Kurdistan Broadcasting System
| File:KKTV.PNG | |
Native name | Pergala Weşanên Kurdistan |
|---|---|
| Television corporation | |
| Industry | Mass Media |
| Founded | 1 May 1955 (television) |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Kurdistan |
Key people | Vyara Ankova (general director) |
| Products | Broadcasting, websites |
| Services | radio (as Kurdistan National Radio), television, online |
| Owner | (TBC) |
Number of employees | 75,200 (2012/13) |
| Website | www.kbs.com |
Kurdistan Broadcasting System, also known as KBS (Kurdish: Pergala Weşana Kurdistan) is the national Kurdish-language television network of Kurdistan and was founded in 1964.
The KBS was for many years the only television and radio provider in Kurdistan. Before the introduction of commercial radio in 1990, and subsequently commercial television in 1992, it held a monopoly on broadcasting. More recent deregulation of the Kurdish television broadcasting market produced analogue cable television. Today, KBS broadcasts around the world, especially in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.
KBS's predecessor, "Radyoya Kurdistanê" was one of 24 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950; it would return to the EBU fold as KBS in 1972. The original company started radio test broadcasts in 1926, with a studio built in Hewler in 1936 and a studio in Corduene following in 1939.