Eesti Televisioon (
ETV) is the national
publicPublic broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets that receive some or all of their funding from the public. Public broadcasters may receive their funding from individuals through voluntary donations, a specific tax such as a television licence fee, or as direct...
television stationA television station is a type of broadcast station that broadcasts video and possibly audio to television receivers in a particular area. Traditionally, TV stations made their broadcasts by sending specially-encoded radio signals over the air, called terrestrial television...
of
EstoniaEstonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russian Federation...
. It made its first broadcast on 19 July 1955.
The bulk of ETV's funding comes from government
grant-in-aidA grant-in-aid is money coming from central government for a specific project. This kind of funding is usually used when the government and parliament have decided that the recipient should be publicly funded but operate with reasonable independence from the State...
, around 15% of which is in turn funded by the fees paid by Estonian commercial broadcasters in return for their exclusive right to screen television advertising. ETV stopped showing commercials in 1998-1999 and has again ceased doing so since 2002: its low-cost advertising rates were damaging the ability of commercial broadcasters to operate. The introduction of system of
broadcast receiver licencesA television licence is an official licence required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts...
, payable by viewers, was considered, but ultimately rejected in the face of public opposition.
On 1 January, 1993, ETV was admitted as a full active member of the
European Broadcasting UnionThe European Broadcasting Union is a confederation of 75 broadcasting organisations from 56 countries, and 43 associate broadcasters from a further 25. It is unrelated to the European Union. Members are radio and television companies, most of which are government-owned public service broadcasters...
.
On 9 January, 2006, ETV launched an Internet news service called ETV24. Broadcasting news on Internet, teletext, and on ETV at night.
On 1 June, 2007, ETV controversially merged with the Estonian Radio Service (ER) to form the Estonian Public Broadcasting or
Eesti RahvusringhäälingEesti Rahvusringhääling – Estonian Public Broadcasting – is a publicly funded radio and television organization created in Estonia on 1 June 2007 to take over the functions of the formerly separate Eesti Raadio and Eesti Televisioon , under the terms of the Estonian National...
, ERR for short. Created for under the new Estonian National Broadcasting Act, passed by the Estonian Parliament on 18 January 2007. However, ETV has so far continued broadcasting under its original name.
The Estonian Public Broadcasting Act regulates ERR's actions, through the Estonian Broadcasting Council or Ringhäälingunõukogu in Estonia EHR for short.
The Broadcasting Council is the highest management body of ERR.
The first Chair of ERR is Margus Allikmaa.
Estonia Television
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