LTV7

What is LTV7?

LTV7 is one of the three public television programmes that the media regulator, the Nacionālā elektronisko plašsaziņas līdzekļu padome (NEPLP), lists as held by VSIA “Latvijas Sabiedriskais medijs”. The regulator's list gives it licence number TA-057/2 and national coverage, beside LTV1 under TA-057/1 and the cross-border VISIEMLTV.LV under TA-057/3. It gives the address for all three as Doma laukums 8, Rīga.^[1]

Its programme pages sit on ltv.lsm.lv, a subdomain of the public media company's domain that carries programme pages for both LTV1 and LTV7; the live streams of both channels are on the company's REplay platform.^[2] The company, Latvijas Sabiedriskais medijs, began work on 1 January 2025 from the merger of Latvijas Radio and Latvijas Televīzija, by its own account.^[5] Article 4(2) of the public media law names it as the state limited liability company “Latvijas Sabiedriskais medijs”.^[6]

What does LTV7 cover?

The Fifty5Blue lists retrieved show LTV7 carrying ice hockey. In May 2026 the three most-watched broadcasts in Latvia were IIHF World Championship games on LTV7: Latvia–Norway, Latvia–Germany and Latvia–Great Britain.^[3]

The programme page for the championship, titled “Pasaules čempionāts hokejā 2026”, states: “Pasaules čempionāts hokejā 2026. gadā notiek Šveicē, Cīrihē un Fribūrā.” It sets out the two groups of eight, with Latvia in Group A beside the United States, Switzerland, Finland, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Great Britain, and links the live streams of LTV1 and LTV7.^[2] That championship has finished.

It is also named for basketball. The public media company announced on 4 November 2025 that, through the European Broadcasting Union, it had acquired the rights to the major FIBA tournaments “no 2025. gada novembra līdz 2029. gadam”, and that “LTV7 un REplay.lv būs skatāmas FIBA atlases turnīru tiešraides, kurās līdzjutēji varēs sekot līdzi Latvijas sieviešu un vīriešu basketbola izlašu spēlēm.”^[9]

The public media law places sport inside the remit of the public media as a whole. Article 3(5) states, in part, that they “izzina Latvijas sabiedrību un rosina auditorijas līdzdalību sabiedriski politiskajos, sociālajos, kultūras un sporta pasākumos un norisēs”.^[6]

How large is LTV7's audience?

Fifty5Blue, the audience-measurement company formerly named Kantar Latvia, publishes monthly results for consolidated television. It defines consolidated television as “TV programmu vērošana to ētera lakā un ar nobīdi laikā – līdz septiņām dienām pēc to ētera laika”, the typing as printed.^[4]

Its release of 10 June 2026 gives LTV7 9.9 per cent of total viewing time in May 2026, behind LTV1 with 14.3 per cent and ahead of TV3 with 8.9 per cent. The top three broadcasts were all on LTV7: Latvia–Norway, with a rating of 17.8 per cent and 287.3 thousand viewers; Latvia–Germany, 15.3 per cent and 248.1 thousand; and Latvia–Great Britain, 13.7 per cent and 222.0 thousand. The release states that nine of the month's top 20 broadcasts were hockey games. It adds: “Viens TV skatītājs maijā pie TV ekrāna pavadīja vidēji 3 stundas un 56 minūtes dienā, tas bija par 8 minūtēm mazāk nekā aprīlī.”^[3]

Its release of 9 September 2026 states that in August 2026 LTV7 was third, “ar 5,4% skatīšanās laika daļu”, behind LTV1 with 13.5 per cent and TV3 with 8.5 per cent.^[4] Each figure is one month's reading, and the May figure fell in a championship month.

Since when has LTV7 existed?

The public media company's timeline, under 2003, reads: “Izveido divas līdzvērtīgas, koncepcijā dažādas Latvijas Televīzijas programmas: LTV1 un LTV7.” The same timeline dates the first broadcast of Latvijas Televīzija, then called the Rīgas televīzijas centrs, to 1954. Both dates are the company's own account.^[5] Since 1 January 2025 the channel has belonged to Latvijas Sabiedriskais medijs, which the company states was formed on that date.^[5]

The regulator's current list names the company, not Latvijas Televīzija, as the licence holder.^[1] The Media Pluralism Monitor's Latvia 2026 page records the change: “In 2025, Latvia completed a major stage of public media reform: the previously separate organisations Latvian Radio and Latvian Television were merged into a unified public service media organisation.”^[7]

Why does LTV7 matter in Latvia's sport?

In the measured data retrieved, LTV7 is where the Latvian audience for the national ice hockey team was counted: every one of the top three broadcasts in May 2026 was an LTV7 hockey game, and in that month its share of viewing time was 9.9 per cent against 5.4 per cent in August.^[3][4] It is also named as the channel for the national basketball teams' live FIBA qualifying games from November 2025.^[9]

It is a public channel, licensed as such and held by a company whose shares, under Article 4(1) of the public media law, all belong to the state.^[1][6] The Media Pluralism Monitor's Latvia 2026 page states: “The independence of public service media (PSM) remains at a very low risk level, supported by legal safeguards under the Law on Public Electronic Mass Media and Their Management (Latvijas Vēstnesis, 2020), transparent governance structures, and stable public funding.”^[7] Reporters Without Borders, in its 2026 index entry, opens its account of the media landscape: “In addition to the public broadcaster LSM, there is a solid set of privately owned media outlets”.^[8] Those are the two bodies' characterisations.