The **Egyptian Radio and Television Union ** (ERTU; ), formely known as Egyptian State Broadcasting (ESU; ), is the public broadcaster of Egypt, operated by the Egyptian government. It is a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ABSU).

History

Egyptian Radio began broadcasting on 31 May 1934 in agreement with the Marconi Company. The General Manager of the station for the period was Said Basha Lotfi who presided over the station from May 1934 to December 1947. In December 1947, the contract with Marconi was suspended in favour of an Egyptian national broadcasting station. The station is known also for its call "This is Cairo". It is considered the "First Program" of the ERTU. Later on three main new radio channels were added, namely the pan-Arab Voice of the Arabs in 1953, Egyptian Radio's Second Programme in 1957, and the pan-Arab Middle East Radio in 1964. All four stations broadcast on high powered medium wave transmitters covering most of the Middle East and North and East Africa. Egyptian television began broadcasting six hours daily on 21 July 1960, with a state-run channel that held a monopoly on terrestrial broadcasts. In 1971, a new decree established the Arab Radio and Television Union, and created four distinct sectors: radio, television, engineering, and finance, each of which had a chairman who reported directly to the minister of information. The name of the Union was changed to the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, the name by which it is still known. Today, its total daily broadcast time on its various channels amounts to 490 hours. Already in 1950 its predecessor, the Egyptian State Broadcasting, was one of the founding members of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950. After the admittance of the Israel Broadcasting Service in 1958, it cancelled its active memberships, as did the Syrian Broadcasting Services. It was readmitted as an active member on 1 January 1985. Under previous secularist regimes, women employees wearing hijabs were not allowed on-screen until 2 September 2012, following the inauguration of the Morsi government.

Services & subsidiaries

The ERTU is an Egyptian SOE that runs a large spectrum of radio, television and satellite channels, in addition to television and film production facilities. It does this directly as well as through a host of companies that include:

Radio

General stations

Specialized (thematic) stations

Regional programming radio stations

International stations

Television

National

Regional

There are six state-owned broadcast and satellite channels in Egypt:

Nile Television

Nilesat allowed for the launch of several specialized TV channels in addition to Egyptian Satellite Channel (ESC) and Nile TV. All are owned by the Egyptian state. Specialized channels include: