Channel 8 (Singapore)


Channel 8 is a Singaporean free-to-air television channel, airing in the Mandarin language. It was created by Television Singapura on 31 August 1963 with experimental broadcasts, before going official on 23 November that year.

History

Channel 8 began its test transmissions on Saturday, 31 August 1963, Malaysia's national day. Its first day consisted of a Hokkien film, repeats of India's participation in the South East Asian Cultural Festival and Singapore Celebrates. A second test transmission took place between 16 and 20 September of that year and devoted much of its time to the week-long celebrations, to coincide with the formation of the Federation of Malaya, and the political campaigns leading up to the 1963 General Election.
Channel 8 officially began broadcasting on 23 November 1963 at 7:40 p.m. as "Saluran 8 Televisyen Singapura" and aired at first in Chinese and Tamil. Its sister station Saluran 5 Televisyen Singapura was launched on 2 April that year with a mix of English and Malay-language shows. Following the separation from Malaysia on 9 August 1965, Channel 8 became part of Television Singapore, and was later integrated as part of "Radio Television Singapore". This led to the expansions of the network, including a move to the new $3.6 million Television Centre in Caldecott Hill on 27 August 1966.
Channel 8 began broadcasting in colour on 1 May 1974. In 1978, all its Chinese language programming as well as advertisements, as a result of the government's Speak Mandarin Campaign, were broadcast solely in the Mandarin dialect. It started airing 24 hours a day on 1 September 1995, becoming a Mandarin-language only channel as all its Tamil programs were transferred to a new channel, Prime 12. It was privatised on 12 February 2001.
Its long line of Chinese language dramas, a source of pride for Singapore's Chinese-speaking community, began in the fall of 1982.

Programming