TV channels Togo

Togo's television grew from a single state channel in Lomé into a small but lively field where news, general programming and faith broadcasting share the airwaves of the whole country.

How television came to Togo

Togo decided in 1969 to equip itself with a national television service, meant to inform, educate and entertain, and on 31 July 1973 President Gnassingbé Eyadéma inaugurated the Lomé studios of Radio-Television de la Nouvelle Marche. At first only the capital region was covered; from 1975, new transmitters at Agou and Dapaong, and later at Badou and Atakpamé, carried the picture across the country, and colour broadcasting in the SECAM standard began in 1979. In 1990 the station took the name it still bears, Télévision Togolaise. For two decades it remained the country's only picture; the liberalisation of the 1990s then brought private stations onto the air, and today the airwaves mix national news, entertainment and a strong strand of religious broadcasting.

News and general programming

NW Info and its companion NW Info 2 cover the news side, following events across the country, while Television Espoir 47 is the general channel of the lineup. Around them stand the other private names of the Lomé dial, from LCF to TV7 and Telesports. Togolese television has even produced an exporter: the private group New World TV, created in 2015, won the broadcasting rights to the 2022 football World Cup for francophone sub-Saharan Africa, holds European championship rights for the region and relays French league football with commentary in Ewe, Kotokoli and Kabiye. Broadcasting by satellite to dozens of African countries, the group fought off cyberattacks during the World Cup and now ranks among the most visible media brands in West Africa.

Faith-based broadcasting

RT JVA carries religious programming - a major strand of West African television, and a constant presence on Togolese screens. Broadcasting is in French first of all, the official language, but stations also open their schedules to national languages such as Ewe and Kabiye, so that news, sermons and football reach every region of the country.