Television in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Analog television

Bosnia and Herzegovina has 3 public broadcasters financed from radio and television fees (RTV pretplata/pristojba). The amount of television fees in BiH is 7.5 BAM per month (collected along with the bill for landline telephony service).

The national public broadcaster for Bosnia and Herzegovina is BHRT (Radio televizija Bosne i Hercegovine). With one television and one radio channel it covers more than 97% of the country. BHRT is the only Bosnian member of the European Broadcasting Union.

The entity broadcaster for Federation of BiH is RTVFBiH (Radio televizija Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine). The program is broadcast on one radio and one television channel. The entity broadcaster for Republika Srpska entity is RTRS – Radio televizija Republike Srpske. The program is broadcast via one radio and two television channels (one channel is via cable systems).

There are 23 other public TV stations which broadcast only locally at the municipal, local, and regional levels, such as 5 cantonal TV stations (TVSA, RTV TK, RTV USK, RTV ZE, and RTV BPK).

Private TV stations with a nationwide coverage are OBN and Pink BH.

Out of 30 private TV stations, the majority are only locally available, either on a municipal level (e.g. TV KISS from Kiseljak or TV Maglaj from Maglaj) or on a near national level (e.g. Hayat in the FBiH entity or Alternativna TV in the Republika Srpska entity). These broadcasters are primarily focused on the entitiy markets, but they also broadcast a joint program known as "Program Plus" on 85% of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Several local and regional private TV stations broadcast a joint program known as "Mreža TV". These broadcasters provide a common advertising space (on country, entity, or regional level) that is more attractive to major advertisers. Local TV networks share local news (e.g. PRIMA network in the RS entity).

Digital television

The process of digitization is still going on in Bosnia and Herzegovina. One analog transmitter was shut down in June 2015 by request of neighboring Serbia, affecting one of the public broadcast channels, but the signal was reestablished within days.

Communications Regulatory Agency of BiH issued the first licenses for digital broadcasting in BiH to broadcasters BHRT, RTVFBIH and RTRS. Permits are valid from March 1, 2016 year. A DVB-T test signal on MUX-A was expected by the end of 2016 in some parts of the country, and the tender procedure for completing MUX-A for the whole territory of the country ("second phase") has started. As of August 2016, there are no news about MUX-B, which is intended for privately owned and regional TV stations.

Cable broadcasters

Many local and regional TV stations are also available through cable television which has been in expansion in Bosnia and Herzegovina over the last 10 years. There are over 98 licensed TV stations (both private and publicly owned) which broadcast their programmes exclusively via cable, satellite or IPTV. A majority of these are municipal and local TV stations (e.g. KTV Zavidovići, TV Istočno Sarajevo or TV Posavina).

Cable and satellite TV stations that aim to capture wider audiences are: Al Jazeera Balkans, TV1, FACE TV, Cinema TV, N1, M1 GOLD and the multiple TV channels of Hayat TV (e.g. Hayat Plus, Hayatovci, Hayat Music, Hayat Folk), RTV BN (BN Music, BN Televizija) and OTV Valentino (Valentino Etno, Valentino Folk, Prva Hercegovačka). Pink BH via Pink Media Group broadcasts more than 50 cable TV channels (e.g. Pink Movies, Pink Action, Pink Comedy, Pink Erotic, Pink Fashion).

Depending on cable provider and subscription type, cable TV offer usually includes most of the local terrestrial channels. Offers are usually customized for specific city. Basic cable offer is limited to 40-65 TV channels in the starting packages. Digital and IPTV packages are limited to 120-180 channels (including the additional channel packages, HD packages, VOD etc.).

Foreign broadcasters

There are more than 56 licensed cable TV operators in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The latest estimates show that cable television services in BiH uses about 330,000 households.

Depending on cable provider and subscription type, cable TV offer usually includes channels such as FOX, FOX Movies, FOX Life, FOX Crime, AXN, MGM, Sci Fi Channel, Eurosport, MTV, Comedy Central Extra, National Geographic Channel (with subtitles in local Bosnian, Croatian or Serbian). Bosnian cable operators offer a large number of regional national (e.g.. HRT, RTS, B92) and international TV channels (e.g., CNN, DW, RTL, Euronews, Russia Today).

Premium sports offer is mostly limited to Arena Sport or Sport Klub TV packages. Premium movies channels are mostly limited to the HBO and Cinemax TV packages.

There are seven licensed providers of on-demand services (VOD) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Defunct television channels in Bosnia and Herzegovina

After 17 July 2002, in Bosnia and Herzegovina there was no radio and TV stations that broadcast without official broadcasting license issued by the Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. All local media in BiH, which could not meet the official criteria of the competition for broadcasting licenses were closed in the period between 2000-2002. According to the recommendations, CRA BiH has established a public register of permits issued for all broadcasters with relevant data about all media outlets (radio stations, TV channels...) who have received permission to work.