The Établissement de la Télévision Tunisienne (TT, French for Establishment of the Tunisian Television or simply Tunisian Television; in Arabic: مؤسسة التلفزة التونسية) is Tunisia's national state-owned public service television broadcaster. The company was established by the country's president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in August 2007, by dividing the country's former state broadcaster ERTT into separate companies for radio (Radio Tunisienne) and television. Tunisian television operates two nationwide television channels and is an active member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ABSU).
Background
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, television made its appearance with the transmission of RAI broadcasts in the northeast of the country. From 1963, certain programs were broadcast by Tunisian public television on an experimental basis or on the occasion of special events. The first test broadcast took place in October 1965, with a program lasting 75 minutes. The following year, regular broadcasts began with the official opening of RTT (predecessor to ERTT) on 31 May 1966. Initially, the channel broadcast three hours a day, two hours in Arabic and one hour of French-language programs. In this context, it began developing cooperation with French-speaking television, in particular Télévision Suisse Romande, which provided it with programs and welcomed trainees in its Geneva studios.[2]