Days Until World Television Day

About World Television Day

November 21 marks the anniversary of the UN's first World Television Forum, held in 1996, and was designated by the General Assembly later that same year, recognizing television's growing role in shaping public opinion and world affairs.

The day isn't intended to celebrate the television set as a physical device, but rather the medium's function in communication, news dissemination, and decision-making, per the UN's own stated rationale for the observance.

Global television viewership has shifted substantially toward streaming and on-demand formats since the day's 1996 designation, a change the observance's messaging has increasingly had to account for in more recent years.

Streaming services have largely displaced traditional broadcast scheduling for many viewers since the day's 1996 founding, a shift the UN's own messaging around the observance has had to periodically update its framing to reflect.