In Turkmenistan, television has been operating for over 50 years and is subject to vigorous state censorship. Notorious for a totalitarian control on media, Turkmenistan has consistently occupied one among the last three spots of the annual Press Freedom Index since its inception in 2006.^[1][2]

There are 8 television channels — Altyn Asyr, Yashlyk (Yaşlyk), Miras, The Turkmenistan TV Channel, Türkmen Owazy, Ashgabat TV, Arkadag TV and Turkmenistan Sport.^[3][4][5] All of them used to be under the aegis of Ministry of Culture and Broadcasting of Turkmenistan, before being subsumed under the jurisdiction of the State Committee of Turkmenistan on TV, Radio and Film on 17 October 2011.^[6][3] The channels broadcast from Yamal 201, before shifting to their indigenous satellite TürkmenÄlem 52oE.^[7][8]

History

In 1996, the Economist Intelligence Unit noted Turkmenistan to receive three channels — Channel One Russia, Sakhra, and Rossiyskyi.^[9] All were produced in Russia.^[9] Altyn Asyr, Yashlyk, and Miras were the first three channels to operate out of Turkmenistan. Writing in 2005, Paul Brummell finds the troika to serve similar content encompassing documentaries about Turkmenistan, music-and-dance concerts, and dubbed foreign films (esp. Bollywood).^[10] The top-right corner of each channel featured a silhouette of Saparmurat Niyazov's head.^[10]

The setting-up of a fourth channel was authorized by Niyazov in February 2004; it started broadcasting from 12 September of the same year.^[11][12] Originally named TV-4, it broadcasts in six languages and is aimed at an international audience.^[10] In December 2008, Niyazov's successor Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow signed a decree establishing "Turkmen Owazy" to "promote the art of music and culture of Turkmenistan". The channel started broadcasts in January 2009.^{[13][14][15][16]}

In December 2011, Turkmenistan's first proprietary sports channel, "Sport", was established as part of a state-run campaign to promote the importance of sports to the Turkmen people,^[17] which also included Berdimuhamedow's rap song "Sportly Turkmenistan" that went viral worldwide. The channel was first aired on January 1, 2012.^{[18][19][20][21]}

From late 2011, Turkmenistan started moving towards digital TV broadcasting.^[22] In 2015, citizens were instructed to not use satellite dishes, apparently in order to preserve the aesthetics of the cityscape; critics deemed the policy as a tool of censoring non-state sources.^[23]