Prior to 1976, all television broadcasts were aired in black and white. In 1985 a second channel was established and in 1995 Syrian television rented a channel on
Arabsat and it started broadcasting eight hours daily via satellite in 1996. Since the start of the
Syrian civil war in 2011, the state has been engaging in a "media war" to combat the criticisms broadcast from other popular media outlets viewed in the Arab world and internationally, such as
Al Arabiya and
Al Jazeera. In
Ba'athist Syria television coverage championed the government against
Syrian opposition islamist rebel forces such as
Al-Nusra Front,
Free Syrian Army and the
Islamic Front. According to
BBC Arabic, it also tended to omit or downplay reports of civilian casualties in its coverage of confrontations with what the Assadist government labeled as terrorist groups.
The Arab League officially asked the satellite operators
Arabsat and
Nilesat to stop broadcasting Syrian media in June 2012. On 27 April 2013,
Al Jazeera Media Network announced that it was suspending indefinitely its activities throughout Syria because of alleged intimidation and threats against its staff. The
collapse of Ba'athist and Assad family rule in late 2024 brought challenges to the media landscape in Syria as it is unclear whether the new
Islamist-led Syrian government would relax censorship and allow more press freedom. ==List of channels==