All-National TV
All-National Television (Russian: Общенациональное телевидение, Obshchenatsional'noe Televidenie, ONT; Belarusian: Агульнанацыянальнае тэлебачанне, Ahuľnanacyjanaľnaje teliebačannie, ANT) is Belarus's second state-owned television station. It was established on 15 February 2002 by decree of the President of Belarus. It replaced relays of Channel One and currently broadcasts most of the channel's content.
 | |
| Country | Belarus |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Minsk, Belarus |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | Russian, Belarusian |
| Picture format | 576i (16:9 SDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Ministry of Information of Belarus (51%), Belarusbank (29%), Fabrika Informatsionyh Texnologiy Ltd. (20%) |
| Key people | Marat Markov |
| History | |
| Launched | 25 June 2002 |
| Links | |
| Website | www.ont.by |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| DVB-T | MUX 1 |
| Streaming media | |
| ONT Online | Watch live |
History
ONT was established by decree of the president on February 15, 2002. The channel used the frequencies formerly used by relayers of Channel One.
The Minsk Executive Committee officially registered ONT on March 19, 2002.
Broadcasts commenced on June 25, 2002, at 20:35. The first show seen on the new channel was Nashe Novosti (Our News), ONT's main news programme. The first edition was hosted by Alexander Averkov. Initially it relayed ORT's programming most of the time with significant differences in advertising breaks and news operation, as well as programming from a few other federal Russian channels (NTV, TNT, RTR). As the years progressed, the channel added more original content.
Nashe Utro (Our Morning) first went on the air on February 3, 2004.
Between February 2007 and November 2008, it attempted 24-hour broadcasting, using the overnight hours to broadcast films and a short edition of Nashe Novosti at 3am.
In late 2009 ONT was expected to be given the rights to select Belarus entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 after a decision of president Alexander Lukashenko. On August 1, 2009 ONT got the rights to host the 2010 national selection.
On October 9, 2013, ONT launched a second channel broadcasting exclusively to the internet, ONT.BY, airing ONT's original productions.
On March 21, 2016, ONT became one of the first main Belarusian channels to switch to widescreen.
Programming
ONT relays most of Channel One's shows, such as Vremya, Pole Chudes, Smak, Zhdi Menya (Wait For Me) among others, as well as having a significant amount of local productions like the nightly news bulletin Nashe Novosti (Our News), which airs directly after Vremya, morning talk-show Nashe Utro (Our Morning), a local version of Chto? Gde? Kogda?, among others.
When Channel One shows are broadcast, a dual logo, consisting of Channel One's logo on top of ONT's is used.
Propaganda and political repressions
As a major nationwide state TV channel, ONT has been one of the central instruments of state propaganda by the authoritarian regime of Alexander Lukashenko, featuring political TV shows by propagandist commentators like Ihar Tur, Aliaksei Mikhalchanka and others.
In 2020, after a violent crackdown of peaceful nationwide protests against the falsification of the 2020 Belarusian presidential election, about one fourth of ONT staff resigned as a protest against censorship and the channels' propaganda role, which was more than from any other state TV channel.[1] According to witness reports, the head of ONT, Marat Markov, threatened the resigning employees with criminal prosecution or even violent abduction.[1]
On 3 June 2021, ONT aired a TV show presented as an interview of political prisoner Raman Pratasevich with ONT chief Marat Markov. The show provoked wide-spread criticism and has been considered by commentators as an element of torture of Pratasevich.[2][3][4][5]
References
- З АНТ звольніліся каля чвэрці усіх супрацоўнікаў. Кім іх замянілі і што там адбываецца цяпер [About a quarter of staff resigns from ONT. Who replaced them and what is going on now] - Radio Svaboda, 20 November 2020
- Наста Захарэвіч. Чаму ня варта аналізаваць «прызнаньні» Пратасевіча [Why we shouldn't analyse the confessions of Pratasevich] — Radio Svaboda, 3 June 2021 (in Belarusian)
- «Прызнаньне пад руляй аўтамата». Бацька Рамана Пратасевіча і Франак Вячорка пра «інтэрвію» Рамана Пратасевіча ["Confessions made at gunpoint" - Raman Pratasevich's father and Franak Viacorka about the interview by Raman Pratasevich] — Radio Svaboda, 4 June 2021 (in Belarusian)
- Пратасевіч даў інтэрв’ю АНТ [Pratasevich gave an interview to ONT] Nasha Niva, 3 June 2021 (in Belarusian)
- «Интервью с пленными не бывает» ["There cannot be interview with prisoners of war"] — Belarusian Partisan, 4 June 2021 (in Russian)
External links
- Общенациональное телевидение official webpage (in Russian)