Télévision Tunisienne (Al Wataniya)

What is the Télévision Tunisienne (Al Wataniya)?

The Télévision Tunisienne (التلفزة التونسية) is Tunisia's public television institution. Its “about” page describes it as “مؤسسة إعلامية عمومية وطنية”, a national public media institution, and states that it “تضطلع بدور أساسي في نقل الخبر ومرافقة التحوّلات المجتمعية”, that is, that it plays a basic role in carrying the news and accompanying changes in society.^[2] The same page links its channels Watania 1 and Watania Extra.^[2]

HAICA, the audiovisual regulator, lists three public television channels: الوطنية الأولى (Al Wataniya 1), الوطنية الثانية (Al Wataniya 2) and الوطنية التربوية (Al Wataniya Educational).^[4] Its page for Al Wataniya 1 names the institution as “التلفزة التونسية” and gives its contact address as [email protected] and its satellite frequency on Nilesat.^[5]

No statute establishing the institution was retrieved, and its own pages that were read give no law or decree number.

What does the Télévision Tunisienne cover?

The institution's website divides its sports pages into three sections: كرة القدم (football), كرة السلة (basketball) and كرة اليد (handball).^[3]

Football. As retrieved on 27 September 2026, the football section led with items dated from 8 to 20 September 2026. They included the programme of the fourth round of the “بطولة الرابطة المحترفة الأولى”, the Ligue Professionnelle 1, published on 8 September; that round's results and standings, published on 12 September; referee appointments for rescheduled league matches, published on 17 September; the national under-23 squad for the qualifiers of the under-23 Africa Cup of Nations, published on 19 September; and a transfer signing by Espérance Sportive de Tunis. The section also carried foreign league and CAF club competition items.^[3]

Handball. The handball section, as retrieved the same day, carried the opening-round programme of the “بطولة النخبة لكرة اليد”, the elite championship, published on 3 September 2026; items on the men's and women's teams' friendlies against Algeria in August 2026 in preparation for the Mediterranean Games in Taranto; and items on the under-18 national team at its African and world championships.^[6]

No broadcast-rights agreement for any competition was retrieved from the institution, the federations or a regulator, so no rights holding is stated here.

How large is the Télévision Tunisienne's audience?

No television audience figure for the public channels was retrieved. SIGMA Conseil describes its television measurement as “enquêtes quotidiennes sur l'audience de la veille auprès des individus représentant les différentes classes d'âge”, daily surveys of the previous day's viewing, but no SIGMA Conseil television figure for the public channels was retrieved.^[9]

Reporters Without Borders (RSF), in its 2026 World Press Freedom Index entry for Tunisia, writes: “Television is the most popular medium in Tunisia, especially the public TV channels Al Wataniya 1 and 2.” That is RSF's characterisation, not a measured figure.^[7] The Media Ownership Monitor for Tunisia, published in 2016 by RSF and Al Khatt, lists Al Watanya I and Al Watanya II among the ten television channels it analysed, and states: “En Tunisie, la télévision est le média le plus populaire : 98% des foyers possèdent un poste de télévision, 83% des Tunisiens se basent sur ce média pour suivre l'actualité et 61% de la population considère que les informations diffusées par ce média sont fiables.”^[8] That monitor's data date from 2016.

Since when has the Télévision Tunisienne existed?

The institution's history page gives “31 ماي 1966”, 31 May 1966, as the date of the official start of Tunisian television.^[1]

It states: “في سنة 1976، شرعت في إنتاج برامجها بالألوان”, that is, that in 1976 it began producing its programmes in colour. It gives 12 June 1983 as the date on which the first channel was renamed after the launch of the second channel.^[1]

On the institution's own account, it “انبثقت رسميًا في 23 جويلية 2007 عن مؤسسة الإذاعة والتلفزة التونسية”, that is, it emerged officially on 23 July 2007 from the Tunisian radio and television institution.^[1] Those dates are the institution's own. The history page that was read gives no decree or law number for the 2007 change and does not date the channel names now in use.

Why does the Télévision Tunisienne matter in Tunisia's sport?

It is the public television institution, and HAICA lists its channels as the country's public television channels.^[4] Its sports pages report the domestic football league, the handball elite championship and the national teams at youth level, alongside the senior national teams.^[3][6]

RSF, in the same 2026 entry, ranks Tunisia 137th of 180 countries with a score of 40.43. It describes the economic context in these words: “The media depends on private sector advertisers, including some who have shares in the media and ties with political figures — a situation that undermines editorial independence.” It also states that coverage of political issues has been significantly reduced across almost all media outlets.^[7] Those are RSF's statements about the Tunisian media as a whole, not findings about the public broadcaster's sport output.