Public television
Television is the most universal of the media in Poland. Telewizja Polska (TVP) has been on air without interruption since 1956. The 1993 law governing radio and television set up the Committee for Public Radio and Television. Since 1994 TVP has been a commercial company. As public television it operates according to the guidelines outlined by the law on radio and television, which includes an obligation to supply information, access to culture and art, facilitate wider social access to education and science, widen civic education and support Polish audio-visual productions. Television is mandated to reach out to all social groups, taking care especially to cater for the rural population and meeting the needs of children and young people. Public television also took it upon itself responsibility to support Polish intellectual and artistic endeavours, and the development of domestic audio-visual productions, also co-financing domestic television and film productions not made by TVP S.A. itself. For many Poles public television remains the most important source of information on political events and public life. At present TVP has:
The regional sections of TVP are located in Białystok, Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk, Katowice, Cracow, Lublin, Łódź, Poznań, Rzeszów, Szczeciń, Warsaw and Wrocław. Regional television's role is to deal with matters related to the life of local society, with the history and culture of each region, national, ethnic and religious minorities' problems in each region and promotion of local government structures. Regional television reaches 63% of Poles.
Written into the law on radio and television is the task of creating and making accessible educational programmes for use by the Polonia Diaspora and Poles living abroad. TVP S.A. realises this task through the TV POLONIA Satellite Programme. The channel has been in operation since March 31st 1991 and runs 24 hours a day. It promotes Polish culture and learning, brings the Polish economy and history closer, encourages investment in Poland, provides news for the concentrations of Polonia around the world, and presents changes taking place in all areas of life in Poland. TV Polonia presents renowned representatives of Polonia and their contribution to world achievements, creating a picture of Poles and of Poland. TV Polonia programmes provide information on the most interesting cultural, social, political and economic events in Poland. They are a current source of information about Poland not only for Poles and Polonia in the world, but for viewers interested in Poland, even those not knowing any Polish - all programmes have subtitles in English. Especially successful are Polish films and soap operas as well as Made for Television Theatre.
The law on radio and television made possible the transformation not only of public radio and television but above all enabled the start of the process of granting concessions to private radio and television stations by KRRiT. The first to be granted a license for broadcasting from a land-based transmitter was the television channel Polsat, in 1994.
The following private stations operate today in Poland:
- Nation-wide stations
- Satellite stations broadcasting in Polish
- Channels for children
- Coded stations
- Digital platforms
