Television in Poland was introduced in 1937. It was state owned, and was interrupted by the Second World War in 1939. Television returned to Poland in 1952 and for several decades was controlled by the communist government. Colour television was introduced in Poland in 1971. Private television stations in Poland appeared around the time of the fall of communism, with PTV Echo (once a member of the local channels of Polonia 1) becoming the first private station in Poland (and in the former Eastern Bloc).
Polish programming
Universal Channel
Arrow
A Touch of Frost
Californication
Castle
CSI: Miami
Dexter
Futurama
Hawaii Five-0
Law & Order
Monk
Psych
Royal Pains
Scandal
Sleeper Cell
Stargate Universe
The Sopranos
Diva Universal
Being Erica
The Biggest Loser
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Chicago Fire
Chicago Med
Desperate Housewives
Dexter
Fairly Legal
Grimm
House
Law & Order
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Organized Crime
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Trial by Jury
Lipstick Jungle
NCIS
Nurse Jackie
Parenthood
Private Eyes
The Real Housewives franchise
Rizzoli & Isles
Rookie Blue
Royal Pains
Saving Hope
Sleepy Hollow
The Closer
The Good Wife
The Librarians
The Listener
13 Ulica
Alarm für Cobra 11 – Die Autobahnpolizei
Aquarius
Bates Motel
Bosch
Blue Bloods
Castle
Chicago Fire
Chicago P.D. The Closer Cold Case Columbo CSI: Crime Scene Investigation CSI: Miami CSI: NY Dexter Flashpoint Gotham Hudson & Rex Law & Order Law & Order: Criminal Intent Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Magnum P.I. Major Crimes Murder, She Wrote NCIS: Los Angeles NCIS: New Orleans Rookie Blue Stalker White Collar
Terrestrial
Terrestrial television in Poland broadcasts using a digital DVB-T system. First test DVB-T emission was carried out in Warsaw on 9 November 2001. In April 2004, first DVB-T transmitter near Rzeszów started operation and local TVP division started to market set-top boxes allowing to receive it. As of July 2016, there are about 250 DVB-T transmitters operating in Poland, broadcasting up to three multiplexes (except local stations), all using MPEG-4 AVC compression. Majority of channels are available in HD across all the Poland after DVB-T2/HEVC switchover has finished in June 2022, while six channels (TVP Historia, TVP3, Metro, Zoom TV, Nowa TV and WP) are available only in SD, although Nowa TV broadcasts in HD in some local multiplexes. Analog terrestrial transmissions were terminated in 2013. First efforts to introduce DVB-T in Poland was made in 1997 in Gdańsk on initiative of TVP (Polish public television broadcaster). In the spring of 2022, the terrestrial TV broadcasting standard was changed across the country to the newer and more effective DVB-T2/HEVC standard, where HEVC (or H.265) is a new standard for TV signal compression. Switching to the new DVB-T2/HEVC terrestrial TV broadcasting standard was carried out in the period from March to June 2022. However, the changes did not cover MUX3, which belongs as a whole to TVP. Decision by Urząd Komunikacji Elektronicznej :pl:Urz%C4%85d_Komunikacji_Elektronicznej pl requested by the Minister of Interior Affairs and Administration, argumented by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, allowed to delay the switch until the end of 2023.
Allocation
At 2006 conference in Geneva known as GE06 Poland received eight DVB-T multiplexes—seven at UHF frequencies 470–862 MHz (channels 21–69) and one at VHF frequency 174–230 MHz (channels 6–12). Since some of these frequencies are currently used for analog PAL terrestrial television broadcasting, it is possible to run only two nationwide multiplexes (MUX1, MUX2) and one (MUX3) which covers part of country (58% of population). Introduction of all multiplexes will be possible after switching off analog broadcasting.
A government document entitled “Country digitalization schedule”, dated January 2009, set out plan for the digital broadcast switch-on to be made in three steps and analog broadcast switch-off in six steps.
First regular digital broadcast started on 30 September 2010. Analog broadcast switch-off started on 7 November 2012 and the transition to digital broadcasting finished on 23 July 2013.