LTV7

LTV7
Country	Latvia
Broadcast area	Latvia
Headquarters	Riga
Programming
Language(s)	Latvian, Russian
Picture format	1080i (HDTV)
Ownership
Owner	Latvian Television
Sister channels	LTV1
History
Launched	1961; 63 years ago (Soviet relay); August 1991; 33 years ago (as LTV2)
Former names	LTV2 (1991–2003)
Links
Website	Official website

LTV7 is the second channel of Latvian Television (LTV), the state-owned public service television broadcaster in Latvia. The channel started in Soviet times in 1961 and achieved its current form upon Latvia's independence in 1991.

Until the 2003 LTV rebrand, the channel was known as LTV2; in addition, it was the designated channel for Russian-language programming, with such content disappearing in 2025. Compared with LTV's flagship generalist channel, LTV7's focus is on sports coverage, documentaries, films, and lifestyle programming.

History

Until the independence of Latvia, LTV7 was a mere relay of Soviet Central Television (the first channel was the republican service). When Latvia became independent in August 1991, the channel became LTV2. In 1998, LTV2 along with all the other Latvian television channels, replaced SECAM with PAL.

In January 2003, coinciding with the corporate rebrand of Latvian Television, LTV2 was rebranded as LTV7. The 7 was due to the initial slogan of the renamed service, "Because every day is like a holiday", which was coupled with its new programming concept, content and higher advertising rates.^[1]

The Russophone morning show Utro-7 premiered on 30 August 2004. It was produced by Media Group Russian-Europe with LTV providing technical assistance.^[2] The show had Russian TV celebrities as presenters: Vladimir Molchanov, Aleksandr Gordon, Ekaterina Gordon, Levon Oganezov, Pavel Kashin,^[3] and later Ksenia Strizh.^[4] The program ended on 28 January 2005, a few months after its start. LTV's directives considered that Utro-7 didn't match the channel's profile, and that its ratings didn't match its expectations, coupled by LTV's viewership crisis at the time. The following weekday (31 January), LTV7 started broadcasting at 7:30am.^[2]

Removal of Russian-language programming

In June 2020, the head of National Electronic Mass Media Council (NEPLP) announced the cessation of Russian-language programming on LTV7,^[5] but the plan was backfired due to a lack of news in Russian until a dedicated news channel would be created. In September 2024, Public Electronic and Mass Media Council (SEPLP) it was announced that due to a plan imposed by the Latvian government to withdraw the use of Russian in public life, LTV7 will cease the broadcast of programming in Russian from 1 January 2025 and would become a 100% Latvian channel in terms of language share, like sister channel LTV1. The last remaining program in Russian is Tonight. LSM+News, after that, Russian content will be limited to its online platforms (website and social media).^[6]

Broadcasting

The terrestrial broadcast is at the helm of Latvian State Radio and Television Centre (LVRTC).^[7] LTV7 is a must-carry channel on cable and satellite. In August 2007, it started satellite broadcasts for the whole territory.^[8] On 1 July 2010, analog terrestrial broadcasts ended, being limited to digital terrestrial television in the DVB-T (MPEG-4) format. HD broadcasts started on 19 May 2021.^[9]