Television in Ukraine
Television has a long history in Ukraine, where regular television broadcasting started during the Soviet years in 1951. However the first ever TV broadcast took place on 1 February 1939 in Kyiv. Since then TV broadcasting has expanded, particularly after the fall of Communism in 1989, and now there are many different channels and groups in the Ukrainian TV market.
History
Experimental broadcasts during World War II
The first official direct broadcast took place in Kyiv on 1 February 1939 at Instytutska 2 on the corner of Instytutska Street and Khreshchatyk Street. It was 40 minutes long and showed the portrait of Sergo Ordzhonikidze. This broadcast was experimental, and can today only be considered as an appendix to the radio. The image was no bigger than 3 x 4 centimeters, and extremely low resolution. These broadcasts could only be seen by a select few people in Ukraine, as most citizens did not have access to a device that could see the image. The Ukrainian television industry, while it recognizes the accomplishments of the house at Instytutska 2, does not officially recognize this as the birth of Ukrainian television, because the broadcasts were irregular, experimental, and did not last long.The majority of Khreshchatyk was destroyed by deliberately placed Soviet secret service mines targeting the German forces in 1941, during the height of the war and the withdrawal of Soviet forces from the city. Few structures remained standing. One of the few structures that had even remotely survived the bombs and fires were some of the walls of the former complex at Khreshchatyk 26, although most of the building had been completely destroyed. A new structure would be built using its original walls.
The Kyiv TV and Radio Center and the birth of Ukrainian television
On December 15, 1948, the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union created a resolution that the Ukrainian headquarters of a TV station should be built in Kyiv. At an amount of 43 million rubles, Joseph Stalin authorized the construction of a new Ukrainian headquarters for official Soviet television and radio broadcasting. On April 18, 1949, the Executive Committee of the Kyiv City Council announced the groundbreaking construction of the new building.On 6 November 1951, transmissions resumed when the Kyiv Television and Radio Center was opened with a live broadcast of the patriotic movie The Great Glow. The 6th of November has been officially recognized as the birthday of Ukrainian television. The next day the telecentre went on the air again celebrating the 34th anniversary of the October Revolution with a special live broadcast from central Kyiv, the first outdoor broadcasts in Ukrainian TV history.
In the early years of Ukrainian television, all programming was produced exclusively within the studio. Initially located at 26 Khreshchatyk Street, the Kyiv studio operated with just two, and later three, television cameras. Even with this limited setup, it was already possible to air segments from theatrical performances, concerts, and news bulletins.
On 1 May 1952, Labor Day, a live concert was aired on film starring Ukrainian singers, soloists of the Kyiv Taras Shevchenko Opera Theater. The anchorwoman of the concert was the Kyiv Telecentre's first announcer – Novela Serpionova. The first three television presenters in the history of Ukraine were, in order; Novela Serpionova and Olga Danylenko in 1952, and Olena Nikolaeva in 1953. Nikolaeva replaced Serpionova when she returned to radio broadcasting in 1953. Because Serpionova left before a full year was out, she was largely forgotten by most Ukrainian viewers, and her status as the first television presenter in Ukraine was not recognized until the 60th anniversary of Ukrainian television.
May 30, 1954, during the celebrations of the 300th anniversary of the Pereiaslav Council, which commemorated the "reunification" of Ukraine with Russia, history was made. On that day, the first true outdoor broadcast of Ukrainian television took place: a live TV broadcast aired live from the Kyiv Opera and Ballet Theater, where an official ceremony was held as part of the tricentennial celebrations. The broadcast was conducted using the PTS-49 outside broadcasting van—one of the first mobile broadcast units developed in the Soviet Union, based largely on an earlier American model. Although transmissions remained in black and white, the PTS-49 OB vans significantly expanded television's reach beyond the studio walls. This advancement enabled live coverage from stadiums, sports events, factories, exhibitions, and collective farms—marking what could be considered the true beginning of Ukrainian television as a public medium.
File:Olga_Danylenko_and_Olena_Nikolaeva_2.png|thumb|Olga Danylenko and Olena Nikolaeva had to completely memorize their lines before broadcasts. They are widely thought of as the first television presenters in Ukraine.
Regular programming started to go on air beginning November 1956. Until that year, the Kyiv TV Station went on air twice a day showing feature films or documentaries on a test basis. Live broadcasting was the only form of broadcasting during those early years from Kyiv, as well as relays from Moscow via Smolensk and Rostov-on-Don transmitters and film sent from there. Videotaped productions became the usual form for many productions in the mid-1960s.
It was not until 1959 that Kyiv’s television studio presented its first program on central Soviet television. Because of the lack of infrastructure, this required transporting scenery, equipment, presenters, and technical staff to Moscow by several freight wagons—a major logistical effort.
Expansion to other cities
Following Kyiv’s lead, attention turned to other Ukrainian cities. In Kharkiv, television pioneers led by engineer V.S. Vovchenko conducted trial broadcasts as early as 1951, converting part of the city's House of State Industry into studios and technical facilities. In 1955, Kharkiv completed a television tower, enabling the launch of a local television studio.Other cities soon followed. By early 1955, TV studios and proper broadcasting facilities were being built or planned in Stalino, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Lviv, and Yalta. Meanwhile, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Voroshylovhrad, and Kryvyi Rih were designated to host relay stations, connecting them to primary TV hubs.
By the early 1960s, ten regional capitals across Ukraine had established their own television operations. However, these studios functioned independently, lacking relay lines to interconnect them. Even Kyiv’s broadcasts remained disconnected from central television in Moscow.
As a result of an ongoing expansion of broadcasts to other parts of Ukraine through the building of remote studios and broadcast transmitters, it was needed for DerTelRadio, the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting, operators of the TV service, to consider stating nationwide broadcasts, coupled with the future launch of satellite broadcasting. The long-awaited national channel signed on at last on January 20, 1965, under the name UA:1, while on March 6, 1972, a second channel, UA:2, signed on - on the basis of part of the original 1956 channel. Its launch was approved by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, formalizing a two-channel arrangement for Ukrainian television broadcasting. The UT network switched to SECAM Colour in 1976, its 25th anniversary, ending a transition period that began in 1968.
Under the 1972 arrangement that created UT-2, certain transmitters were dedicated exclusively to relaying TV broadcasts from Moscow transmitters of Soviet Central Television, while others were reserved, often with lower priority, for republican or Ukrainian television programming. Prior to this, Ukrainian television operated under a single-channel model. Even after the change, local broadcasters often had to interrupt or block Moscow programming to air their own content, a practice that increasingly displeased Soviet authorities.
In 1976, the 1972 arrangement was amended with the launch of UT-3, the third national channel of Ukrainian Television.
Modern technologies
In the late 1980s and into the early 1990s, the practice of organizing international television bridges gained significant popularity. These programs symbolized a new era of openness during the period of Gorbachev’s glasnost, which eased restrictions on international communication across the former Iron Curtain. Between approximately 1987 and 1990, the Kyiv television studio organized around 20 such international teleconferences. These included exchanges with studios in Buckingham, Winnipeg, Kolkata, and others.During the 1980 Moscow Olympics, not only was the event reported on from Kyiv, but correspondents from Kyiv were also present in Moscow, contributing to the broader broadcast efforts.
By this time, the Kyiv studio had established itself as the central hub of Ukrainian television. It coordinated and integrated the work of 14 regional television studios, forming a single, unified creative and production network. The Kyiv studio alone was responsible for producing up to 18 hours of original programming each day. However, the availability of cinematic content was limited; typically, only one feature film per day was broadcast, sourced from the national film distribution system.
The original Kyiv television center maintained a wide variety of editorial departments, each specializing in a particular area of programming—ranging from children’s and youth content to educational, scientific, and cultural broadcasts. This diversification ensured that television reached all segments of the audience with relevant and engaging material. Notably, a substantial portion of the programming was produced in the Ukrainian language.