CULTURAL POLICY

Croatian Television — Programing and Technical Aspects

In the introductory portion of the text, the author offers a review of the development of Croatian Television from 1956, when it began broadcasting its television program, citing several large projects that were realized up to today in the areas of broadcasting political conferences (the conference of the non-aligned nations in Columbo in 1976), sporting events (The Mediteranean Games in Split in 1979, The Winter Olympics in Sarajevo in 1984 and the universtiy games in Zagreb in 1987) and other events (the pope’s visit to Croatia). He also emphasized the role of television in informing the public during the Homeland War from 1991-1995.

In the larger part of the text, the author analyzes the legal regulations that apply to the activities of Croatian Television, its programming system (programs and departments) and the work of special services (program exchanges, the satelite channel, relays and communications, the HTV hall, The Center for Program Study, HRTV’s Computer Department, The Department for Planning and Development of New Technology, The INDOK service, The Journalism School).

With regard to international exchange and further development, the author cites that Croatian Television is one of the cofounders of the The European Broadcast Union (EBU) and a regular observer at the African, Arabian and Asian-Pacific Union. In the international exchange of news, Croatian Television is a regular contributor to satellite networks including CNN, World Report, Sky, Super Channel, Eurosport and other ground-based channels. As of 1990, it has been affiliated with its own satelite channel, and since 1992, it has been broadcasting an international daily analog satelite program through the EUTELSAT II F3 satelite.

Furthermore, since 1997, it has been developing a project for the digital broadcasting of its satelite transmission, which would have additional protection of its copyright by the VIACESS encoding system. Today, quality program reception has been guaranteed for 94% of the population of Croatia, and according to the latest data, HTV’s program is watched on a daily basis by more than 80% of Croatia’s population.

Alan Bahorić