GTV is the national public broadcaster of Ghana

Ghana

Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

, run by the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation

Ghana Broadcasting Corporation

The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation is the public broadcaster in Ghana. It is funded by broadcasting television commercials and the levying of a television licence, costing 3,000 GHC ....

. It commenced operations on July 31, 1965 and was originally known as GBC TV.

GTV broadcasts mainly local programming, with over 80% of the schedule consisting of original productions. Although its main production studio is located in Accra

Accra

Accra is the capital and largest city of Ghana, with an urban population of 1,658,937 according to the 2000 census. Accra is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region and of the Accra Metropolitan District, with which it is coterminous...

, capital city of Ghana, it has affiliations nationwide and covers 98% of the airwaves in Ghana, making it the most powerful mode of advertisement in Ghana. Although GTV is largely funded by the Ghanaian government, it also collects annual fees from viewers (defined as every Ghanaian who owns a TV and has an erected antenna, regardless of whether they watch GTV or not).

GTV also broadcasts some American shows through its collaboration with other nationally owned Anglo-African TV stations. Some of these shows include, In The House

In the House (TV series)

In the House is an American sitcom that premiered on April 10, 1995 on NBC. The series moved to UPN after its second season where it remained for an additional three seasons until it was canceled on August 11, 1999. In the House starred LL Cool J and Maia Campbell.-Synopsis:Marion Hill is a former...

, The Cosby Show, Taina

Taina (TV series)

Taina is an American sitcom that aired on Nickelodeon and was one of the last live-action comedy shows taped at Nickelodeon Studios but later moved to the Nickelodeon On Sunset in Hollywood, for its second season. The show aired from January 14, 2001 to May 11, 2002.-Premise:Taina Morales is a...

, Becker

Becker (TV series)

Becker is an American television sitcom that ran from 1998 to 2004 on CBS. Set in the New York City borough of The Bronx, the show starred Ted Danson as John Becker, a misanthropic doctor who operates a small practice and is constantly annoyed by his patients, co-workers, friends, and practically...

, Everybody Loves Raymond

Everybody Loves Raymond

Everybody Loves Raymond is an American television sitcom that originally ran on CBS from September 13, 1996, to May 16, 2005. Many of the situations from the show are based on the real-life experiences of lead actor Ray Romano, creator/producer Phil Rosenthal and the show's writing staff...

, The Oprah Winfrey Show

The Oprah Winfrey Show

The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....

, Family Matters, Moesha

Moesha

Moesha is an American sitcom series that aired on the UPN network from January 23, 1996 to May 14, 2001. The series stars R&B singer Brandy Norwood as Moesha Mitchell, a high school student living with her family in the Leimert Park neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles.-Overview:The show...

, Soul Food

Soul food

Soul food cuisine consists of a selection of foods traditional in the cuisine of African Americans. It is closely related to the cuisine of the Southern United States...

, King of Queens, CNN

CNN

Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

, PBS, Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

, NBA

NBA TV

NBA TV is a television specialty channel that is dedicated to showcasing the sport of basketball in the United States. The network is financially backed by the National Basketball Association , which also uses NBA TV as a way of advertising their out of market package NBA League Pass, and partner...

, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Passions

Passions

Passions is an American television soap opera which aired on NBC from July 5, 1999 to September 7, 2007 and on The 101 Network from September 17, 2007 to August 7, 2008....

, Touched by an Angel

Touched by an Angel

Touched by an Angel is an American drama series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994 and ran for 211 episodes and nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and produced by Martha Williamson, the series stars Roma Downey, as an angel named Monica, and Della...

 and a host of others. Though most of these shows are not currently running on GTV, they once did or still are.

GTV also shows a lot of foreign movies particularly American movies as well as African-American music videos. Although entertaining, most of the shows on GTV are either educational (for example portraits of Ghanaian artists like Eric Adjetey Anang

Eric Adjetey Anang

Eric Adjetey Anang is a Ghanaian sculptor born in Teshie, Ghana, where he lives and works.-Biography:In 2001, he introduced Ghana design coffins at Gidan Makama Museum Kano, Nigeria, under the auspices of Alliance française in Kano....

), or attempt to address Ghanaian social issues. The station also broadcasts live international events like the Olympic games

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

, FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...

, Miss World

Miss World

The Miss World pageant is the oldest surviving major international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951...

 and Miss Universe

Miss Universe

Miss Universe is an annual international beauty contest that is run by the Miss Universe Organization. The pageant is the most publicized beauty contest in the world with 600 million viewers....

. TV shows as well as News or live local events (like the national soccer league) broadcast directly from the studios of GTV in Accra tend to have poor picture quality or bad sound effects. And even though GTV has been around for quite a while it still has some basic broadcasting problems and this makes it far from being a world class station like FOX, MNET, CNN or BBC. If this station was in America it will be on the same level with any PBS Station like KLRU TV in Austin - Texas or any college TV station, like UCSD TV in San Diego - California. Local competitors of GTV include TV3 and Metro TV, also located in Accra.

External links

• GTV Live (Ghana)