Television in Romania started in August 1955. State television started to broadcast on 31 December 1956. The second television channel followed in 1968, but between 1985 and 1990, there was only one Romanian channel before the return of the second channel. Color television was introduced in 1983. Private broadcasters arrived in December 1991, with SOTI which was the first private nationwide television station in Central and Eastern Europe. Romania has the highest penetration rates for pay television in the world, with over 98% of all households watching television through cable or satellite.
Television market
Romanian market is dominated by two large groups: Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. and Intact Media Group, with PRO TV and Antena 1 as main channels and Kanal D also gain audience starting 2014 as the third channel. There are over 50 channels running ads, as of 2015 television being the best type of advertising in Romania. Over 80% of revenue advertising is earned by three players: 35% (48% GRP) PRO TV Group, 26% ANTENA TV Group, 10% Kanal D and 29% (15% GRP) rest of the channels.
Terrestrial television
Romania is the only EU state that didn't end analogue broadcasting because of low interest in terrestrial television. DVB-T tests began in 2005 with two channels in Bucharest and one in Sibiu using MPEG 2 for SD Channels and MPEG 4 for HD Channels. It broadcast public channels (including one in HD) and a for a limited time a few commercial television channel (general, news and music) until September 2016. On July 23, 2013 PRO TV, the largest television channel, changed from free to pay television. ANCOM cancelled the auction for multiplexes in 2011, and postponed the switching-off to June 17, 2015. Since June 2015 only TVR 1 continued to broadcast analogue until 31 December 2016, later again postponed until 31 December 2018. The rest of analogue broadcasts were shut down.
The absence and lack of implementation of DVB-T in Romania is somehow controversial, as many people are suspecting that this delay and the adoption of DVB-T2 is forced just to sustain the interest of cable and DTH providers, also the lack of interest of the must carry broadcasters in providing channels in terrestrial is very criticized, however the main DVB-T operator in Romania is SNR, which is said to be responsible for this.
In September 2016, Romania turned off DVB-T broadcasts which were experimental, and shifted on DVB-T2 technology. Criticism has appeared in the press about delays, suggesting that this will be a reason for the 20% of households who were receiving free terrestrial television to migrate towards cable and satellite operators. TVR remained the only broadcaster on DVB-T2. It is sent in Free To Air, as it is a public station.
On 23 November 2022, TVR, the only broadcaster on terrestrial in Romania, removed the HD broadcasts for TVR-1 and TVR-2 on DVB-T2, leaving terrestrial broadcasting only with the SD broadcasts of TVR. TVR 1 HD and TVR 2 HD will be available solely on Satellite, Cable and IPTV. This happened mainly because of low demand of the terrestrial services, and to make room for the newly relaunched TVR Cultural.
Cable television
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Romania has a high penetration rates for cable television in Europe, with over 79% of all households watching television through a CATV network in 2007. The market is extremely dynamic, and dominated by two giant companies – Romanian-based RCS&RDS (DIGI) and U.K.-based (Vodafone). Both offer internet broadband, fixed (VOIP) and mobile telephony. The national CATV network is being improved, and most households are being migrated towards digital cable solutions.
Satellite television
After cable, satellite subscriptions hold second place, and are mainly popular in rural areas, where cable television and optical fiber networks were not widely available in the second half of the 2000s. The main operators are: Telekom TV, DIGI, Focus Sat operated by UPC Romania (the first DTH platform in Romania), FreeSat, and Orange operated by Orange Romania. Most of providers offer a small number of HD channels (10 channels), except Focus Sat (20 channels) and Orange, which is mainly dedicated to HD broadcasting with 50 channels. Focus Sat and FreeSat are prepaid services and can be also used with a CAM and a smart card. Defunct DTH Platforms are: Boom TV and AKTA Satelit, which were acquired by Romtelecom, now Telekom Romania.
IPTV
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IP television: Romtelecom (now Telekom) started to upgrade slowly ADSL network with VDSL very lately in 2008, and launched IPTV on December 8, 2009. It is popular in business (companies, corporations etc.) sector rather than consumer. It is provided by Telekom (formerly Romtelecom), INES. RCS RDS tried unsuccessfully to implement IPTV being available to a limited number of subscribers since 2010.
Internet television
List of channels
The following is a list of television channels broadcast in Romania.
A&E Networks UK Channels operated by A&E Networks UK, a joint-venture with Sky plc:
- AMC
- CBS Reality (a joint-venture with CBS Studios International)
- Extreme Sports
- JimJam
- Minimax
- TV Paprika
Central European Media Enterprises
Centrul Naţional Media
Clever Group
- Animal Planet
- Cinemax
- Cinemax 2
- Discovery Channel
- Eurosport 1
- Eurosport 2
- Food Network (joint-venture with Tribune Media)
- HBO
- HBO 2
- HBO 3
- HGTV
- Investigation Discovery
- TLC
- Travel Channel
Disney Channels Worldwide EMEA
Mooz TV
NBCUniversal International Networks
Tematic Media
- Cartoonito
- Cartoon Network
- CNN International
- Euronews (25%) (in English)
- Warner TV
Channels operated by Nickelodeon UK, a joint venture with Sky plc:
Channels wholly operated by Viacom International Media Networks Europe:
Main single-channel broadcasters
International channels
- Arte
- Al Jazeera
- Balkanika TV
- Bloomberg
- CGTN
- Deutsche Welle
- Duna TV
- Fashion TV
- France 24
- KBS World
- Mezzo
- ProSieben
- Rai 1
- Rai 3
- Russia Today
- RTL
- Sat.1
- Sky News
- Super RTL
- TV5Monde (partially with subtitles)
- TVE Internacional
- Trace Urban
- Trace Sport Stars
Most viewed channels
Most viewed channels for 2023 are:
| Position | Channel | Share of total viewing (%) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pro TV | 18.7 |
| 2 | Antena 1 | 13.3 |
| 3 | Kanal D | 11.3 |
| 4 | Romania TV | 6.8 |
| 5 | Antena 3 CNN | 5.0 |
| 6 | Happy Channel | 2.7 |
| 7 | Antena Stars | 2.5 |
| 8 | Digi Sport 1 | 1.9 |
| 9 | Film Cafe | 1.9 |
| 10 | Digi 24 | 1.9 |
| 11 | Realitatea Plus | 1.8 |
| 12 | Pro Cinema | 1.3 |
| 13 | Prima TV | 1.4 |
| 14 | TVR 1 | 1.3 |
| 15 | National TV [ro] | 1.2 |
| 16 | TVR 2 | 1.0 |
| 17 | Diva | 1.0 |
| 18 | AMC | 1.0 |
| 19 | Acasa | 1.0 |
| 20 | Cartoon Network | 0.8 |
Given Romania's extensive cable coverage, many channels receive considerable viewing shares. Pro TV is the most viewed channel. Ratings data is measured by TNS-AGB International (2005–2007) and GfK Romania (2008–2011) on behalf of ARMADATA S.R.L.
| Channel | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pro TV | 3.7 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
| Antena 1 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 3.2 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Kanal D | 1.7 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.0 | 2.1 |
| România TV | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.4 | 1.3 |
| Antena 3 CNN | 1.6 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.9 |
| National TV [ro] | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| TVR 1 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Prima TV | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Antena Stars | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Acasă / Pro 2 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| B1 TV | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Digi Sport 1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | |
| Realitatea Plus | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| TVR 2 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| Cartoon Network | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Etno | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Digi24 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Pro Cinema | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Cartoonito / Boomerang | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Happy Channel | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
See also
- Media of Romania
- List of Romanian language television channels
- List of television stations in Romania
- List of Romanian television series
References
- "Piața serviciilor de comunicații electronice din România" (in Romanian). Retrieved 2018-03-07.
- "Pro TV, Intact și Kanal D iau 80% din banii TV, adică aproape 200 de milioane de euro. Rămân 30 de milioane la celelalte 50 de posturi" (in Romanian). Pagina de Media. 30 May 2016. Retrieved 2018-03-07.
- "LOVITURĂ ȘOC dată de PRO TV. Nu se va mai vedea gratis! Ce se va întâmpla" (in Romanian). DCNews. 25 July 2013. Retrieved 2018-03-07.
- "EXCLUSIV De ce s-a blocat tranzitia la televiziunea digitala terestra in 2011. Explicatiile Finantelor" (in Romanian). 3 January 2012. Retrieved 2018-03-07.
- "Receptionarea din eter a programelor TV analogice printr-o simpla antena nu va mai fi posibila de la 17 iunie 2015" (in Romanian). 20 September 2012. Retrieved 2018-03-07.
- "AUDIO Protest in SNR: Sindicalistii se plang de disponibilizari mascate, posibila falimentare a societatii si cer oprirea licitatiilor de trecere la televiziunea digitala terestra" (in Romanian). HotNews. 20 July 2010. Retrieved 2018-03-07.
- "Guvernul amână din nou trecerea la televiziunea digitală şi vrea să subvenționeze achiziția de set-top box-uri pentru populație" (in Romanian). Pagina de Media. 9 August 2016. Retrieved 2018-03-07.
- "Romtelecom a cumpărat şi televiziunea prin satelit de la AKTA" (in Romanian). Retrieved 2018-03-07.
- "AUDIENŢELE ANULUI 2023 după media pe zi. Cum s-a văzut competiţia televiziunilor anul trecut. Consumul TV în continuare în scădere. Televiziunile de ştiri, pe minus. Posturile de filme au fost pe plus". 5 January 2024.
- "Audiente". ARMA. Archived from the original on 2010-01-05.
- ^ "Posturile TV în 2014 și 2015 după media pe zi. Pro TV, primul loc. Ușoară creștere la Kanal D. România TV, mai aproape de Antena 3". paginademeria.ro. 2016-01-06.
- ^ "AUDIENȚE TV 2017. Posturile TV după media pe zi. Pro TV, în creștere. Antena 1, fără Mireasă pentru fiul meu, în scădere". paginademeria.ro. 2018-01-04.
- ^ "AUDIENȚE după MEDIA pe ZI 2019. Pro TV, Antena 1 și Kanal D, cifre în scădere față de 2018. România TV, unul dintre singurele posturi în creștere". paginademeria.ro. 2020-01-06.
- "AUDIENŢE ZI 2020. Audienţă în carantină. Plusuri pentru Pro TV, Antena 1, Kanal D. Cum au crescut posturile de ştiri. Surpriza DIVA". 5 January 2021.
- "AUDIENŢE ZI | 2021. Fără surprize. Pro TV, Antena 1 şi Kanal D rămân cele mai urmărite staţii TV şi în 2021. România TV, primul la ştiri". 6 January 2022.
- "AUDIENŢELE ANULUI 2023 după media pe zi. Cum s-a văzut competiţia televiziunilor anul trecut. Consumul TV în continuare în scădere. Televiziunile de ştiri, pe minus. Posturile de filme au fost pe plus". 5 January 2024.
- "AUDIENŢELE ANULUI 2023 după media pe zi. Cum s-a văzut competiţia televiziunilor anul trecut. Consumul TV în continuare în scădere. Televiziunile de ştiri, pe minus. Posturile de filme au fost pe plus". 5 January 2024.
| Television in Europe | |
|---|---|
| Sovereign states |
|
| States with limited recognition | |
| Dependencies and other entities | |
 Television in Romania | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A&E | |||||
| Aleph Media |
| ||||
| AMC | |||||
| Antenna |
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| CNM | |||||
| Clever Group |
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| Digital Broadcast |
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| Disney Romania | |||||
| Doğan Holding | |||||
| Intact |
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| ISG Media |
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| Kino Polska | |||||
| NBCUniversal | |||||
| Paramount | |||||
| Pro TV |
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| Digi Communications |
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| Tematic Media | |||||
| TVR | |||||
| Viasat World |
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| Warner Bros. Discovery | |||||
| Others |
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| Defunct |
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