Television in Sri Lanka

Main article: Media of Sri Lanka

Television in Sri Lanka dates back to 1979. Television broadcasting, like other forms of media in the country, is generally divided along linguistic lines with state and private media operators providing services in Sinhala, Tamil, and English languages.

History

Preliminary work was underway in the first half of the 1970s. ^[1]

Businessmen Anil Wijewardena and Shan Wickremasinghe established the country's first TV station Independent Television Network which started broadcasting on 15 April 1979. ^[2] The new station remained independent for less than two months as the government took control of it on 5 June 1979 following a dispute with President J. R. Jayewardene. ^[2] Sri Lanka's second state-owned TV station - Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) - was established by the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation Act No. 6 of 1982. ^[3] SLRC started broadcasting on 15 February 1982. ^[2] The Act required the SLRC to maintain taste and decency and not to incite crime and disorder or cause religious or public offence.

The government maintained a monopoly on television broadcasting until 1992 when private TV stations were allowed to broadcast but they were to be regulated by the SLRC. ^[2] Maharaja Television (MTV), a joint venture between Capital Maharaja and Singapore Telecommunications Limited, was one of the first private TV stations. Since then many new TV stations have started in Sri Lanka. There are also a number of satellite networks and pay per view television networks in Sri Lanka. The national telecommunications provider Sri Lanka Telecom also launched an IPTV service in 2008.

Since then, during the 1990s and 2000s, multiple broadcasting networks have entered the public frequencies. A privately owned company, Swarnawahini came into action in 1997 and still functions under the same brand name. In 2005 another major television channel came into action under the name Derana which now has multiple broadcasting platforms including radio, printed media, and a fully dedicated news channel called adaderana24X7.

Indian productions have been a constant on local television since the beginning, but around 2007, the predominantly Buddhist government thought that Indian series conveyed foreign values, those of the Hindus. Such productions were put under high taxes, but still had their viewers. Advertisers began to create separate commercials for Sinhala and Tamil audiences with their differing cultural norms. Two versions, one for each demographic, were filmed in the same complex, and shot in adjacent studios. ^[4]

Since 2020, when the Pandemic started taking over the country's Education system, Television has been more and more in use for distance education.

A table has been created for the children to find channels where they can study freely in Sri Lanka if they cannot go to schools

Television providers

Current

The following is a list of current television providers based in Sri Lanka.

Provider	Ownership	Owner	Transmission	Established
Ask Cable Vision [a]	Private	Ask Media & Cable Vision	Analog cable	2010
City Cable [b]	Private	City Cable Links	Analog cable, digital cable
Dialog TV [c]	Private	Dialog Axiata	Digital satellite	July 2005
Star TV Lanka Satnet	Private	Star TV Lanka	Digital satellite	1945
Lanka Broadband Networks [d]	Private	Lanka Broadband Networks	Analog cable, digital cable	2000
PEO TV	State-owned [e]	SLTMobitel	IPTV	September 2008
Satcom [f]	Private	Future Sat Com Holdings	Satellite
TV Lanka	Private		Digital terrestrial	2012

Former

The following is a list of former television providers which were based in Sri Lanka.

Provider	Ownership	Owner	Transmission	Established	Closed
Multivision [g]	Private	Ruhunu 2001 Multivision	Analog microwave	1999	2008
Franknet [h]	Private	T.Guhan	Cable TV	1995	1998

Television stations

Current

The following is a list of current television stations based in Sri Lanka.

Station	Ownership	Owner	Language	Established	Terrestrial		Satellite				Cable	IPTV	Streaming
					Analogue [i]	Digital	Dialog TV [5] [6]	Dish TV [7]	Freesat	ASK Cable Vision (Pvt) Ltd	LBN [8]	PEO TV [9]
Haritha TV	Non-profit	Haritha Network	Sinhala	31 March 2021			14					9
A Plus Kids TV	Private	Ru Sala Media Networks Pvt Ltd	Sinhala	3 July 2017			48
Ada Derana 24 [j]	Private	Derana Macro Entertainment under Dilith Jayaweera	Sinhala/English	20 July 2014			14	2508				14
ART Television [k]	Private	IWS Holdings	English	1996			13					017
Channel C	Private	Wide Angle Productions	Sinhala	10 March 2008			45
Channel Eye [l]	State-owned	Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation	English	April 1999		03	2572				002
Channel One	Private	Dialog TV	Sinhala / English	6 June 2019			1
Citi Hitz	Private	OnAir World Ceylon	Sinhala	10 December 2007			019
Colombo TV	Private	Colombo Television Limited	Sinhala	1 January 2015								111
Dan TV	Private	ASK Media (Pvt) Ltd	Tamil	1 January 1999
Dharmavahini TV	Private	Dharmavahini Foundation	Sinhala	20 May 2007
Dream TV [m]	Private	GalleZone Solutions	Sinhala	2010				2511				015
ETV [n]	Private	Lyca Productions	English	1995								119
Heritage TV [o]	Private	Heritage Television	Sinhala	8 May 2009
Hiru TV	Private	Asia Broadcasting Corporation	Sinhala	23 May 2012			11	2507				019
ITN Channel	State-owned	Independent Television Network	Sinhala	13 April 1979			04	2517				003
iTV	Private	Power Hands Media Network	Sinhala	21 July 2025					25			125
Knowledge TV	Private	Pix & Words	Sinhala	2010								018
Nethra TV	State-owned	Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation	Tamil	1 January 2008								016
Rangiri TV	Non-profit	Rangiri Sri Lanka Media Network	Sinhala	July 2011			21	2532				022
Raw TV	Private	Raw Television	Sinhala	26 October 2015
Ridee TV	Private	Tiss Nagodavithana Films	Sinhala	2012			18
Rupavahini	State-owned	Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation	Sinhala	15 February 1982			002	2506				001
Jaya TV Sri Lanka	Private	Jayamaga Media Network	Sinhala	4 February 2020			25					94
Supreme TV	Private	Supreme Global Holdings	Sinhala	19 December 2019			20					16
Sarana TV	Non-profit	Sarana Media Network	Sinhala	2014								094
Shakthi TV	Private	MTV Channel	Tamil	20 October 1998			09	2609				011
Shraddha TV	Non-profit	Mahamevnawa Buddhist Monastery	Sinhala	29 September 2012				2531	27			099
Sindu TV	Private	Iraj Productions	English/Sinhala	2015
Sirasa TV [p]	Private	MTV Channel	Sinhala	10 June 1998			08	2513				010
Siyatha TV	Private	Voice of Asia Network	Sinhala	17 September 2009			15	2512				008(SD) 300(HD)
Siyasa TV	Private	Siyasa Media Network	Sinhala	28 January 2014								095
Sri TV	Private	Sri TV	Sinhala	2006
Star Tamil	Private	Voice of Asia Network	Tamil	17 September 2009				2618				021
Swarga TV	Non-profit	Rock Foundation	English/Sinhala/Tamil	2011			30
Swarnavahini [q]	Private	Lyca Productions	Sinhala	1997			07	2516				006
Talent TV	Private	Capital Corp.	Sinhala	17 July 2025
The Buddhist [r]	Non-profit	Sri Sambodhi Foundation	Sinhala	29 June 2007			026	2592				096
TNL TV	Private	Telshan Networks	English/Sinhala	21 June 1993			12	2526				013
TV 1 [s]	Private	MTV Channel	English/Sinhala	14 December 1992			10	2553				012
TV Derana	Private	Derana Macro Entertainment under Dilith Jayaweera	Sinhala	11 October 2005			06	2514				004
TV Didula	Non-profit	Sanhinda Media Network	Sinhala	20 February 2016			17	2509				117
UTV Tamil [t]	Private	SATIS Agency (Pvt) Ltd	Tamil	23 March 2017			23					127
Vasantham TV	State-owned	Independent Television Network	Tamil	25 June 2009			005	2614				007
Verbum TV	Non-profit	Verbum Television	English/Sinhala/Tamil	2014			031					093
CeyFLiX	Private	Ausflix PTY LTD	Sinhala/English/Tamil/Hindi	2019
Lankan Link	Private	CodeNinja PTY LTD	Sinhala/English/Tamil	2015

Former

The following is a list of former television stations which were based in Sri Lanka.

Ownership	Closed	Owner	Station	Language	Established
Private	2016	Carlton Sports Network	Carlton Sports Network	English/Sinhala	7 March 2011
Private	2013	Ask Media and Cable Vision Network	DAN Tamil Oli	Tamil	January 2009
State-owned		Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation	NTV	English	18 November 2009
State-owned		Independent Television Network	Prime TV	English	12 November 2009
Private	2009	Peoples Media Network	TV 2	English	1 November 2008
Private		MGM Networks	You TV [u]	English/Sinhala/Tamil	17 January 2007

Notes

1. Available in Jaffna peninsula only.
2. Available in Colombo only.
3. Formerly CBNsat.
4. Available in Colombo and Jaffna only.
5. The Government of Sri Lanka owns the majority of shares in Sri Lanka Telecom, the ultimate parent company of PEO TV, either directly or via organisations controlled by it (e.g. Bank of Ceylon, Employees' Provident Fund, National Savings Bank and Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation).
6. Formerly Srilakvahini.
7. Formerly Comet Cable.
8. Formerly Hatton Cable, Special in Up-country and Wellawatte area. Channels of Sun TV Network, Doordarshan from S-C Band Satellite.
9. Channels 21-69 on UHF, channels 2-12 on VHF.
10. Formerly Ada Derana 24X7.
11. Formerly Dynavision.
12. Formerly Rupavahini 2 Sinhalese and Tamil and English Television Channel.
13. Also known as TV Dream Music.
14. Formerly ETV 2.
15. Also known as HTV.
16. Formerly MTV (Sri Lankan Sinhala And English, Tamil TV channel)
17. Formerly ETV, ETV 1 Sinhalese And Tamil,English Entertainment Television
18. Also known as Buddhist TV.
19. Formerly MTV Newsvision, MTV, Channel One MTV, MTV Sports, MTV.
20. Formerly Udhayam TV.
21. Formerly Max TV.

References

1. "World Communications" (PDF). UNESCO. 1975. p. 342. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 May 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
2. Indrajit Banerjee, Stephen Logan, ed. (2008). Asian Communication Handbook 2008. Singapore: Asian Media Information and Communication Centre, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University. pp. 446–459. ISBN   9789814136105.
3. "SRI LANKA RUPAVAHINI CORPORATION". LawNet.
4. Toutes les télés du monde , Sri Lanka, ARTE France and Point du Jour, 2007
5. "Channels". Dialog TV. Archived from the original on 2016-03-29. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
6. "List of Channels on Dialog TV". TV Channels List. Archived from the original on 2016-01-11. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
7. "Packs: Ntertainment". Dish TV (Sri Lanka). Archived from the original on 2016-02-02. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
8. "LBN Packages". Lanka Broadband Networks. Archived from the original on 2017-03-13. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
9. "Channel Lineup". PEO TV. Archived from the original on 2016-04-07. Retrieved 2016-01-31.

• internetlk. Davies (2 February 2021). "Television Stations in Sri Lanka".
• "UHF Television Channel Assignments" (PDF). Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka. 20 July 2012.
• "Licensed Media Operators in Sri Lanka" (PDF). Ministry of Mass Media. 2015.
• "Viewership share of TV Channels from 2006-2012". Survey Research Lanka. 2012.

External links

• Telecommunications Regulatory Commission