Shoghakat TV to cease operations from January 1

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Spiritual-Cultural Public Television Company CJSC, the Shoghakat television channel, will be dissolved. The relevant decision was adopted at a government meeting, Sputnik Armenia reports.

The changes will take effect from January 1, 2026.

The justification for the decision states that the basis for dissolution is the law adopted on October 24, 2025, amending the Law “On Audiovisual Media.”

The television company was established by a decision of the Armenian government on February 24, 2011, under which the authority to manage the company’s shares was vested in the Council of the Public Television and Radio Company.

Its main area of activity has been the production and broadcasting of spiritual and cultural television programs.

On October 24, the National Assembly adopted amendments to the Law “On Audiovisual Media,” which envisage reducing the number of public broadcasters to two, while also abolishing the requirement to include educational and cultural programming. The justification of the bill made it clear that the move involved abandoning the spiritual-cultural Shoghakat television channel and removing it from the list of public broadcasters.

Shoghakat is being shut down amid strained relations between Armenia’s authorities and the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.