Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (ITV)
Launched in 2005, İctimai Television—literally “Public Television” in Azerbaijani and commonly referred to as ITV—is a flagship broadcaster headquartered in Baku. It was envisioned as the country’s first foray into public service media, arriving under a cloud of political uncertainty.
Media assets
Television: Ictimai Television
Radio: Public Radio
State Media Matrix Typology
Ownership and governance
The Azerbaijani government established ITV pursuant to a prerequisite for joining the Council of Europe. Crafted through the Law on Public Broadcasting, the station’s structure vests oversight in the ITV Broadcasting Council, entrusted with appointing the director general. In practice, however, the council’s nine members, and by extension the leadership, are selected by the President, ensuring executive influence over the outlet’s direction.
Source of funding and budget
Although the founding law stipulated a public television license fee beginning in 2010, this provision has never been implemented. Instead, ITV relies largely on state budget allocations, with advertising revenue as a supplementary source. As of 2017, it received AZN 11.5 million (US$ 6.7 million) from the government. Beyond that, no further annual or financial transparency reports have been made publicly available.
Editorial independence
ITV is commonly viewed by media observers as state-controlled. Journalists interviewed for this report in March 2023 and January 2024 painted a picture of a broadcaster heavily slanted toward official narratives, centering on the presidency and marginalizing independent reporting. A 2017 local NGO report even described ITV as “primarily serv[ing] the needs of the state, largely being used as a propaganda tool … with little or no independent reporting.”
Furthermore, a frequent practice involves repurposing content from the state broadcaster AzTV—often overlaying the AzTV logo with ITV’s own—creating an illusion of original programming. No domestic statutes or independent frameworks have been identified that could safeguard or assess ITV’s editorial autonomy.
August 2025