=1308 |
Nepal Television (Nepali: नेपाल टेलिभिजन), shortened to NTV is the Nepali national public state-controlled television broadcaster. It's accessible in four languages. It is the oldest and most watched television channel in Nepal. The news broadcast at 8:00 PM is the channel's most popular show, followed by comedy programmes such as Sakkigoni, Mundre Ko Comedy Club and Meri Bassai.
It also has four sister channels, NTV PLUS, NTV News, NTV Kohalpur and NTV Itahari, all owned by the Nepali government.[1][2][3] The network started broadcasting in HD from 31 January 2019.
Several attempts are being made by media stakeholders to convert and transform NTV into a truly Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) entity. NTV, being currently owned by the government, has lost its editorial independence and is blamed for continuously being a government mouthpiece.[4][5] Mr. Nir Shah was the first chairman.
The Nepali government signed an agreement with French government company Sofratev on 14 February 1982 to conduct a preliminary study of the feasibility of a television network in the country for 30 days.[6] Before its creation, Nepal was already receiving spillover signals from India.[7] Its broadcasts started in January 1985 with limited resources, a 30-minute daily schedule and 400 television sets available in the country. In February 1986, it became a full fledged corporation under the Communication Act of His Majesty's Government.[8]
Finance Minister Prakash Chandra Lobani had visited Tokyo in January 1986 and wanted Japanese technicians to help enter Nepal into the television age.[9] By the late 1990s, NTV was broadcasting from 5:30pm to just after 10pm daily, with a supplementary period in the mornings (6:30am to 8am, with some productions from Image Channel) and an additional period on Saturday afternoons from 12pm.[10]
In December 2012, the Intelligence Bureau of India flagged Nepal Television as a "hate channel" allegedly broadcasting anti-India programming. It was one of the twenty-four "illegal" channels to have been flagged.[11]
Nepal Television broadcasts for 24 hours daily.
Date | Transmission times |
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31 December 1983-now | 04:00-22:00 Nepal Time |