This articlemay requirecopy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. You can assist byediting it.(November 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The television industry in Turkey includes high-tech program production, transmission, and coverage.Turkish Radio and Television Corporation is Turkey's largest and most powerful national television station. As of 2022, there are 498 television channels in Turkey, ranking fourth in Europe in terms of the number of television channels.^[1] Turkey is the world's fastest-growing television series exporter and has currently^[when?] overtaken both Mexico and Brazil as the world's second-highest television series exporter after the United States.Turkish television drama has grown since the early 2000s. Since Turkey has not yet switched to digital terrestrial television broadcasting, analog broadcasting remains widespread.

Television in Turkey wasintroduced in 1952 with the launch ofITU TV. The first television broadcast work carried out as a closed-circuit television broadcast in Turkey was prepared in June–July 1966. The first national television channel in Turkey wasTRT 1, which was introduced in 1968. In 1972, TRT broadcast its service exclusively to Ankara four nights a week, yet viewers in border areas were enticed by TV channels from neighboring countries. Sophisticated antennas were installed in Istanbul before the start of TRT's service in the city, aimed at Bulgaria, the closest country that had functional signals.^[2]Color television was introduced in 1981, becoming regular in 1984. In 1983, during the conversion period, the government rejected a proposal fromPolly Peck to assemble color television sets in Turkey.^[3] Asecond TRT channel, initially based out ofIstanbul, followed in 1986. With TRT still holding a monopoly, taking advantage of technological developments and the rise in satellite technology, it later opened athird channel in 1989, afourth channel devoted to education in 1990 and aninternational channel for the diaspora in the same year.^[4]

In the mid-1980s, discussions emerged on the creation of a private television station to end TRT's monopoly.^[4]

Turkey's first private television channel,Star 1, was established on 3 August 1989, owned by Magic Box Incorporated, which was registered inGermany.^[4] There was only one television company controlled by the state until the wave of liberalization in the 1990s which began privately owned broadcasting.^[5] The successive appearance of commercial television stations was seen without regulation at first, as these channels had no license to operate due to TRT'sde facto legal monopoly. When Star 1, owned by Ahmet Özal's Magic Box, started broadcasting, it used the studios and facilities of the German channelSat.1 to deliver its programs for five hours a day. This was followed by numerous other private channels: Teleon, Show TV, HBB, Kanal 6, Cine 5, TGRT, Kanal D, ATV, STV and others. To counter the lack of regulation in the private sector, a new law was passed on 20 April 1994, ending TRT's monopoly.^[6]

Turkey's television market is defined by a handful of large channels, led byKanal D,ATV andShow, with 14%, 10% and 9.6% market share, respectively.^[7]

The two most used reception platforms are terrestrial and satellite, with almost 50% of homes using satellite (and 15% of those pay for services) by the end of 2009. Three services dominate the multi-channel market: the satellite platformsDigiturk andD-Smart and the cable TV serviceTürksat.^[8]

Turkey’s planned digital terrestrial television on 28 August 1998 at Bilkent University. Ankara Dikmen 1,5 kWDVB-T transmitter started test broadcasting on 1 December 2003.^{[citation needed]}

Turkey began digital transmissions in February 2006. The Turkish government was expected to gradually handle the switchover, with a completion date of March 2015. In 2013, the broadcasting regulator awarded a license to a firm; this was cancelled in 2014 after theAYM upheld a complaint against the process.^[9] New licenses have been proposed, but as of 2018 Turkey still has no DTT network.^[10][11]

However, with the construction of a new "digital" transmitter inÇamlıca Tower andÇanakkale TV Tower, digital broadcasts finally began testing in 2020.^[12][13] There are plans building up to 40 more transmitters around the country.^[14]

As of December 2024, it is uncertain that digital terrestrial television will officially start in Turkey. There is no DTT auction due to political reasons. However, DVB-T2 test broadcasting is expected to start soon at Çamlıca Tower.^[15]

Most viewed channels for 2024 are:^[16]

• Radio in Turkey
• Turkish television drama

Wikimedia Commons has media related toTelevision of Turkey.

• Turkish TV Market Information

• Television in Turkey
• Lists of mass media in Turkey
• Turkish television-related lists
• Television by country

• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from August 2023
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from September 2020
• Wikipedia articles needing copy edit from November 2025
• All Wikipedia articles needing copy edit
• All articles with vague or ambiguous time
• Vague or ambiguous time from March 2024
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from March 2021
• Commons category link is on Wikidata