The past, present and future of television in Africa

Although the birth of TV broadcasting in some parts of the world is widely known – 1936 in Europe, 1939 in North America – the evolution of TV in Africa is less well understood. Some reports say that the establishment of a Moroccan television station in 1954 marked the beginning of the television age in Africa, while others maintain that the first terrestrial television broadcast signals on the continent occurred on Saturday October 31, 1959 and belonged to the Western Nigeria Television Service.

Algeria, Kenya, Uganda and Senegal launched television stations in the late 50s and mid-60s, however South Africa, Cameroon and several other African countries did not have TV stations until the 70s and early 80s. Botswana Television launched on July 31, 2000.