What's in a Prague street name

Na Kavčích horách was built in 1925.

I don’t know if it has a street sign, and felt like I might be walking on private property anyway, as fairly well proven by this picture, so I decided it was wise to stop looking for one.

We already discussed the origin of the name Kavčí hory on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/06/13/prague-4-day-116-na-hrebenech-ii/, so let’s move on to what most Czechs hear when they hear the name: Česká televize.

Public television came to Czechoslovakia in 1953, run by Československý rozhlas / Czech Radio. The first ever broadcast, on 1 May, was made from a studio on Vladislavova in the New Town (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/14/prague-1-day-109-vladislavova/).

Regular broadcasting started in 1954, the first live broadcast (an ice hockey match vs. a Swedish team) happened in 1955, and by the end of the year, there were also studios in Bratislava and Ostrava.

In December 1957, the television and radio companies were separated – and Československá televize (ČST) came into being. Further studios appeared in Brno (1961) and Košice (1962). The station got its first logo in 1963.

It was around this time that the complex at Kavči hory – the reason why we’re talking about this today – started to be built, although the first operations there wouldn’t start until 1970, and full operations wouldn’t commence until 1979.

Regular colour broadcasting began in 1973 on the second channel (which had been launched in 1970, also the same year as the first colour broadcast – a skiing competition); in 1979, a separate building for the newsroom was put into operation.

This is the logo as it looked in 1980, and would look for another ten years.

During the Velvet Revolution, ČST reported extensively, and its staff made a conscious decision to side with the demonstrators. Inevitably, the aftermath of the revolution meant that a lot of the old guard got replaced.

In 1990, a third channel – OK3, mainly broadcasting foreign content, and since replaced by ČT3 – was launched. The second channel was divided into two – one Czech and one Slovak.

By January 1992 – so, a year before the Velvet Divorce – Slovenská televizia (STV) and Česká televize (ČT) – were already in existence. ČST’s sole function was to produce news content, and it was dissolved – along with Czechoslovakia – on 31 December 1992.

For a real piece of history, this is how the TV guide looked on 31 December 1992, and how it looked on 1 January 1993.

ČT3 closed down at the end of 1993 to make way for Nova, the country’s first private television station (extremely 1993 logo of ČT below).

While this logo is from 1997, and is also quite 1997.

Moving with the times, ČT first tried its hand at digital and internet broadcasting in 2000 – but then it got attention for other reasons.

In December, a new director general and director of news were appointed; many staff didn’t approve, so much so that, while the new team got on with broadcasting on terrestrial television, the rebels broadcast their own news programmes via satellite.

The Czech Parliament sided with the rebels; dismissal of the Czech Television Council and a new interim director general resulted in the strike ending in February 2001.

Further channels have appeared since: the news channel, ČT24 (2005), ČT sport (2006), kids’ channel ČT 😀 (2013) and the cultural ČT art (2013). ČT3, meanwhile, made a temporary comeback from 2020 to 2023, initially to give people a nostalgia kick during lockdown.

In terms of viewership, ČT comes first if you consider the entire day, second if you consider primetime only, and its news service has been considered the most trustworthy news medium in the country.

However, this hasn’t stopped criticism of its coverage of events in Gaza of late: https://denikalarm.cz/2024/06/chceme-pravdu-a-delejte-svou-praci-skandovali-lide-pred-ceskou-televizi/.

By the way, this isn’t the first studio of Czechoslovak Television that we’ve come across in Prague 4: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/03/19/prague-4-day-51-na-jezerce/.

If I start posting clips of old broadcasts, I won’t stop, so I’ll limit myself to this collection of news intros over the years: