ERTU

Egyptian Radio and Television Union
اتحاد الاذاعة و التليفزيون المصري

Type	Broadcast radio, television and online
Country	Egypt
Availability	National International
Headquarters	Cairo, Egypt
Owner	Government of Egypt
Launch date	1971 (1971)
Official website	www.ertu.org

The Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU), Arabic: اتحاد الاذاعة و التليفزيون المصري‎‎ Ittihād al-Idhā‘ah wal-Tilīfizyūn al-Miṣrī), formerly the Arab Radio and Television Union, is the public broadcaster of Egypt, operated by the Egyptian government. It is a member of the European Broadcasting Union.

ERTU Building in Cairo

History

Egyptian Radio began broadcasting on 31 May 1934 in agreement with the Marconi Company. The General Manager of the station for the period was Said Basha Lotfi who presided over the station from May 1934 to December 1947. In December 1947, the contract with Marconi was suspended in favour of an Egyptian national broadcasting station. The station is known also for its call "This is Cairo" (in Arabic هنا القاهرة pronounced Houna al Qaahira). It is considered the First Program (in Arabic البرنامج الأول) of the ERTU.

Later on three main new radio channels were added, namely the pan-Arab The Voice of the Arabs (صوت العرب) in 1953, Egyptian Radio's Second Programme (البرنامج الثاني) in 1957 and the pan-Arab Middle East Radio (إذاعة الشرق الأوسط) in 1964. All four stations broadcast on high powered medium wave transmitters covering most of the Middle East and North and East Africa.

Egyptian television began broadcasting six hours daily on 21 July 1960 with a state-run channel that held a monopoly on terrestrial broadcasts.

In 1971 a new decree established the Arab Radio and Television Union, and created four distinct sectors: radio, television, engineering, and finance, each of which had a chairman who reported directly to the minister of information. The name of the Union was changed to the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, the name by which it is still known. Today, its total daily broadcast time on its various channels amounts to 490 hours.

Already in 1950 its predecessor the Egyptian State Broadcasting was one of the founding members of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950. After the admittance of the Israel Broadcasting Service in 1958, it cancelled its active memberships, as did the Syrian Broadcasting Services. It was readmitted as an active member 1 January 1985.

ERTU Radio Networks

General stations

• General Programme Radio (إذاعة البرنامج العام) or Egyptian Radio (established 1934) - main channel of the network
• Voice of the Arabs (إذاعة صوت العرب) (established 1953 as a pan-Arab station)
• The Second Program (البرنامج الثاني) (established in 1957)
  • Now converted into the Cultural Radio (إذاعة البرنامج الثقافي) (replacing The Second Program)
• Middle East Radio (إذاعة الشرق الأوسط) (established 1964 as a pan-Arab station)
• European Program Radio (إذاعة البرنامج الأوربي) broadcasting in English, French, Greek, Italian, German

Specialized (thematic) stations

• Cultural Radio (إذاعة البرنامج الثقافي) (replacing The Second Program)
• Youth and Sports Radio (إذاعة الشباب والرياضة) (established 1975)
• Radio Greater Cairo (إذاعة القاهرة الكبرى) (established 1981)
• Songs Radio (إذاعة الأغاني) (established 2000)
• News and Music Radio (إذاعة الأخبار والموسيقى)
• Radio Masr or Egypt Radio (إذاعة راديو مصر) (established 2009)
• Al Qur'an al Karim Radio (إذاعة القران الكريم) (Muslim religious broadcasting)
• Educational Radio (الإذاعة التعليمية)
• Voice of Palestine (صوت فلسطين)

Regional programming radio stations

• North of Saaeed Radio (إذاعة شمال الصعيد)
• Nile Valley Radio (إذاعة وادي النيل)
• Middle Delta Radio (إذاعة وسط الدلتا)
• Radio Alexandria (إذاعة الإسكندرية)

International stations

• Radio Cairo (International) including Radio Cairo World Service 1 to 7 (various channels, shortwave and satellite)

ERTU Television Networks

• Channel 1
• Channel 2
• Channel 3
• Channel Egypt

Regional Television Network

There are six state-owned broadcast and satellite channels in Egypt:

• Six regional channels, each providing specialized services for a number of governorates:
  • Cairo channel: broadcasting from Cairo and covering Greater Cairo governorates, i.e. Al Qahirah, Al Jizah and Al Qalyubiyah.
  • Canal Channel: broadcasting from Ismailia and covering Suez Canal governorates, i.e. Al Isma'iliyah, As Suways and Bur Sa'id.
  • Alexandria Channel: broadcasting from Alexandria and covering Al Iskandariyah, Al Buhayrah, and parts of Matruh.
  • Delta Channel: broadcasting from Tanta and covering Central Delta governorates, i.e. Al Gharbiyah, Al Minufiyah, Ad Daqahliyah, Kafr ash Shaykh and Dimyat.
  • Upper Channel: broadcasting from Al Minya city and covering Northern Upper Egypt governorates, i.e. Al Minya, Al Fayyum, Bani Suwayf and Assuit.
  • Thebes Channel: broadcasting from Aswan and covering Southern Upper Egypt governorates, i.e. Suhag, Qina, Al Uqsur and Aswan.

Nile Television Network

Nilesat allowed for the launch of several specialized TV channels in addition to Egyptian Satellite Channel (ESC) and Nile TV. All are owned by the Egyptian state.

Specialized channels include:

• Al Nile
• Nile Culture channel
• Nile Comedy channel
• Nile Drama channel, specialized in Drama, mainly movies and TV series.
• Nile Educational channels, several channels for primary, preparatory, secondary, medical and language education.
• Nile Family channel
• Nile Sports channel
• Nile Variety channel, specialized in various forms of entertainment mainly concerts, music videos, contests and some talk shows.
• Tanweer channel

See also

• List of radio stations in Egypt

External links

• Official website (Arabic)