Television broadcasting in Turkey started with the foundation of the TRT (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation) in 1968. As in most European countries, there was a state monopoly in television broadcasting in Turkey until 1990. This monopoly was then overthrown by private television channels launching broadcasts using the legal gaps. With a statute enacted in 1994, Turkey launched a mixed broadcasting system (Aziz, 2013: 110-111). According to the data of 2013, Turkey had a system including 293 satellites, 139 cable and 246 terrestrial broadcasting licenses (RTÜK, 2014: 7-8). The variety of programmes increased as the number of channels grew over the years. There are different approaches as to how these television programmes could be categorised. For instance, in the System of Classification of Radio and Television Programmes prepared by European Broadcasting Union in 2007, there were categories like intention, format, content, intended audience and origination (EBU, 2007). TRT categorizes its programmes in its activity reports in the fields of education, culture, drama, cinema, music, entertainment, news bulletins, news programmes, sports and advertisement (TRT, 2014: 25). The classification system devised by RTÜK (Supreme Council of Radio and Television) based on the system created by the European Broadcasting Union, includes 13 different types and sub-types.

This study aims to clarify the course of broadcasting in Turkey throughout the last 20 years; the types of programmes broadcast, what types of programmes are more prevalent and finally the changes in the broadcasting approach of television channels. In this sense, changes in the broadcasts of four private TV channels and one public channel mostly watched in Turkey are analysed with specific reference to programme flows. Certain limitations have been placed on the number of programme types with only 10 of them being subject to analysis. These types are: promotion and advertisement, serials, films, news programmes, cartoons and children’s programmes, women’s programmes, entertainment, competitions, culture and sports programmes. There are serials, films, advertisements and competitions with clear-cut classification as well as women’s programmes and entertainment programmes with somewhat blurry definitions.