CTS Main Channel is the flagship

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring ...

terrestrial television Terrestrial television or over-the-air television (OTA) is a type of television broadcasting in which the signal transmission occurs via radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a TV station to a TV receiver having an ant ...

channel of the

Chinese Television System The Chinese Television System Inc. () is a terrestrial television station in Taiwan and was founded in 1971. Recent milestones of the network are in sports events, including having the distinction to offer exclusive coverage of the 2017 Un ...

network and is the third oldest free-to-air terrestrial television channel in the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

(Taiwan) after

TTV Main Channel TTV Main Channel is the primary free-to-air terrestrial television channel of the Taiwan Television company and is the first television channel launched in the Republic of China (Taiwan). History It was established on April 28, 1962, test trans ...

and

CTV Main Channel CTV (formerly known as CTV Main Channel) is a free-to-air terrestrial television channel of the China Television company and is the second oldest free-to-air terrestrial television channel in the Republic of China (Taiwan) after TTV Main Channel. ...

History

The origins of CTS Main Channel go all the way back to 1956 when the Education Minister of the

Chang Chi-yun Chang Ch‘i-yun (29 September 1901 – 26 August 1985) was a Chinese historian, geographer, educator and politician. He was the founder of the Chinese Culture University and the Nanhai Academy and served as Minister of Education of the Republic ...

proposed an educational television service that world be run by Taiwan's

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. Efforts to prepare the said television service began in 1958 when studio space was first allocated in the Ministry of Education's headquarters, and in August 1961, Education Minister Huang Chi-lu formally established Taiwan's National Education Television (NETV), which first went on air on February 14, 1962, nearly 8 months before TTV Main Channel began transmissions. NETV closed down on February 16, 1970, after it was purchased by the Taiwanese government for

NT$ The New Taiwan dollar (code: TWD; symbol: NT$, also abbreviated as NT) is the official currency of Taiwan. The New Taiwan dollar has been the currency of Taiwan since 1949, when it replaced the Old Taiwan dollar, at a rate of 40,000 old dollars ...

1 billion, and in May 1970, Order 117 of the

Executive Yuan The Executive Yuan () is the executive branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Its leader is the Premier, who is appointed by the President of the Republic of China, and requires confirmation by the Legislative Yuan. ...

proposed the formation of a third television channel to succeed NETV. CTS Main Channel was eventually launched on January 31, 1971, as a joint venture between Taiwan's

Ministry of National Defense {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

and the Ministry of Education. On July 1, 2006, by virtue of the Taiwanese government's media reform law, CTS Main Channel was incorporated into the

Taiwan Broadcasting System Taiwan Broadcasting System (TBS; ), founded 1 July 2006, is a public broadcasting group that operates 8 television channels in Taiwan. It also owns 2 (CTS and PTS) of the five major Taiwan television networks (the other are TTV, CTV and FTV). ...

(TBS), the island state's consortium of public television stations, with

Public Television Service Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation (PTS Foundation/Public Television Service Foundation, ), also called Public Television Service (PTS, ), is the first independent public broadcasting institution in Taiwan, which broadcasts the Public Te ...

(PTS) as the other member of the group. The absorption calls for the transfer of the station's main studios from Taipei to Kaohsiung in a span of five years. It shall, however, be allowed to continue generating its income through traditional advertisements, and maintain its 60-40 entertainment-news programming mix like before. CTS Main Channel is currently engaged in a campaign to restore its title as "Taiwan's drama authority", for having been home to some of Taiwan's most unforgettable drama serials.

Appearances

Test card

The test card of CTS is

Philips PM5544 The Philips PM5544 is a television pattern generator, most commonly used to provide a television station with a complex test card commonly referred to as a Philips Pattern or PTV Circle pattern. The content and layout of the pattern was designed b ...

Opening and Closing times

CTS Main Channel is on air 24 hours each day. Except the last day and first day open at 5.00 am and closing 4.00 am. ''Note:'' # The song " 中華民國國歌" ''Zhōng Huá Mín Gúo Gúo Gē'' (

National Anthem of the Republic of China The "Three Principles of the People" is the national anthem of the Republic of China as well as the party anthem of the Kuomintang. It was adopted in 1930 as China's national anthem and was used as such in mainland China until 1949, when the R ...

), lyrics by

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-sen (; also known by several other names; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925)Singtao daily. Saturday edition. 23 October 2010. section A18. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition . was a Chinese politician who serve ...

(孫中山) and composed by

Ch'eng Mao-yün Cheng Maoyun (; 25 August 1900 – 31 July 1957) was a Chinese composer and a professor at National Central University and Hangzhou Societal University (). He composed the National Anthem of the Republic of China. Early life and education H ...

(程懋筠) was played at the start of each broadcast day.

History

Appearances

Test card

Opening and Closing times

See also