Channel 1 (Egypt)

Channel 1 (Arabic: القناة الأولى المصرية) was the First Egyptian TV channel and public entertainment channel owned and operated by Egyptian Radio and Television Union.^[1] The channel became part of National Media Authority (NMA) under Ministry of Information in 2017.

Egyptian Television Channel 1 first aired on 21 July 1960 as Egyptian Arab Television (EAT) on VHF channel 5. It used a 10 kW transmitter produced by RCA.^[2] A second channel, Second Program launched on 4 November 1961. It was originally named First Program (later Al-Oaula and Al-Thaniya). Third Program was launched on 24 July 1963 but ended in 1967 due to Egypt's loss in the Six-Day War and economic outbreak. Channel 3 relaunced in 1985 as Cairo Channel.^[3]

ERTU 1 and ERTU 2 started airing color programming on 25 December 1973 during Christmas in SECAM-B (same as France and Soviet Union) Channel 2's first color program was a speech by Anwar Sadat on Israeli aggression in Yom Kippur War. In 1977 during Sadat's visit to Israel, it began airing in color on both channels.

On 1 May 1991, ERTU transition analog TV from SECAM to PAL. The channel played a role in the 2010-2011 Egyptian Revolution leading to the collapse of Hosni Mubarak's regime.