MediaCorp Channel 8

MediaCorp Channel 8 新传媒八频道
Launched	23 November 1963
Network	MediaCorp TV
Owned by	MediaCorp
Picture format	576i (16:9 and 4:3) (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)
Slogan	最亲切(Translation: The Most Endearing)
Country	Singapore
Language	Mandarin Chinese, Tamil (until 1995)
Broadcast area	Singapore
Headquarters	Caldecott Broadcast Centre
Formerly called	Saluran 8 Televisyen Singapura (23 November-27 December, 1963) Saluran 8 Televisyen Malaysia (Singapura) (28 December 1963-9 August 1965) Radio Television Singapore Channel 8 (RTS-8) (1965- 1980) Singapore Broadcasting Corporation Channel 8 (SBC-8) (1980- 1994) Television Corporation of Singapore Channel 8 (TCS-8) (1994- 2000)
Website	http://xinmsn.com/8
Availability
Terrestrial
MediaCorp - Analogue	Channel 8 (VHF 196.25 MHz)
MediaCorp - Digital (DVB-T)	Channel 29 (UHF 599.25MHz) Multiplex carrying Mediacorp channels digitally.
Cable
StarHub TV	Channel 103
MediaCorp (via SCTV socket)	Channel 8 (VHF 196.25 MHz)
IPTV
mio TV	Channel 3

MediaCorp Channel 8 (Chinese: 八频道, Before 1 January 2005: 第八波道) is a 24-hour free-to-air Mandarin Chinese general entertainment television channel in Singapore. It is one of the two Mandarin Chinese over-the-air television channel in Singapore the other being Channel U, formerly of SPH MediaWorks.

History

The station began broadcasting on 23 November 1963 as the Eight Frequency (第八波道), and programming at that time consisted of a mixture of Tamil and Chinese programming, with a majority of the programmes bought from foreign television stations. Eventually, the Tamil language programmes were moved to MediaCorp TV12, and Channel 8 became a solely Mandarin Chinese channel.

Colour broadcasting began on 7 July 1974, and stereo audio broadcasting began on 1 August 1990. By 1995, the station was broadcasting 24-hours a day.

In 1 November 2011, Channel 8 now broadcasts in 16:9 HDTV, however, some programmes including news programmes and a few encores were broadcast in 4:3 SDTV.

Chinese Language Broadcasting

In the infancy of the station, Chinese programmes were acquired from stations in Hong Kong and Taiwan, which resulted in these programmes being broadcast in a variety of regional Chinese dialects (such as Cantonese and Min Nan with no dubbing in Mandarin. This anomaly ended in 1979 when the government began to forbid Singapore's electronic media from broadcasting programmes in any dialects other than Mandarin without prior consent.

This put a pressure on the station's budget, as Chinese programmes acquired overseas now have to be dubbed into Mandarin. As a result, SBC decided to begin producing Chinese drama series domestically, and established a Chinese Drama Department (華文戲劇部) towards that end. The new department had to hire many production staffs overseas, as the station only had experience in producing short television programmes. Due to the closure of Commercial Television and the sale of Rediffusion Television (now Asia Television) in Hong Kong at the time, many production staff from those two television stations were hired, thus creating a basis for domestic Chinese drama series production.

Although there were earlier productions, the station considers Seletar Robbery to be its first-ever Chinese drama production, and considers the day of its premiere on 24 July 1982 to be the birth of Singaporean Chinese Drama Production.

Privatisation

The station, along with its sister stations Fifth Frequency and Twelfth Frequency, were privatized on 1 October 1994, and became a part of the new Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS) (Chinese: 新加坡電視機構). Further restructuring were made and by 12 February 2002, TCS became MediaCorp TV (Chinese: 新傳媒電視).

Competition from MediaWorks

In an effort to inject competition into the Singaporean television broadcasting industry, the government allowed Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) to operate television stations, which resulted in the establishment of SPH MediaWorks. It offered two television channels: SPH MediaWorks Channel U (Chinese: 优頻道) and TV Works (Chinese: 電視通), which was later renamed Channel i (Chinese: 爱頻道).

Channel 8, then still known as the Eight Frequency, and Channel U were both locked in a fierce ratings battle, with each station releasing statistics indicating that they are prevailing over the other station. The ratings battle began to cool in 31 December 2004 when Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew commented that Singapore's size cannot sustain more than one television station for each language. This spurred the two sides into a merger negotiation, which was completed by 31 December 2004. On 1 January 2005, Channel U became a part of MediaCorp TV. SPH MediaWorks Channel i was disbanded in the merger process.

News Presenters

News Programme	Weekday Newscasters	Weekend Newscasters
News 8 at One 1点新闻 1.00pm (Only on weekdays)	Lin Zhi Ying （林稚瑛） Zhao Quan Yin （赵全胤）	No Broadcast
Singapore Today 狮城6点半 6.30pm	Ng Siew Leng （黄秀玲）	Wang Zheng （王征）
News Tonight 晚间新闻 10.00pm (Channel 8) 11.00pm (Channel U)	Lin Chi Yuan （林启元） Tung Soo Hua （董素华） Zhang Haijie （张海洁）	Zhao Wen Bei （赵文蓓）

Current Affairs Presenters

Good Morning, Singapore! (7.00am, Mon-Fri)

• Desmond Lim Soo Guan （林树源）
• Iriana Halim （林有懿）
• Lim Yi Chyi （琪琪）

Focus (10.30pm, Fri)

• Chun Guek Lay （曾月丽）

Former Presenters

• Huang Shuang Xi 黃雙喜
• Xu Bing 徐冰 (Moved to Capital 95.8FM/958城市頻道)
• Liang Ni 梁妮
• Serene Loo (呂詩琳)
• Lynee Chee (徐赟玲) (Now assistant producer of Frontline)

Programmes

See List of programmes broadcast by MediaCorp Channel 8

External links

• Official Website