CNA (stylised as cna), which is an
acronym
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
derived from its previous name, Channel NewsAsia,
is a Singaporean multinational
news channel
News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or telev ...
owned by the country's
national public broadcaster Mediacorp
Mediacorp Pte. Ltd., doing business as Mediacorp and stylised as mediacorp, is a media conglomerate in Singapore. Owned by Temasek Holdings—the holding company of the Government of Singapore—it owns television, radio, and digital media prope ...
. It broadcasts
free-to-air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscripti ...
domestically in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
and as a
pay television
Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...
channel internationally to 29 territories across the Asia-Pacific.
[
] The channel's logo is a stylised red letter A with folding patterns.
The network has been positioned as an alternative to Western-based international media in its presentation of news from "an Asian perspective".
It is run by Mediacorp News Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of the Singapore's media conglomerate Mediacorp Pte Ltd.
Alongside its main focus as an
English-language news television channel, CNA also broadcasts and produces news and current affairs content in Singapore's other official languages:
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
,
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
and
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
. Content is produced for Mediacorp's online platforms, with news bulletins made for and shown on the company's mass entertainment channels Suria, Channel 5, Channel U, Channel 8 and Vasantham in their respective languages.
CNA provides news broadcasts through
its own domestic radio station. It also provides
live streaming of world news through its official online portal, and its social media presence through Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter as well as apps for tablets and mobile devices to allow viewers to access content at any time.
History
Channel NewsAsia was first launched on 1 March 1999 under the
Television Corporation of Singapore
Mediacorp Pte. Ltd., doing business as Mediacorp and stylised as mediacorp, is a media conglomerate in Singapore. Owned by Temasek Holdings—the holding company of the Government of Singapore—it owns television, radio, and digital media prope ...
(TCS). The network aired only in Singapore at the beginning, as it was only focused on news from that country. It started to be distributed in other Asian countries on 28 September 2000.
[
]
In August 2012, CNA reached an agreement to be broadcast in Myanmar through satellite-TV operator Sky Net. CNA opened its Myanmar news bureau in the capital Yangon in October 2013 – the bureau officially opened in January 2014 – as only one of four foreign news organisations licensed to operate in the country at the time.
On 21 January 2013, CNA underwent a major relaunch, introducing a new studio at the
Marina Bay Financial Centre
The Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) is a mixed-use development located along Marina Boulevard and Central Boulevard at the Downtown Core of Singapore. It consists of three office towers, two residential towers and retail space at Marina Bay ...
, an expansion in programming, and the new slogan "Understand Asia". With the changes, CNA added additional news and current affairs programmes focusing on business and the "dynamism and progress" of Asia, and added the new late-night newscast ''News Pulse'' (which would feature coverage of international headlines, predominantly involving the Americas and Europe) to expand into a 24-hour service. managing director Debra Soon explained that "as the locus of the world economy shifts towards Asia, we believe we are well positioned to deliver what we've been doing daily since 1999, and help audiences around the world better Understand Asia."
In July 2014, CNA opened its Vietnam bureau. Other bureaus the channel had opened at the time were Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Seoul and Tokyo; unofficial offices were also maintained in other cities such as Mumbai, New Delhi and Washington D.C.
In September 2014, the channel announced plans to expand its studio in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, into a fully functional satellite office with
high definition capabilities.
On 26 May 2015, CNA began broadcasting in high definition. In July 2015, CNA's reach was placed at 58 million households in 26 countries. CNA began broadcasting in India on 19 November 2015, through satellite operator
Tata Sky
Tata Play (stylised as TΛTΛ PLΛY, formerly TΛTΛ , sky) is an Indian direct broadcast satellite (DTH) service provider using MPEG-4 digital compression technology, transmitting using INSAT-4A and GSAT-10 satellite. Incorporated in 2005; i ...
. The move extended the network's reach to 14 million households in India,
On 1 August 2018, CNA was launched on
Astro
Astro may refer to:
Entertainment and media
* Astro (South Korean band), a South Korean boy band
* Astro (UB40) (1957–2021), member of the British reggae band UB40
* Astro (Chilean band), a Chilean indie rock band
* Astro (Japanese band), ...
in Malaysia. It stayed on Channel 533 and moved to Channel 515 on 1 April 2020.
In March 2019, Mediacorp announced that Channel NewsAsia would rebrand as "CNA" full-time, in an effort to abandon a "TV-centric" identity to emphasise its multi-platform operations. This would include the relaunch of its
news radio
All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news.
All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news stations can run the ...
station
938Now in as CNA Talk, and the upcoming
citizen journalism
Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media, participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism or street journalism, is based upon public citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, a ...
initiative Tell CNA.
Programming
Broadcast feeds
CNA's programs are transmitted into two separate broadcast feeds:
* Domestic – the channel's official feed providing 24-hour news, talk and lifestyle coverage. The Domestic feed also contains Singapore-only content, particularly during programme breaks. They include locally targeted advertisements, Mediacorp promos, sports footage limited by rights agreements with international sporting organisations, and the national anthem
Majulah Singapura
""; ; ta, முன்னேறட்டும் சிங்கப்பூர் is the national anthem of the Republic of Singapore. Composed by Zubir Said in 1958 as a theme song for official functions of the City Council of Singapore ...
every 06:00
SST. CNA Domestic is available to Singapore viewers via over-the-air,
StarHub TV
StarHub TV is a pay television service provided by StarHub in Singapore. It has been a subsidiary of StarHub Limited since StarHub acquired Singapore Cable Vision (SCV) in 2001, and was the sole pay-TV operator in the country until 2007 when m ...
,
Singtel TV
Singtel TV (formerly known as Singtel IPTV and mio TV) is a pay television service provided by Singtel in Singapore. It is transmitted through Singtel's broadband network via an IPTV platform which uses Ericsson Mediaroom (originally develope ...
, and Mediacorp's over-the-top streaming service
meWATCH
meWATCH is a Singaporean digital video on demand service brand owned by Mediacorp. It was launched on 1 February 2013 as an over-the-top media service and an entertainment and lifestyle website Toggle.
On 1 April 2015, xinmsn, an internet port ...
.
* International – almost identical to the Domestic feed, but also provides more internationally-oriented content during programme breaks and annual English commentary coverage of Singapore's
National Day Parade every 9 August. The International feed is carried by most cable and satellite systems in Asia and via livestreaming on CNA's YouTube channel.
See also
*
Media of Singapore
References
External links
Channel NewsAsia (English)
{{Mediacorp
Mediacorp
1999 establishments in Singapore
Television stations in Singapore
Television news in Singapore
24-hour television news channels
Television channels and stations established in 1999