Sharq TV is a private Afghan channel based in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province. The channel is part of Shaiq Network, the media group owned by Shafiqullah Shaiq that also runs health and education projects across eastern Afghanistan. The official page lists 2008 as the launch year, with a full 24-hour schedule from day one.
Before the tv side existed, Shaiq Network was already running radio. Sharq Radio started in Jalalabad back in 2003, backed by USAID and rolled out through Internews, and that's where the newsroom and production crew got their start. By the time Sharq TV launched, the Sharq name already had an audience built up from those radio years.
Programming is pretty broad. About 90 percent runs in Pashto, covering hourly news, current affairs, politics, entertainment, music, sports, health and religious segments. Two shows worth naming are Morning Today, a live morning talk show with guests and music, and Your Views, a call-in program where viewers weigh in directly. That setup keeps things two-way instead of just broadcasting at people.
The core audience is pashto speakers in Nangarhar and nearby provinces, especially people after local news, politics, security coverage and stories from rural communities. Leaning on Pashto gives the channel an edge in feeling local, compared to stations broadcasting out of Kabul.
As for access, Sharq TV airs through three routes - terrestrial broadcast at 1 kW on VHF covering eastern Afghanistan, satellite on TürkmenÄlem 52°E slash MonacoSAT, and livestream on Facebook and YouTube. For catching the stream online, the official YouTube or Facebook page is the safer bet, since elsharq.tv didn't return verifiable content when checked, so that site isn't something to count on yet as a stable option. Actual stream quality is something every viewer will judge for themselves, worth a look.
Given the tie to Sharq Radio since 2003 and Sharq TV's standing as one of the longer-running private stations in eastern Afghanistan, most viewers likely know the channel through that existing regional reputation, rather than finding it completely by chance. The call-in shows also help keep people coming back.
One thing worth flagging before tuning in - in July 2024, Sharq's broadcast license was among those suspended by ATRA in Nangarhar. There's no confirmation the channel shut down entirely, but checking the current broadcast status is worth doing rather than assuming things are running as usual.
If this rundown helped, bookmark the page for next time you want to find Sharq TV again, and pass it along to anyone hunting for pashto-language coverage from that part of Afghanistan.
