TV channels Entertainment

Entertainment television is the evening face of the TV world: comedy, series, reality shows, variety programmes and movie channels built to be watched for fun. Where news broadcasting informs, these channels exist to amuse - and every country amuses in its own way, so the genre speaks with a strong national accent.

National markets shape the genre: Russian entertainment television, the Latin American show tradition, the Egyptian drama industry and the Turkish series factory each fill a solid block of the genre.

Russian Entertainment Channels

Russia runs the largest single block. TNT, whose name stands for Your New Television, is one of the country's most popular entertainment channels with shows, series and entertainment programmes. Its sister channel TNT4 continues the formula, while 2x2 specializes in cartoon series and anime for an adult audience. Channel Yu aims at young viewers with comedy and reality, and STS Love adds romantic programming. The rest of the block covers every mood: Kaleidoscope TV with a diverse family programme, Tochka TV with shows and news, the thematic Zagorodny for country life, the light TV channel "7 tv", and O2TV for youth and alternative culture.

Comedy, Drama and Movies from the Middle East and the Caucasus

Egypt's television industry is well represented: Alnahar TV operates as a public entertainment channel, NTN Comedy is devoted to comedy, and Nile Drama broadcasts series and films from the country's drama tradition around the clock. Saudi Arabia's Rotana Cinema is the leading movie channel of the Middle East. Iran contributes three entertainment voices - iFilm Farsi, IRIB Namayesh with its drama and cultural shows, and Persian Bazaar TV - while Turkey adds FOX Türkiye with popular local and foreign series, A2 TV kanalı and Samanyolu TV. The Caucasus answers with Georgia's comedy channel Comedy Arxi and Armenia's Shant TV, joined by the diaspora service Horizon Armenian TV for Armenian-American audiences.

Latin American Entertainment

Latin America brings its own show tradition. Telefe is one of the most popular channels in Argentina with programming for all ages, flanked by Magazine Tv with interviews, series and documentaries, and Telemax. Brazil's online generation of channels is unusually strong: TV MAX RIO and Tv Carioca broadcast for Rio de Janeiro, Canal 29 replays classic series, GLN TV programmes films, Runtime Ação is an action-movie channel, Rede Clouding streams variety television, and AniTV - geekdot serves the geek audience with animation, series and movies. Chile contributes Tu Canal TV and PortalFoxmix TV, the Dominican Republic Super Canal 33, and Guatemala's TVS Retro rounds out the region with classic programmes from the eighties and nineties.

European Entertainment Channels

Europe's entertainment brands round off the picture. Slovakia's private broadcaster fills three slots - TV JOJ, JOJ Plus and JOJ WAU - while France's TFX TV is the TF1 group's channel for young adults with reality, lifestyle and comedy, and CGTN Français adds the French-language service of China's international broadcaster. Italy's Rai 4 offers series, movies and cultural programmes, Norway's NRK3 and Finland's MTV Katsomo carry entertainment for their markets, Latvia's STV Pirmā and Belarus's family channel Belarus 2 complete the Eastern European group, and Portugal's Kuriakos Cine specializes in Christian and family cinema.

Entertainment Across Asia, Africa and Beyond

The remaining channels spread across the rest of the world. The Emirates pair Dubai One, with American shows and movies with Arabic subtitles, and Sama Dubai. Thailand contributes the game-and-quiz specialists Workpoint TV and the competitive-gaming channel Mahar Esports, while Vietnam's HTV7 mixes information, sports and entertainment. Indonesia's Insertlive TV and Moji stream shows and series, India's Anjan TV serves its regional audience, Kazakhstan's Hit TV presents a new entertainment format, Pakistan's Raah TV mixes news with entertainment, and the Netherlands' MA Live was created for online viewing. Africa is present with Ghana's Joy Prime and Ethiopia's EBC Entertainment, and the review closes with Venezuela's travel-and-nature channel Sun Channel, Australia's Snowy Mountains TV, and the American channels Retro TV, devoted to the classic television of past decades, and Miami TV Latino with the Latin flavor of Miami.

Why Entertainment TV Stays National

Entertainment schedules are fiercely national - jokes, series and hosts rarely travel across borders. That is why these channels remain the fastest way to hear a familiar language and humor, wherever in the world they broadcast from.