Launched 1 February 1939 Headquarters Kiev, Ukraine | Country Ukraine | |
Owned by Government of Ukraine, National Television Company of Ukraine Picture format 4:3 (576i, SDTV)
(In terms of 16:9) Broadcast area Ukraine; via satellite to outside areas with significant Ukrainian minorities | ||
UA:Pershyi (Ukrainian: UA:Перший, stylized as UΛ:Перший) is the state-run television channel in Ukraine, operated by the National Television Company of Ukraine. It is the only Ukrainian TV channel covering over 97% of Ukraine's territory. Its programs are oriented toward all levels of Ukrainian society and national minorities. Among priority directions of the network are information, popular science, culture, entertainment and sports.
Contents
History
The first attempt at Ukrainian television broadcasting was on February 1, 1939, and lasted for 40 minutes. The second attempt was well over six years after the conclusion of World War II, on November 6 and 7, 1951, in time for October Revolution Day, when the Kiev studio broadcast two shows. The next attempt was conducted on May 1, 1952 when the studio broadcast a concert anchored by Novela Separionova featuring local singers. The new television studios at 26 Khreschatyk for television broadcasting opened their doors in 1953. It was the third official telecenter established in the Soviet Union after Moscow (1934) and Leningrad (1937-38). Until 1956 the studio was only presenting a couple of shows per day; from November that year regular programming started. Live broadcasting (which makes the first generation TV announcers proud today) was the only form of broadcasting up to the introduction of videotape recording in the mid-1960s.
On 20 January 1965, TV viewers in some Ukrainian oblasts (regions) could see a screen with two big capital letters "УТ" ("UT") that symbolized the beginning of the united national station for the Ukrainian SSR, by now named Ukrainian Television. Its time on air was over 200 hours in 1965. On 6 March 1972, UT started to go on air on two channels at a time – УТ-1 (UT-1) and УТ-2 (UT-2). At the end of the 1970s the building of the UT on Khreshchatyk was reconstructed and the employees got three new studios, but the question of building a new modern TV-center was raised soon. The construction of the new UT headquarters started in 1983 and was finished in 1993. (By this point in time the former Soviet Union had dissolved and Ukraine was one of the resultant newly-independent countries.) The new center was built at 42 Melnykov Street and was officially inspected by the President of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk.
In 2002 the National Television Company of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Space Agency started to broadcast First National (UT-1) through a satellite abroad. In 2004 UT2 ended its operations and as a result UTR started its broadcasting on UT-2's frequency. UT-1 was renamed First Channel. In 2005 Taras Stets'kiv became the president of the National Television Company of Ukraine. First Channel prepared to and held the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 successfully in Kiev. In 2006 Vitaliy Dokalenko was appointed as the president of the National Television Company of Ukraine by former Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko. In 2010 Yehor Benkendorf, former chief producer of Inter TV channel, was appointed as the president of the National Television Company of Ukraine by Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich.
On 1 September 2008, State Television went through a major rebranding that included an updated logo, idents change and new program openers. The new logo consisted of the word Pershyi (First).
On 7 April 2015, the channel went through another rebranding. The logo has changed to a newly created public broadcaster's after signing the bill On amendments to some laws of Ukraine on Public Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine into law by Petro Poroshenko.
Logotype
Between 1972 and 1997 the logo was in the top left corner. From 1997–present, it is in the top right corner.