Mass media in the Euro Republics

Television in the Euro Republics started in 1956 as a public service which was free of advertising. Currently, the Euro Republics has a collection of free-to-air, free-to-view and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channels for consumers as well as on-demand content. There are four main channel owners who are responsible for most material viewed, ETV, EuroMedia & 365 Media. There are 27,000 hours of domestic content produced a year at a cost of £2.6 billion. Since 2007, all television broadcasts in the Euro Republics have been in a digital format. Digital content is delivered via terrestrial, satellite and cable, as well as over IP.

Digital television
Digital television and HDTV began in the Euro Republics in 1995. The first channels were ETV Digital, Network 2 and TV3. Digital TV was also popularised by ET1 Digital, launched in March 1996.

VNTO (Virtual Network Television Operators)
In the Euro Republics, there is a practise unique to the country, known as VTNO's. Similar to MVNO's, it is where a television provider does not own the bandwith over which it provides services to its customers. VTNO's in the country include O2 TV, Vodafone & MagentaTV.

ETV

 * Sony Pictures Entertainment
 * Lionsgate
 * Netflix
 * Paramount Pictures
 * Village Roadshow Pictures
 * ErosSTX

EuroMedia

 * WarnerMedia/HBO
 * The Walt Disney Company
 * NBCUniversal
 * MGM Holdings
 * Most independent producers
 * A24
 * Amblin Partners

Prime

 * Nordisk Film
 * Classes Film
 * Entertainment One
 * Gaumont

Rules
In the Euro Republics, TV rules are


 * 30 minutes of advertising every hour, but the traditional 20 minute ad break from 20:05 to 20:25 is exempt and the 8pm hour allows 50 minutes.
 * Advertising of alcohol is only allowed during football matches.
 * Tobacco advertising is banned.
 * Advertising is not allowed during children’s shows, but is permitted between them.

TV providers
Free-to-air, free-to-view and subscription providers are available, with differences in the number of channels, capabilities such as the programme guide (EPG), video on demand (VOD), high-definition (HD), interactive television via the red button, and coverage across the ER. The ER’s five most watched channels, ETV One, ETV Two, TV3, FOX & Prime are available from all providers.

Broadcast television is distributed as radio waves via terrestrial or satellite transmissions, or as electrical or light signals through ground-based cables. In the ER, these use the Digital Video Broadcasting standard. Most TVs sold in the ER come with a DVB-T (terrestrial) tuner for Digital Terrestrial – a rare thing in Europe. Set-top boxes are generally used to receive channels from other providers. Most services have also integrated their broadcast TV services with additional video streams distributed via the Internet, or through their own Internet Protocol network.

Streaming
Streaming services were introduced in 2003.

Free streaming services

 * ETV EuroPlay
 * My ET1
 * Go+

Subscription services

 * Netflix
 * My ET1
 * Prime Video