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2 channels
Ethiopian television remains a tightly controlled, state-dominated space, which makes its few channels disproportionately influential. The dominant player is the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), the public broadcaster that runs the flagship EBC TV and a second national channel. A third channel, Walta TV, offers news and current affairs with a slightly more independent tone, though still within the government's orbit. Almost all programming is in Amharic, the federal working language, with occasional bulletins in Oromo, Somali, or Tigrinya during the evening news. Foreign content, usually Indian soaps or Turkish dramas, arrives fully dubbed into Amharic, a practice that reinforces the country's strong preference for local-language entertainment over subtitles. Primetime hits around 20:00 local time, when EBC airs its main news bulletin, followed by a domestic drama series or a cultural music show. News-reading is formal and declarative, anchored by veteran presenters in suit jackets, with little of the conversational energy found in Kenya or Nigeria. Live sports coverage is minimal, aside from occasional Ethiopian Premier League matches and international athletics events featuring Ethiopian runners. Compared to its East African neighbors, Ethiopia's TV market is remarkably small, only three free-to-air channels serve a population of over 120 million, and almost entirely free from commercial clutter. There are no 24-hour news networks, no reality competition franchises, and no kids' channels. For viewers, this scarcity means that national events, a holiday celebration, a state funeral, a football final, become collective experiences shared across the entire country through the same single screen.