Belsat TV

Belsat (Belarusian: Белсат; Polish: Biełsat; stylised as B☰LSAT) is a Polish free-to-air terrestrial and satellite television channel aimed at Belarus. The channel is a subsidiary of TVP S.A. From the outset, it has been co-funded by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and international donors.

Belsat broadcasts from the Astra 4A satellite, which covers the European region of the former USSR. In Ukraine, it is available on most cable networks. In Poland, it is carried by approximately 20% of cable networks. In Belarus, however, it is unavailable on cable or digital networks due to a ban by the authorities.

The channel's programming is broadcast live via the belsat.eu website, YouTube, and the BelsatSmart app for Smart TVs. Meanwhile, the БелсатТВ app for Android and iOS tablets and smartphones allows viewers to watch live, and read the latest news with embedded videos. Belsat also operates ten thematic YouTube channels: Belsat News, Belsat Life, Belsat Now, Belsat History, Belsat Music, Belsat Doc, The Way It Is, Hardcore Cartoons, Belsat in Polish and Belsat in English. It also hosts the Belsat Music channel on SoundCloud, featuring tracks from Belsat's music programmes.

According to sociological polls conducted for Belsat by Mia Research from April to May 2019 (with a sample of 1,515 people aged 18 to 64), Belsat is watched by 13% of adult Belarusians. The brand's recognisability rose from 27% to 40% between 2015 and 2019.

There have also been major changes in how the channel's output is watched. The traditional method, via satellite receivers, has been replaced by new technology. In May 2019, 85% of the Mia Research poll respondents declared that they watch the channel's programmes online, compared to only 18% via satellite dishes, 55% on computers and laptops, and 40% on smartphones. 8% of viewers were using Smart TV technology, even though the channel's app had only just been launched at time of polling.

Compared to earlier years, there was a steep rise in the activity of Internet users on the channel's website, which has five language versions: Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian, English and Polish. According to Google Analytics, the site garnered 1,290,042 unique visitors and 12,083,368 views in May 2019, putting it on a par with Western government-funded media in Belarus, such as Radio Svaboda, or independent media such as the Belarusian-language online newspaper Nasha Niva. The average number of daily users on the site was 68,153 during that period. From 1 to 25 August 2024 all websites was not available, but since 26 August 2024 websites are belongs to TVP.

Like the website, there are five language versions of all the channel's social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Telegram, Odnoklassniki, VKontakte and Linkedin. In April 2021, they had 775,000 subscribers in total. Belsat's ten thematic YouTube channels had a total of one million subscribers. Belsat News is the only Belarusian-language news channel on YouTube with more than 100,000 subscribers (in April 2019). The Russian-language The Way It Is, which targets viewers from the former USSR, passed the 100,000-subscriber mark in June 2019. Both channels won a Silver Button award from YouTube.

25% of Belsat's viewers were in favour of European integration in May 2019. The minority – 17% – opted for further integration with Russia. Over half named Belarusian citizenship as the most important factor for determining identity, and 20% – local patriotism. 85% of Belsat's audience had a positive attitude towards Poland, while 50% associated Poland with Europe, 25% with prosperity, 22% with democracy, and 55% with shopping.