TV channels Tanzania

Tanzania's television has an unusual split history: the islands watched TV decades before the mainland, and today's field pairs the public broadcaster with a strong cluster of Islamic media.

How television came to Tanzania

Television first reached Tanzania through Zanzibar: Television Zanzibar, endorsed by the islands' president Abeid Amani Karume in 1972, was inaugurated in January 1974 - one of the earliest TV services in East Africa and the first colour television station in sub-Saharan Africa, broadcasting a couple of hours each evening in Swahili and English under the motto 'Education through Television'. The mainland waited much longer: private stations reached Dar es Salaam in the mid-1990s, and the state's mainland channel, Television ya Taifa, began regular broadcasts on 15 March 2000, initially on air eight hours a day for Dar es Salaam, the islands and the coastal regions. In 2007 the public services were consolidated into the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation.

The public side: TBC

TBC descends from a long line of state broadcasters, from the colonial-era Tanganyika Broadcasting Service through Radio Tanzania and Television ya Taifa, which were merged in 2002 before the present corporation was formed by a presidential Establishment Order in August 2007. It operates several television services - among them TBC2 and the Tanzania Safari Channel, devoted to the country's wildlife - together with national radio networks in Swahili and an international service in English. Its screens carry national news, public affairs and coverage of the country's great occasions, from Union Day to election nights.

A busy private sector

Around the public and faith channels stands a busy private sector, much of it based in Dar es Salaam, with names such as Independent Television, East Africa TV, Clouds TV and Wasafi TV. Swahili is the language that unites all these screens: public and private, mainland and island stations alike broadcast mainly in it, with English in second place.

Islamic media

The faith side of Tanzanian broadcasting - significant in a country with a large Muslim community, especially on the coast and the islands - is served by IBN TV, the Al Itrah Broadcasting Network, its continental companion IBN TV Africa, and Mahaasin TV.