Television in Ethiopia was introduced in 1962 with the government owned ETV. Color television started in 1979 on an experiment basis with regular transmissions starting in 1984 to commemorate the founding of Workers' Party of Ethiopia (WPE).[1] Ethiopia got its first private television broadcaster in 2008 with EBS TV, a US based satellite TV channel mostly focused on infotainment.
Until very recently there was only one private station with most of the stations being state owned. However, emphasis on liberalization of the TV market eventually led to a wave of privately owned stations coming about recent years. In 2014 the Oromo diaspora launched the one and only television; Oromia Media Network, based in US OMN. In 2016 and 2017, more private broadcasters such as the news centered ENN TV and others like LTV Ethiopia, Kana TV, EOTC TV all joined the market. Dimtsi Weyane and were launched at the end 2018. 7 million households in Ethiopia has at least one television set and about 55 percent of the population has access to the watch television in their homes.[2]
- ^ African Media Development Initiative: Ethiopia, p. 20 (accessed 24 May 2009)
- ^ Jemaneh, Yohanes (10 August 2017). "TV Channels – Growing in Number, Less in Content". All Africa.