Nauru Television established on May 31, 1991, is the government-owned, non-commercial

Non-commercial

Non-commercial refers to an activity or entity that does not in some sense involve commerce, at least relative to similar activities that do have a commercial objective or emphasis...

 sole television company in the Republic of Nauru

Nauru

Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...

. It is operated by the Nauru Broadcasting Service

Nauru Broadcasting Service

The Nauru Broadcasting Service is the state-owned, non-commercial broadcasting service of the Republic of Nauru.Founded in 1968, when the country obtained independence, the NBS operates Nauru Television and Nauru Radio...

 and overseen by the Nauru Media Bureau.

Specificities

Nauru Television broadcasts 24 hours a day - up from 5 hours a day when it was first launched. It "operates a [...] PAL – B colour service transmitted free-to-air

Free-to-air

Free-to-air describes television and radio services broadcast in clear form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscription or one-off fee...

 [...] through 1x10w and 2x100w transmitters".

Original plans to levy a fee per household were dropped, and NTV is funded by the government.

Content

NTV's guiding policy upon launch called for it to present "a programme schedule that reflects and promotes cultural, educational, community and social interest in Nauru", and to have "a balance of programme types (news, current affairs, documentary, sports, adult and children’s comedy, drama, health, education, etc)". Local and international news would be covered, along with "major local sports and social events".

By the early 2000s, NTV exclusively broadcast content provided by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...

, due to the country's dire economic situation

Economy of Nauru

Revenues of Nauru have traditionally come from exports of phosphate rock. Primary phosphate reserves were exhausted, and mining ceased, but in 2006-07, mining of a deeper layer of "secondary phosphate" began. It is hoped that this economic activity might lift Nauru from the bottom rung of global...

 and NTV's lack of a functioning camera. Its capacities were subsequently expanded with the assistance of AusAID. In 2002, UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 reported that NTV's "only locally produced programme is a popular daily half-hour news bulletin produced by NTV personnel in the S-VHS

S-VHS

S-VHS is an improved version of the VHS standard for consumer-level analog recording videocassettes. It was introduced by JVC in Japan in April 1987 with the HR-S7000 VCR and certain overseas markets soon afterwards...

 format. Local news items are shot utilising three field cameras which double as studio fixtures for post production".

NTV broadcasts both in Nauruan

Nauruan language

The Nauruan language is an Austronesian language spoken in Nauru. It is estimated that it has 7,000 speakers. Almost all speakers are bilingual in English....

 and in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

.

Four Corners issue

In 2004, the government of President

President of Nauru

The President of Nauru is elected by Parliament from amongst its members. He is both the head of state and head of government of Nauru. Nauru's unicameral Parliament has 18 members, with an electoral term of 3 years. Political parties only play a minor role in Nauru politics, and there has often...

 Ludwig Scotty

Ludwig Scotty

Ludwig Derangadage Scotty is a two-time former President of the Republic of Nauru. He served as President from 29 May 2003 to 8 August 2003, then from 22 June 2004 to his ousting in a vote of no confidence on 19 December 2007....

, seeking re-election, ordered Nauru Television to broadcast the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...

's Four Corners programme on past economic mismanagement under former President Rene Harris

René Harris

René Reynaldo Harris was President of the Republic of Nauru four times between 1999 and 2004. He was a Member of Parliament from 1977 to 2008.-Background and early career:...

, every evening during the week before the election. Harris complained that NTV "had refused to give him equal time to present his side of the story". Scotty was re-elected

Nauruan parliamentary election, 2004

Parliamentary elections were held in Nauru on 23 October 2004. Non-partisan followers of Ludwig Scotty won a majority, and he was elected President by the parliament .-Results:...

.