ARB Günəş

Günəş TV was granted a license to broadcast for a period of six years by the National Television and Radio Council in 2011. It officially began transmissions on 1 April 2015 as the first children's television channel in Azerbaijan.^[9] It was a part of the Region TV network. Initially, it broadcast for sixteen hours a day, but later expanded its airtime for twenty-four hours on 1 June. Günəş TV's over-the-air broadcasts were limited to the northern regions of Azerbaijan, but can be accessible through satellite as it also has been broadcasting using Azerspace 1 since 10 April 2015.^[10][11] Günəş TV replaced Qutb TV which was headquartered in Quba and began operations back in 1995.^[12][13]

Shortly following the closure of ANS TV, there were reports which alleged that Günəş TV began broadcasting on the nationwide frequency of the defunct station on 5 August 2016.^[14][15] Officials later stated that no station was being broadcast on ANS TV's frequency and that Günəş TV had no ability to broadcast on it as it is a regional station, only being allowed to broadcast in its allocated region.^[16] On 19 September 2016, Günəş TV was rebranded as ARB Günəş. All of its sister channels were also rebranded using the ARB branding.^[3][17] The channel participated and represented Azerbaijan at the International Children's Media Conference held by Turkish state broadcaster TRT in Istanbul in December 2016.^[18] In September of 2018, the channel opened its own dubbing studio, and since then dozens of cartoons and animated films have been translated into Azerbaijani.^[19]

On 4 March 2019, the channel shut down until 9 March 2019 for unknown reasons, while showing a few commercials. They said that they "went to sleep."^{[citation needed]} In September 2021, ARB Günəş signed an agreement with the Korea International Broadcasting Foundation, in which two movies were broadcast on the channel during that time.^[20] On 9 July 2024, ARB Günəş was accused of airing unauthorized television series without any proper rights by the Audiovisual Council, which urged the channel to cease transmissions for three hours on 11 July.^[21]

• Television in Azerbaijan