Amu TV

About Amu TV

Amu TV (تلویزیون آمو) is an Afghan television news channel broadcasting from exile. Headquartered in Virginia, in the United States, with correspondents working inside Afghanistan, it was founded in 2022 by journalists Lotfullah Najafizada — formerly of TOLOnews — and Sami Mahdi, and is owned by Eye Media Group. It went on air in May 2023, transmitting uncensored satellite news in Dari (Persian) and Pashto to audiences inside Afghanistan and in the diaspora, and it remains active in 2026 as one of the most prominent exiled Afghan broadcasters.

About Amu TV

Amu TV is an exile television operation built for a specific purpose: to deliver uncensored news by satellite into Afghanistan. Its newsroom is based in Virginia, USA, placing it outside the reach of the authorities in Kabul, while its correspondents report from inside Afghanistan — a split structure that has become the defining model of post-2021 Afghan exile journalism, editorially rooted in the country but physically beyond its borders.

The channel is owned by Eye Media Group and was founded by two well-known Afghan journalists. Lotfullah Najafizada was a prominent face of TOLOnews, Afghanistan's leading news channel, before 2021; Sami Mahdi is likewise an experienced Afghan journalist. Their backgrounds give the channel immediate credibility with Afghan audiences who knew their work from the pre-2021 media era, and published profiles have described Amu TV as the most influential of the exiled Afghan broadcasters to emerge since the Taliban's return to power.

That influence rests on the channel's core proposition: satellite news that is not subject to the restrictions governing media inside Afghanistan. Beamed into the country from abroad, Amu TV's bulletins can cover subjects — politics, security, social issues — with an editorial freedom that in-country outlets, operating under the authorities' media rules, cannot always exercise. For viewers inside Afghanistan with satellite dishes, it offers an alternative account of their own country's news.

The channel's audience is correspondingly twofold: Afghans inside the country who watch via satellite, and the large Afghan diaspora — in North America, Europe and beyond — who follow homeland news from abroad. Its journalism is produced for both, in the two languages that together reach the great majority of Afghans.

History

Amu TV was founded in 2022, in the first full year after the Taliban's return to power in August 2021 — a period that saw Afghanistan's media landscape transformed, with many of the country's best-known outlets closing, their journalists fleeing, and a new ecosystem of exile media taking shape in cities from Washington to London to Paris. Amu TV was among the most ambitious of these new ventures: a full television news channel, built from scratch, aimed at the Afghan audience left behind.

The channel went on air in May 2023, roughly a year after its founding — a rapid build for a satellite television operation, reflecting both the urgency of its mission and the experience of its founding team. From the start it positioned itself as an uncensored news service, using satellite transmission to reach viewers inside Afghanistan directly, bypassing the domestic broadcast environment entirely.

Its activity through 2026 is documented in primary and secondary sources. The channel publishes daily news uploads to YouTube, with output documented through February and March 2026, and in July 2026 it was profiled by the National Press Club's Journalism Institute — a mark of its recognition within the international journalism community. The profile, published on 21 July 2026, treated the channel as an established and significant actor in the Afghan media landscape.

Three years after going on air, Amu TV has settled into the role its founders designed for it: a permanent exile newsroom, broadcasting daily, with a reporting network that stretches from its Virginia headquarters to correspondents working under difficult conditions inside Afghanistan.

Programming and coverage

Amu TV's programming is news, delivered daily. The channel publishes news uploads to YouTube on a daily basis — the primary-source evidence of its 2026 output — consistent with a television news operation running regular bulletins rather than occasional programming. Its coverage is Afghan-focused: the politics, security developments and social stories of a country its audience, inside and outside Afghanistan, follows with intense personal interest.

The correspondent network inside Afghanistan is central to how the channel works. Rather than relying solely on wire material or diaspora commentary, Amu TV maintains reporters in the country, giving its bulletins original Afghan newsgathering — a significant undertaking given the risks facing journalists working there. That in-country reporting is then edited and broadcast from the safety of the Virginia newsroom, combining local sourcing with exile editorial freedom.

The "uncensored" character of the service, noted in published descriptions, is its editorial signature. Broadcasting by satellite from outside Afghanistan, the channel is not subject to the directives and restrictions that govern in-country media, allowing it to report on politics and power — including critical coverage of the authorities — in ways unavailable to Kabul-based outlets. This is the fundamental reason for its exile structure, and the basis of its appeal to viewers seeking unfiltered news.

For the diaspora audience, the channel serves a parallel function: it is a daily connection to home, delivering Afghan news in Afghan languages to communities scattered across the world since 2021. In that role it joins a wider ecosystem of exile outlets — but as a satellite television channel with in-country correspondents, it occupies a distinctive and influential place within it.

Languages and platforms

Amu TV broadcasts in Persian/Dari and Pashto, the two languages that together cover the overwhelming majority of Afghanistan's population. The bilingual output ensures the channel's news is accessible to viewers across the country's linguistic divide, and to the diaspora communities — themselves Dari- and Pashto-speaking — who form a large part of its audience.

Satellite television is the channel's defining platform: it is the medium through which uncensored bulletins reach viewers inside Afghanistan. The official website, amu.tv, serves as the channel's digital home, while daily news uploads to YouTube extend its reach to online and mobile audiences — the platform where much of the Afghan diaspora, and younger viewers generally, now watches video news.

On social media, the channel operates under a single unified handle, @amutelevision, across Facebook, Instagram and X — a consistent brand identity that makes it easy for audiences to find and follow. The social accounts carry headlines and updates, driving viewers to the full bulletins on satellite and video platforms.

Location and operating status

Amu TV is headquartered in Virginia, USA, where its newsroom produces and broadcasts the channel's output. It is an Afghan outlet in exile: editorially devoted to Afghanistan, physically based outside it, with correspondents reporting from inside the country. This is stated plainly because it defines the channel — its exile status is not incidental but structural, the condition that makes its uncensored satellite journalism possible.

As of October 2026, the channel is fully active. Daily news uploads to YouTube were documented through early 2026, and the July 2026 National Press Club Journalism Institute profile confirms its continued operation and standing. Its country of service is Afghanistan — the audience its journalism is made for — even though its newsroom sits an ocean away.

Official website and contact

The official website is https://amu.tv. The channel can be followed on Facebook, Instagram and X as @amutelevision, and its daily news bulletins are published to YouTube.

WorldNM is an independent directory and does not own, operate or represent Amu TV. For news tips, advertising or other inquiries, please use the channel's own channels.

Sources and last verified

This profile was verified on 13 October 2026. Exile headquarters in Virginia, Eye Media Group ownership, founders Lotfullah Najafizada and Sami Mahdi, the 2022 founding and May 2023 launch, and the channel's standing as a leading exiled broadcaster are corroborated by secondary sources including the National Press Club Journalism Institute profile of 21 July 2026, with daily 2026 activity documented through its YouTube output.