ANS TV

{{short description|Television channel in Azerbaijan}} {{Infobox television channel | name = Azerbaijan News Service | logo = | logo_size = | logo_alt = | logo_caption = Logo from 2012 to 2016 | image = | image_size = | image_alt = | caption = | type = | country = Azerbaijan | area = | tvstations = | tvtransmitters = | affiliates = | headquarters = | language = | picture_format = | former_names = | owner = ANS Group of Companies | parent = | key_people = Vahid Mustafayev | founded = | founder = | launch_date = {{Start date|1991|11|26|df=y}} | replaced = | closed_date = {{End date|2016|07|18|df=y}} | replaced_by = | website = [https://web.archive.org/web/20090923205257/http://www.anstv.ws:80/ anstv.ws] | webcast = }} '''ANS TV''' (also known as ''ANS Independent Broadcasting Media Company'', stylized as '''ⱭNẞ''' until 2012) was a news television channel in Azerbaijan, which was owned by ANS Group of Companies from its foundation on 26 November 1991 until its closure on 18 July 2016. Its name, ANS, stands for Azerbaijani News Service.

==History== thumb|Former logo from 1999 until 2012 ANS was the first privately owned independent television company in the former Soviet Union.<ref name="undp">{{cite web |url=http://www.un-az.org/undp/bulnews44/m5new.php#First_FM_radio_station |publisher=UNDP |title=Azerbaijan Development Bulletin |accessdate=2008-07-22 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20111008001816/http://www.un-az.org/undp/bulnews44/m5new.php |archivedate=2011-10-08 }}</ref> It has been described as a staunchly pro-government station.

In the early years of ANS' establishment, there were many local wars on the territory of the former Soviet Union. ANS TV got popularized by reporting news from the frontlines - Chechnya, Georgia, Ossetia, Karabakh, Abkhazia, Afghanistan, Ingushetia and frequently selling footage to BBC, CNN, NBC, ZDF, ARD, VOX, RAI, TF, Russia-1, CBS, TBS.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.anspress.com/index.php?stid=333005 |title=ANS Group of Companies |access-date=2008-04-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707145238/http://www.anspress.com/index.php?stid=333005 |archive-date=2011-07-07 |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{clarify|date=March 2024}}

ANS TV was taken off the air in July 2016 when its broadcasting license was revoked after it had announced it was to broadcast an interview with Fethullah Gulen. Azerbaijan's National Television and Radio Council stated that the channel's license would be withdrawn permanently, accusing the station of "contradicting the strategic partnership between the Azeri and Turkish people by offering support to Fethullah Gulen and his supporters".<ref>''Azerbaijani TV Station Closed Over 'Interview' With U.S.-Based Turkish Cleric Accused By Ankara In Coup'' https://www.rferl.org/a/azerbaijani-tv-station-shut-down-gulen-interview-turkey/27867890.html</ref>

==Bizimkiler== In the run-up to Azerbaijan's success in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, the station ran a project called Bizimkiler, which included top local musicians playing globally-known western tunes.<ref>{{cite news |title=BIZIMKILER AN ALTERNATIVE SOUND OF MUSIC |url=http://www.visions.az/en/news/414/bfbf7920/ |accessdate=17 March 2019 |publisher=Visions of Azerbaijan |date=July 2012}}</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|Companies}} *ANS ChM

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Television stations in Azerbaijan Category:Television networks in Azerbaijan Category:Defunct television networks Category:Azerbaijani-language television stations Category:Television channels and stations established in 1991 Category:1991 establishments in Azerbaijan Category:1991 establishments in the Soviet Union Category:Television channels and stations disestablished in 2016 Category:2016 disestablishments in Azerbaijan