Television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 in Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

was introduced in 1956. Private TV was introduced on the 26th of April, 1992, by LOGOS TV which started its transmissions in STEREO and TELETEXT from day one. The first private TV station of Cyprus was owned and operated by the Church of Cyprus. In August, 1995, the same station introduced the first ISP in Cyprus, LOGOSNET. The Republic of Cyprus currently uses the PAL

PAL

PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...

 colour system, and has converted terrestrial transmissions to digital

Digital terrestrial television

Digital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...

 in 1st of July, 2011, in line with EU

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 policy.

Because of the political division of the island, television companies are also divided.

Republic of Cyprus

Terrestrial digital transmission is now available in Cyprus, along with parallel analogue transmissions which will end on the 1st of July, 2011. A press release by the ministry of communications indicated that this would become available by 2011, ahead of the deadline for EU countries in 2012. Satellite digital transmission is available through the NOVA Cyprus

NOVA Cyprus

NOVA Cyprus is a Cypriot digital satellite pay television service owned by Multichoice Cyprus. NOVA launched in July 2004 and was the first DTH satellite provider to launch in Cyprus...

 platform. Athina Sat

Athina Sat

Athina Sat was a Cypriot digital satellite pay television service owned by Athina Sat TV Ltd.. Athina Sat launched in May 2005 and was the first Cypriot-owned DTH satellite provider in Cyprus...

, another provider, folded in 2008. CytaVision and PrimeTel

PrimeTel

PrimeTel is a private Cypriot telecommunications carrier. Through their partnership with Electricity Authority of Cyprus , they have built their own fiber-optic network and ADSL2+ platform...

 both offer digital TV through IPTV

IPTV

Internet Protocol television is a system through which television services are delivered using the Internet protocol suite over a packet-switched network such as the Internet, instead of being delivered through traditional terrestrial, satellite signal, and cable television formats.IPTV services...

 transmission.

Free-to-air

Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation

Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation

The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation ) or CyBC is Cyprus's public broadcasting service, transmitting island-wide on four radio and two television channels. CyBC is a non-profit organization that utilises its entire income for the promotion of its main mission, which is the objective provision of...

 (Public)

• RIK 1
• RIK 2
• Digital Platform
  • RIK 1
  • RIK 2
  • ERT World
  • Euronews
    EuroNews
    Euronews is an international multilingual news television channel.It covers world news from what it claims to be a 'European' perspective.Criticisms are that the perspective is in fact that of the European Commission - a major and growing funder of Euronews....
    
    
  • RIK HD

Private Channels

• ANT1 Cyprus
  ANT1 Cyprus
  ANT1 Cyprus is a free to air terrestrial TV channel established in 1993. The channel is partly owned by ANT1 Greece. It is a general entertainment channel screening international, Greek and some locally produced programs. It transmits on channels 48, 35, 60, 41, 63, 65, 23, 26, 67, 24, 56, 37,...
  
   (see also ANT1
  ANT1
  Antenna, better known as ANT1, is a television network airing in Greece and Cyprus. The alternate spelling is play on words in Greek; ena is the Greek number 1, thus ANT1 is pronounced the same as Antenna . It launched on 31 December 1989, the same year as rival Mega Channel, and is owned by...
  
  )
• Plus TV (formerly CNC Plus TV)
• Mega Channel Cyprus
  Mega Channel Cyprus
  Mega Channel, also known as Mega TV, was the second private television channel to launch on the Cyprus airwaves. Mega has been long dedicated to Cyprus and Greek programming, kids programs, foreign programs and church oriented programs...
  
   (Logos TV until the late-1990s), see also Mega Channel
  Mega Channel
  Mega Channel, also known as Mega TV or just Mega, is a major television network in Greece. Teletypos S.A. was founded in 1989 under the name Teletypos Television Programmes S.A...
  
  
• Sigma TV
  Sigma TV
  Sigma TV is a commercial network in Cyprus that commenced broadcasting on April 3, 1995. It is a private service and is currently the second-rated channel in Cyprus. Sigma TV is geared at a younger audience, with the focus on the 18-45 age group. It broadcasts a mix of original programmes as...
  
  
• Nimonia TV (NTV) - Limassol local channel
• New Extra - National network based at Limassol
• Omega TV - Paphos local channel (ceased February 2010)

The private channels ANT1 Cyprus, Plus TV, Mega Channel Cypris, Sigma and New Extra formed Velister which carries their digital programming. It's expected that Velister will be covering the whole south region of Cyprus before the analogue switch off on the 1st of July, 2011.

Reception of free to air digital channels varies across the country :

Others

• ERT World, an internationally-broadcast Greek language channel run by Greece's national broadcaster.
• RIK Sat
  Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation
  The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation ) or CyBC is Cyprus's public broadcasting service, transmitting island-wide on four radio and two television channels. CyBC is a non-profit organization that utilises its entire income for the promotion of its main mission, which is the objective provision of...
  
   - (Europe, New Zealand, Asia and Africa but no longer available in Australia)
• BFBS, only available to HM Forces stationed in the Sovereign Base Areas
  Akrotiri and Dhekelia
  The Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia are two British-administered areas comprising a British Overseas Territory on the island of Cyprus administered as Sovereign Base Areas of the United Kingdom...
  
  , or via encrypted DVB-T
  DVB-T
  DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...
  
   in Nicosia
  Nicosia
  Nicosia from , known locally as Lefkosia , is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. Nicosia is the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line...
  
  .

DVB-T Frequencies

• 514 MHz (Ch 24 UHF) - LTV, LTV1, LTV2, LTV3, LTV SPORTS 1, LTV SPORTS 2
• 530 MHz (Ch 28 UHF) - RIK1, RIK2, RIK HD, Ert World, Euronews
• 546 MHz (Ch 30 UHF) - Ant1, Sigma, MEGA, Plus, Extra, Capital
• 570 MHz (Ch 33 UHF) - RIK1, RIK2, RIK HD, Ert World, Euronews
• 602 MHz (Ch 37 UHF) - RIK1, RIK2, RIK HD, Ert World, Euronews
• 698 MHz (Ch 49 UHF) - Ant1, Sigma, MEGA, Plus, Extra, Capital
• 706 MHz (Ch 50 UHF) - MAD cy, Music TV, NRG-MTV
• 738 MHz (Ch 54 UHF) - LTV, LTV1, LTV2, LTV3, LTV SPORTS 1, LTV SPORTS 2

External links

• MAVISE - TV market in Cyprus
• http://www.dtv.org.cy