The establishment of STV as an independent institution happened on 1 July 1991, after a law by the Slovak National Council related to the independence of Slovakia from Czechoslovakia. However, its history dates back to November 1956, when Czechoslovak Television, then under socialist regime, established a television studio in Bratislava as a test transmission. Regular broadcasts began on 3 November 1957, broadcasting daily except Monday (as it was customary in Eastern Bloc television broadcasts). After the fall of communism in the Czechoslovakian Republic, programming began to be relaunched, and the Bratislava studio was renamed as Slovenská televízia in preparation for the Slovakian independence. In September 1990, as part of a massive reorganisation of the CST channels, the second program was repositioned as a separate service for the Slovakian side of the country, under the S1 name (the Czech side received its own separate service, ČTV). A third channel, OK 3, focusing on international satellite programming, launched on May of the same year, but it was replaced by a similarly-focused Slovakia-specific service, TA3, in July 1991.
After Slovakian independence, on 1 January 1993, the management and operations of the Slovakian television were fully separated from the Czech Television, and the newly-formed Slovenská televízia began operating two channels. Still, the complex social and political issues that hampered Slovakia after independence, as well as heavy turnover of management, a lack of clear identification between both programs, and heavy bias toward the towards the People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia during the Vladimír Mečiar government, caused the broadcaster to rapidly lose most of its audience, as well as its credibility.[3][4] The arrival of commercial channels Markíza and TV JOJ, which offered more attractive programming, worsened the decline.
In 2003, founding TV JOJ director Richard Rybníček was elected by the STV Board of Governors as the broadcaster's director general. He swiftly began a transformation process to make public television more competitive with private broadcasters. On the evening of 1 January 2004, STV relaunched both channels with new programming and new brand identities, after a massive promotional campaign anticipating a "new beginning" for public broadcasting. STV1, now renamed as Jednotka, was repositioned as a generalist and mass audience channel, with a focus on light entertainment and increased news programming. STV2 (renamed Dvojka) became a niche-focused service, with most cultural, sports and minority/regional programming moved to this channel.[5] The entire Slovak TV brand was renewed, with new logos, graphic packages and a new look for STV's news programmes, including a new virtual studio. Moreover, the DOGs of both channels moved to the top-right corner of the screen (as opposed to the top-left corner, standardised for most Slovak TV channels), and in-vision continuity was dropped in favour of shorter and snappier promos.
Soon, however, critics began to worry about the quality of most new programming, and many were hampered by the oversaturation of more commercially focused programmes. Adaptations of international franchises, like Pop Idol and C'è posta per te, became heavily criticised due to its high production costs and led to heavy accusations of dumbing down;[6][7] additionally, internally-produced programming was limited during the Rybníček directorate, and the majority of international TV shows and films (mostly American) were broadcast with Czech dubbing. The few exports broadcast with Slovak dubbing were produced by external studios and were of poor quality, resulting on backlash; by 2007, the Slovak government (then under Robert Fico) duly approved a new law regulating Slovak dubbing on imports.[8] Since then, most Slovak dubbing has been handled by STV's internal dubbing studio.
Even with the heavy drift on the programming concept of Slovak television, the changes were initially successful. During the first days of the relaunch, audiences for both channels did increase to a combined 30.2 per cent share,[9] and soon, Jednotka had engaged in three-way race with Markíza and a resurgent TV JOJ, which had strengthened its programming concept. Alongside the record ratings, STV had successfully reduced part of its heavy debts. However, Rybníček's sudden resignation in 2006 to pursue a political career led to more turnover at the director general position and caused fortunes to be reversed; additionally, the commercially focused programmes introduced under Rybníček moved to its commercial rivals.
Nevertheless, STV embraced the launch of digital television, and, by 2007, some of the programmes broadcast on Jednotka and Dvojka were already broadcast in 16:9, specially imports and many live events; it even launched a third channel dedicated exclusively to sports, Trojka, on 8 August 2008.[10] The launch coincided with the beginning of the 2008 Summer Olympics, and caused all sports programming to move exclusively to this channel, exclusive to digital television.
However, the transition to digital broadcasting and the launch of the third channel, as well as the continuing turnover of management, resulted on heavily increasing debts, which worsened the crisis at the public broadcaster. As a parliamentary response to these debts, STV was eventually forced to merge with its radio counterpart, Slovenský rozhlas, to form the new Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS).[1] The merger was completed on 1 January 2011, and, although both companies legally ceased to exist, STV continued broadcasting both channels under the pre-merger brand until a massive relaunch in June, when Trojka ceased to exist and both Jednotka and Dvojka relaunched under the new RTVS brand.
Television channels
STV operated three channels during its existence.[11] They were named Jednotka(One), Dvojka(Two) (called STV1 and STV2 before a name change in 2004), and Trojka(Three), a sports channel launched in 2008.
TA3 was a TV channel previously broadcast on the 3rd broadcasting circuit in the Slovak Republic from 6 July 1991 to 30 September 1992. The channel was created in order to replace the federal channel OK 3.
Trojka ceased broadcasting on 30 June 2011, while the other two channels continued to operate as a part of Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska.[12] The three channels covered the entire territory of Slovakia. Broadcasting was on a 24-hour basis. Between 1987 and 1994, it was limited from 06:00 to 01:30.
Czech Television is a public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting six channels. Established after breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1992, it is the successor to Czechoslovak Television founded in 1953.
Television stations in Slovakia broadcast in both DVB-T format and DVB-T2 format. Broadcasting is mostly in the Slovak, state-owned channels have some dedicated broadcasting for ethnic minorities. Foreign language movies and shows are dubbed. Czech production is often broadcast in original, with the exception of juvenile programs. Sometimes, foreign language movies are broadcast with Czech dubbing. Czech television channels are also popular in Slovakia, received in paid DVB-T2 service, directly in border regions or carried by cable companies and satellite operators. Most of premium channels like Filmbox, HBO, Viasat Channels, etc. broadcast only in Czech. Discovery, Sport 1, Sport 2 and few others are exception, they broadcast in both Czech and Slovak.
Slovakia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest seven times, debuting in 1994. It had attempted to debut in 1993, but did not pass through the qualifying round. In the first three finals that Slovakia participated in, it placed no better than 18th, which it achieved in 1996. Due to poor results, Slovakia was relegated in 1995 and 1997, and eventually withdrew in 1999. The country returned in 2009, although it withdrew again within four years, having failed to qualify for the final every year since its return.
Prima televize is a Czech private television station. Its channel is broadcast from Prague. Its current owner is FTV Prima, spol. s. r. o., which is majority-owned by Czech investment firm GES, in turn owned by Czech oligarch Ivan Zach. The group's current general manager is Marek Singer. It is the first private TV channel in the Czech Republic and the former Czechoslovakia.
Radio Slovakia International (RSI) is Slovakia's official internet-based international broadcaster. The station was created almost simultaneously with the emergence of independent Slovakia and began broadcasting on 4 January 1993.
TV JOJ is a Slovak private TV channel owned by J&T Enterprises and launched in March 2002. The channel screens serial dramas and TV shows. The name JOJ is derived from a Slovak interjection, comparable to oh là là.
Slovenský rozhlas or SRo was a state-owned nationwide public-service radio broadcaster in Slovakia. It was headquartered in Bratislava in a building shaped like an inverted pyramid, which currently serves as STVR radio's headquarters.
In Slovakia, political information is disseminated through the mass media: television, radio, the press, and the internet. The public is becoming increasingly reliant on the internet for news, with television and the press becoming less important as news sources.
Slovakia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Horehronie" written by Kamil Peteraj and Martin Kavulič. The song was performed by Kristina. The Slovak entry for the 2010 contest in Oslo, Norway was selected through the national final Eurosong 2010, organised by the Slovak broadcaster Slovenská televízia (STV). 60 entries competed in the national final which consisted of nine shows: six quarter-finals, two semi-finals and a final. In the quarter-finals, four entries were selected by a public vote to advance from each show. Twenty-four entries qualified to compete in the semi-finals where six entries were selected to advance from each show based on the combination of votes from a three-member jury panel and a public vote. Twelve entries ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 27 February 2010 where "Horehronie" performed by Kristina was selected as the winner after scoring the most points from the jury and public vote.
Trojka was a Slovak television channel owned and operated by RTVS. It ended on December 1, 2022, at 12:00 am CET.
Slovakia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "I'm Still Alive" written by Bryan Todd, Sandra Nordstrom and Branislav Jančich. The song was performed by the duo Twiins, which was internally selected by the Slovak broadcaster Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska (RTVS) to represent Slovakia in the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, Germany. Twiins and the song "I'm Still Alive" were announced as the Slovak entry on 18 February 2011. The song was presented to the public on 3 March 2011.
Radio and Television of Slovakia, or RTVS, was a nationwide public broadcasting, state-funded organisation in Slovakia.
Osobnosť televíznej obrazovky, more commonly abbreviated as OTO, was a Slovak awards show recognizing the public figures and the work of popular culture in the country. Established by Art Production Agency (APA) in 2000, the television poll-based awards were voted on by the general viewing audiences. The annual ceremonies of the accolades were screened live by the national television network RTVS, usually in March for the previous calendar year.
The 4th OTO Awards, honoring the best in Slovak popular culture for the year 2003, took time and place on January 31, 2004, at the Reduta concert hall in Bratislava. Unlike the previous editions of the show, the ceremony broadcast live JOJ. The host of the show, for a change, was actor Maroš Kramár.
The 7th OTO Awards, honoring the best in Slovak popular culture for the year 2006, took time and place on March 14, 2007, at the former Opera building of the Slovak National Theater in Bratislava. The ceremony broadcast live STV. The host of the show was Jozef Bednárik.
The 9th OTO Awards, honoring the best in Slovak popular culture for the year 2008, took time and place on March 11, 2009, at the former Opera building of the Slovak National Theater in Bratislava. The ceremony broadcast live STV. The host of the show was Jozef Pročko, featuring guest appearances by Michal Hudák and Juraj Mokrý.
The 10th OTO Awards, honoring the best in Slovak popular culture for the year 2009, took time and place on March 13, 2010 at the former Opera building of the Slovak National Theater in Bratislava. The ceremony broadcast live STV. The hosts of the show were Michal Hudák and Štefan Skrúcaný.
Iveta Malachovská is a Slovak television presenter and actress. She has presented television programmes on stations including Czechoslovak Television, Slovenská televízia (STV) and Markíza. Malachovská has hosted the Slovak versions of The Biggest Loser and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.
Slovak Television and Radio, in short STVR is a nationwide public broadcasting, state-funded organisation in Slovakia. Its headquarters are located in Bratislava and led by acting General Director Igor Slanina.
Dvokja is a Slovak television generalist channel owned and operated by public broadcasting, state-funded STVR.
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