TV channels Tunisia

Tunisian television is split between a public pair that has broadcast since the 1960s and a lively field of private stations that grew up after the 2011 revolution. General entertainment dominates, talk shows drive the ratings conversation, and religious programming holds its own corner.

The Public Pair

El Watania 1 is the country's first public national channel, run by Télévision Tunisienne. Its identity has changed with the state's history: launched as RTT in 1966, it passed through the names TV7 and Tunisie 7 before becoming El Watania 1 in 2011. Its younger sister, El Watania 2, began in 1994 as Canal 21 and likewise took its current name after the revolution.

The Private Wave

Hannibal TV has been broadcasting since 2005 as one of the earliest private challengers. Attessia TV and Sahel TV, the latter named for the country's Sahel coast, carry general entertainment, while Al Janoubia TV broadcasts from Sfax in the south. Nessma TV aimed at Tunisia and the wider Maghreb and once counted Italy's Mediaset among its shareholders; its sports arm is Nessma Sport. The conversation channel El Hiwar El Tounsi built its name on political talk shows and by 2015 was measured as the most-watched station in the country.

Faith and a Window from London

Zitouna TV is built around religious programming, taking its name from the Zaytouna tradition of the capital's great mosque. A different case is Al Mustakillah: based in London and aimed at Tunisian viewers, it was founded in 1999 by Mohamed Hechmi Hamdi and long served as a voice for those outside the state media system.

Between the two public channels, the private stations that multiplied after the revolution and the religious broadcasters, Tunisian television today reflects a media field that opened up quickly - and has stayed argumentative ever since.