Experts believe that the main problem of the Tajik republican TV channels, which have been losing popularity in recent years, is the lack of competition at the national level.
Ardasher Gulmurodzoda, a 23-year-old from Dushanbe, says he does not watch Tajik republican TV channels due to the lack of good entertainment or analytical programs.
“The broadcasts of TV channels are also monotonous: one piece is shown on all TV channels at once. It’s different on foreign TV channels. They fight for the audience’s attention and create good programs, ”says Gulmurodzoda.
According to him, attempts to make the TV channels specialized “unfortunately” have not yielded positive results.
“Shabakai Awal (formerly TV“ Tajikistan ”) has now become completely political, and does not even show films and music. Although the Russian First Channel sometimes does it to entertain the audience, ”says Gulmurodzoda.
Gulmurodzoda says that he has not watched local TV channels for several years.
“At one time I watched TV“ SMT ”(the first and only private TV channel in Dushanbe – ed.). Local TV channels differ from the state ones in that they have little airtime. “SMT” showed the news of “Present Time”, two or three music videos and advertisements, but it had little airtime, “Gulmurodzoda said.
According to Bobodjon Shafe, a 64-year-old resident of Dushanbe, there is nothing interesting for him on the air of the republican TV channels.
“Only sometimes I watch literary and cultural programs,” Shafe said.
The news programs of the republican TV channels seem to him very tiresome.
“Sometimes they shoot a long report about some foreman-livestock breeder, which is more like a broadcast about agriculture,” says Shafe.
According to him, on the air of some republican TV channels, he even feels uncomfortable because of the graphics.
“A lot of running lines of the Jahonnamo TV channel can blind a person. I don’t know, maybe it’s just for me? ”, – says Shafe. According to KTM, a media consumption analysis company in Tajikistan, Tajik viewers are less likely to watch national TV channels and are increasingly switching to foreign channels. A recent KTM study, Analysis of TV Consumption in 2021, states that the share of all Tajik domestic TV channels is only 49% of the total national TV channels. audience.
According to the research, foreign TV channels are watched by 51% of the audience, national 38%, regional and local – 11%.
The company notes that the decline in the interest of the Tajik viewer in national TV channels is a steady trend in recent years. For example, in 2015, national television was watched by 46% of the population of Tajikistan, in 2020 – 42%, in 2021 – 38%. According to KTM, among the most popular foreign TV channels are Russian, Uzbek and the group of Persian-language satellite TV channels GEM TV. In this regard, television remains one of the most important sources of information. 81% of the population of Tajikistan watches TV every day. Sherali Jurabayev, a marketer, founder of the advertising agency Total Advertising Group, believes that due to the decrease in the audience of Tajik TV channels, international business is refusing to place advertisements on their air.
“We do not know the exact amount of planned budgets that international companies spend on the Tajik TV audience. Therefore, we can only estimate (presumably estimate – ed.). This volume can be up to one million US dollars, ”Jurabayev told a CABAR.asia journalist.
The President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, has repeatedly spoken about the low quality of the air on local TV channels. The last time he spoke about this was in 2019 at a meeting with representatives of state media (independent media, including foreign ones, were not invited), saying that they are uncompetitive in modern conditions.
President Emomali Rahmon cited as an example the work of the Euronews and Al-Jazeera TV channels, which broadcast news in a timely manner, and instructed the head of the Presidential Administration Ozoda Rahmon to monitor television programs. At the moment it is not known whether such monitoring was carried out and what its result was.
In Tajikistan, all national television companies are state owned. Attempts to create non-state national television channels have been unsuccessful due to the denial of registration rights. All non-state television channels are regional, most of them located in the Sughd region. The air of these TV channels is dominated by entertainment content, there are practically no materials on topical, political, economic and social problems. Experts advise TV broadcasters to study the audience.
More than two years have passed, but judging by the results of research and feedback from viewers, the work of Tajik TV channels has not improved.
One of the heads of state TV channels, on condition of anonymity, told a CABAR.asia journalist that he agreed with the criticism of the head of state and they are trying to rectify the situation. “Where there is work, there is criticism. The government pays great attention to the work of television. We are also trying to improve the content of our programs. But the work of journalists and technical staff cannot be ignored. There are good programs on TV. We are preparing programs about famous personalities, there are good political, economic and cultural programs, “the source said to CABAR.asia. Critics say that the government continues to treat television as the main propaganda channel, which affects the content of programs on republican television stations. Shakhlo Akobirova, a journalist and media expert, believes that the main reason for the stagnation of television work is the lack of a competitive market in this industry.
The information is taken from the website https://cabar.asia/ru/tadzhikskoe-televidenie-otkazatsya-ot-monopolizma-radi-razvitiya.
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