Turkish Radio and Television Corporation

The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT; Turkish: "Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu") is the national public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. Around 70% of TRT's funding comes from a tax levied on electricity bills and a license tax on television and radio receivers. As these are hypothecated taxes, as opposed to the money coming from general government funds, the principle is similar to that of the television licence levied in a number of other countries, such as the BBC in the United Kingdom. The rest of TRT's funding comes from government grants (around 20%), with the final 10% coming from advertising.
Affectionately known to local consumers as the "School", it was for many years the only television and radio provider in Turkey. Before the introduction of commercial radio in 1990, and subsequently commercial television in 1992, it held a monopoly on broadcasting. More recent deregulation of the Turkish television broadcasting market produced analogue cable television. Today, TRT broadcasts around the world, especially in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Australia.
TRT's predecessor, "Türkiye Radyoları" was one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950; it would return to the EBU fold as TRT in 1972. The original company started radio test broadcasts in 1926, with a studio built in Istanbul in 1927 and a studio in Ankara following in 1928.
It organised the Eurovision Song Contest 2004.
History.
Test transmissions started on TRT 1 on 31 January 1968. A full national television schedule, which at that time linked the areas in and around Ankara, Istanbul, and İzmir, started in December 1971. TRT renewed its membership in the European Broadcasting Union (having been a founding member previously offering only radio) starting on 26 August 1972, with Turkey's first Eurovision Network event, a football match (Turkey vs. Italy), airing across Europe on 13 January 1973. TRT also joined the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union in 1976, the same year their first colour television test was showcased via laboratory at the general assembly of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
All programming was in black and white from the start of test transmissions in 1968 until the New Year's Eve programming on 31 December 1981, when the first on-air colour tests started. The entire lineup switched to colour on 15 March 1984.
TRT organised the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, with the semi-final on 12 May 2004 and the final on 15 May 2004.
On 19 May 2012 TRT 1 HD started simulcasting with TRT 1 upscaled to full HD 16:9 DVB-S2 standard.
In January 2018, TRT celebrated its 50th anniversary. All TRT channels broadcast a collection of old idents and news studio (still being modern logo) as part of the celebration in form of nostalgia. Each day new idents were made. This event also happened in 1978, 1988, 1998 and 2008.
Post-2016 coup attempt.
After the 2016 coup d'état attempt, many people in TRT were either fired or forced workers to retire. According to Haber-Sen Union; 1800 of workers were forced to retire. The union protested this situation on 21 November 2018 in Istanbul, Ankara, Diyarbakir and Brussels. During the protests, TRT employees stated that they were exposed to psychological pressure defined as mobbing. TRT employee Osman Köse stated that more than 3,000 TRT employees have been transferred to other state institutions and 5,000 people have been dismissed from TRT.
Services.
Television channels.
All television channels can be watched via Turksat satellite in Europe in Asia and terrestrial in Turkey and neighbouring countries. Some of them are also found on cable TV systems.
Minority languages hinde.
TRT has a special TV channel for Kurdish that broadcasts on a 24-hour / 7-day basis called TRT Kurdî and other TV and Radio stations that broadcast programmes in the local languages and dialects like Armenian, Arabic, Bosnian and Circassian a few hours a week.
Another special TV channel aimed at the Turkic world, TRT Avaz was launched on 21 March 2009 and broadcasts in the Azerbaijani, Bosnian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Turkmen languages; while the TRT Arabic television channel started broadcasting on 4 April 2010.
Layoffs in TRT.
After the 15 July coup attempt, many people in TRT were either fired or forced workers to retire. According to Haber-Sen Union; 1800 of workers were forced to retire. The union protested this situation on 21 November 2018 in Istanbul, Ankara, Diyarbakir and Brussels.<ref name="https://www.amerikaninsesi.com/a/trt-eylem-ankara-istanbul/4668372.html"></ref> During the protests, TRT employees stated that they were exposed to psychological pressure defined as MOBING. TRT employee Osman Köse stated that more than 3,000 TRT employees have been transferred to other state institutions and 5,000 people have been dismissed from TRT.
Many of TRT employees were dismissed and sent to prison by the reason of the 15 July coup attempt. According to the list that published in the ‘Resmi Gazete’ of the state, 312 people were dismissed.<ref name="https://www.medyaloji.net/son-haber/trtden-ihrac-edilenlerin-tam-listesi_23646266.html"></ref> According to the report provided by the non-governmental organisation-Sweden-based NGO Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF), approximately 150 TRT employees were accused of being a member of a ‘terrorist organisation’. Many of them were arrested and imprisoned.<ref name="https://stockholmcf.org/updated-list/"></ref>
Teletext and EPG.
TRT started teletext trial-runs with the name “Telegün” on 3 December 1990.
All TV channels are broadcasting the teletext. 6 channels are also broadcasting their programs with the Electronic program guide (EPG).
News.
TRT offers online news services in Turkish and other languages.