Before the End of the Federation

On September 4, 1990, the concept and identification of television programs were changed. Channel One was still broadcast on a federal basis, under the new name of F1. The existing Channel Two was divided into the Czech CTV channel and the Slovak S1 channel. In addition, on May 14, 1990, the third Czech channel, OK3, started to broadcast (in Slovakia, on June 6, 1991, a similar channel was established under the title TA3) in a band formerly blocked by Soviet broadcasting.

Still under the federation, the Slovak National Council established Slovak Television in an act dated July 1, 1991. On January 1, 1992, Czech Television was established by an act of the Czech National Council. Czechoslovak Television continued to operate the F1 federal channel in 1992, for which it produced news. Other programs on F1 were produced by both separated television companies, which also took over broadcasting on the other two channels in each republic.

In the meantime, on October 30, 1991, the Federal Assembly of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic passed Act No. 468/1991 on the Operation of Radio and Television Broadcasting, which distinguished two categories of broadcasting entities - operator of statutory broadcasting (usually referred to as public operators), and license holders (private, commercial television or radio). The act, which enabled the creation of commercial television, was effective, including its amendments, until mid-2001.

Federal Epilogue

Czechoslovak Television ceased to exist on December 31, 1992, together with the split of the Czechoslovak federation, in a situation when there was no other operator of television broadcasting in the Czech Republic except Czech Television.

Czech Television is not the former Czechoslovak Television, the operation of which was, until the end, closely connected to the existence of the Czechoslovak federation. Despite major changes that were made during the last years of CST's operation, the transformation of CST from "a government medium" to "a public medium", i.e. a public service, was not completed in full, in particular as concerned legal matters, before the split of the federation. On the other hand, Czech Television was formed as a public service from the very beginning, with all the legal obligations arising from this fact.