| RTA ملی | |
| Launch Date: | 19 August 1978 (original) 18 November 2001 (relaunch) |
| Closed Date: | 8 July 1998 (original) |
| Picture Format: | 720p HDTV |
| Owner: | Radio Television Afghanistan |
| Country: | Afghanistan |
| Area: | Afghanistan Europe North America Asia |
| Headquarters: | Kabul |
| Sister Channels: | RTA Sport RTA News RTA Education |
| Terr Serv 1: | Oqaab |
| Terr Chan 1: | Channel 3 |
Afghanistan National Television (prs|تلویزیون ملی Televizion-e Milli-ye Afghanistan, ps|ملی تلویزیون Da Afghanistan Milli Televizion) is the state-owned television channel in Afghanistan. It is part of the Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) public broadcaster.
Construction work started in March 1977 and the first experimental broadcasts started in March 1978.[1] Afghan television was launched on 19 August 1978, Afghan Independence Day, in a ceremony headed by Nur Muhammad Taraki. Since the beginning its broadcasts were in colour.[2]
In 1983 three new stations were commissioned in Kandahar, Jalalabad and Herat, however they started broadcasting some months later. On 2 January 1985 the broadcasts started in Jalalabad while a new station in Badakhshan Province finished its construction. On 3 February 1985 a new station opened in Ghazni,[3] while in the same month broadcasts started in Kandahar and Herat.[4]
During the Taliban regime, Afghanistan National Television ceased operations when television was banned, and on 8 July 1998 they ordered the destruction of all TV sets.[5] [6] After the Taliban were overthrown, television in Afghanistan restarted on 18 November 2001.[7] The return was marked with a three-hour live broadcast in Pashto and Dari languages, as well as a reading of the Quran, music videos, cartoons, news and interviews. The Kabul station still operated on equipment dating back to the early 70s while its transmitter had a 10-watt reach and didn't cover the whole of Kabul, meaning that the city center was deprived of seeing its return.[8]
In 2019, RTA launched a sister channel to the main station called RTA Sport, which is dedicated to sports content.[9]
RTA became famous worldwide when Afghan President Hamid Karzai made a live speech to the world minutes after dozens of insurgents attempted to assassinate him at a military parade, which was thwarted by the Afghan National Army.[10] The scene of the attempt was also broadcast live to RTA viewers in Afghanistan and picked up by the international media.[11]
Afghanistan National Television became available in Europe, Middle East, North Africa, Africa, Asia Pacific, and North America on 5 January 2008. The channel's broadcasting hours were 06:00 to 00:00 (local Afghan time), corresponding to 01:30 to 19:30 UTC; later that year it started broadcasting 24 hours. As of 2018, it is no longer broadcast on the Hot Bird satellite in Europe.[12]
Currently the channel broadcasts on the TürkmenÄlem 52°E / MonacoSAT satellite to viewers in and around Afghanistan and in Europe, and western Asia. It also broadcasts on GSAT-19 for viewers in the Indian subcontinent.[13]