Can a Telegram bot subscribe to a channel?

Question

I'd like to know if a bot can subscribe to a channel, I don't seem to be able to do it.

Thanks

Answer 1

Actually a bot can can receive all the messages from a channel — it should be just a member of the channel. See What messages will my bot get? in the FAQ. But only a channel admin can "subscribe" a bot to the channel in such a way.

Another way is to use some programmable Telegram client application or library (thanks to the open MTProto protocol). For example, see Telethon library (Python3).