Channel 5 (Chinese: 五頻道) is a
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 ...
,
English-language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
television channel
A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...
in Singapore. Owned by state 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 general entertainment, news, and sports programming. The channel's logo is a big white number 5 superimposed on a blue bar.
History
At 6:00pm
SGT SGT may refer to
* Sergeant, a rank in many uniformed organizations
* Scotland's Great Trails
* Singapore Standard Time
Singapore Standard Time (SST), also known as Singapore Time (SGT), is used in Singapore and is 8 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+ ...
on 15 February 1963, Channel 5 was launched as its first
pilot television service as "TV Singapura". The channel operated 1-hour and 40-minutes
monochrome service on
black and white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
during its daily test transmissions from 6:00pm to 7:40pm SGT. After the image of the
state flag
In vexillology, a state flag is either the flag of the government of a sovereign state, or the flag of an individual federated state (subnational administrative division).
Government flag
A state flag is a variant of a national flag (or occas ...
and the playing of 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 ...
'',
Minister for Culture
A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizat ...
,
S. Rajaratnam
Sinnathamby Rajaratnam ( ta, சின்னத்தம்பி ராஜரத்னம்; 25 February 1915 – 22 February 2006), better known as S. Rajaratnam, was a Singaporean politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Singapo ...
, became the first person to appear on Singapore Television, announcing that "Tonight might well mark the start of a social and cultural revolution in our lives." Following his speech, the first
television programme
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...
in Singapore was a 15-minute documentary produced by Television Singapura called ''TV Looks at Singapore''. It was followed by two
cartoons
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
featuring
Heckle and Jeckle
Heckle and Jeckle are postwar animated cartoon Character (arts), characters created by Paul Terry (cartoonist), Paul Terry, originally produced at his own Terrytoons animation studio and released through 20th Century Fox. The characters are a pa ...
in "
Off to the Opera" and "
Moose on the Loose", a
news report
The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and th ...
and
newsreel
A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, informa ...
, a
comedy show
Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up.
Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...
called ''
Hancock's Half Hour
''Hancock's Half Hour'' was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy series, broadcast from 1954 to 1961 and written by Galton and Simpson, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sid James, Sidney James; the r ...
'' and a
local
Local may refer to:
Geography and transportation
* Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand
* Local, Missouri, a community in the United States
* Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...
variety show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is ...
called ''Rampaian Malaysia (Malaysian Mixture)''. At the time, it was estimated that only one in 58 persons in Singapore owned a television set, and the pilot service offered only 1-hour and 40-minutes of broadcasting per day on Channel 5 was in held at
Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall
The Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall is a performing arts centre in the Central Area of Singapore, situated along Empress Place. It is a complex of two buildings and a clock tower joined together by a common corridor; the oldest part of the ...
.
At 7:15pm SGT on 2 April that year,
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Yusof Ishak
Yusof bin Ishak (12 August 191023 November 1970) was a Singaporean politician and journalist who served as the first president of Singapore from 1965 until his death in 1970.
Prior to becoming head of state, Yusof was a well-known journalis ...
officially inaugurated the regular
television service as "TV Singapura Channel 5" with 4-hour daily broadcasts from 7:15pm until 11:15pm SGT before gradually brought forward to 6:30pm in September that year, showing programmes in
Singapore's four official languages.
Channel 5 and
Channel 8 became regional stations of
Televisyen Malaysia when
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, borde ...
was part of
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
between September 1963 and August 1965.
After the separation of Singapore from the Malaysian federation, all of the Malaysian television and radio operations in Singapore were fused to become Radio Television Singapore (RTS), a part of the Ministry of Culture. 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 5 began its very first
colour television signal on 1 May 1974 with the very first
colour comedy programme of
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977. Moor ...
.
Channel 5 began its
colour broadcasts on 7 July 1974 at 10:10pm SGT with the very first
colour programme being a
live telecast
''Live Telecast'' is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language horror thriller web series written and directed by Venkat Prabhu and starring Kajal Aggarwal, Vaibhav Reddy, Anandhi, Ashwin Kumar Lakshmikanthan, Daniel Annie Pope and Priyanka Nair. The web s ...
of
that year's FIFA World Cup final between
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
and
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, narrated by Brian Richmond, relayed via
satellite transmission. About 2,000
colour television sets were sold 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, borde ...
three days before the match.
Channel 5 began its officially opening
colour broadcasts on 9 August 1974 at 4:44pm SGT with the very first
colour live programme of Singapore's 9th
national day parade was held at the
Padang, Singapore
The Padang (Malay for 'field') is an open playing field located within the Downtown Core of the Central Area in Singapore. It includes the Padang Cricket Ground. The Padang is surrounded by several important landmarks, which include Sain ...
for the first time in all four languages.
On 31 January 1980, Radio Television Singapore (RTS) officially closing telecast and transmission with closing broadcast as usual on television channels by RTS Channel 5 at 11:35pm SGT and 8 at 11:30pm SGT to prepare for a network rebrand.
Rebranding
Radio Television Singapore (RTS) was officially renamed as
Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) effective 1 February 1980, when the government officially relaunched its mother company as a statutory corporation and RTS 5 was officially relaunched as SBC Channel 5 (Saluran 5 SBC). At 3pm SGT, the rebranded SBC 5 signed on with the debut of a new network logo and new graphics for its English and Malay news programming.
SBC 5 debuted stereo broadcasts for its English and Malay productions beginning 1 August 1990 as part of the country's silver jubilee year of independence.
Privatisation
On New Year's Day 1994, SBC Channel 5 revamp the channel logo for a new look and became the first channel in Singapore to become a full-fledged
English-language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
channel
Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to:
Geography
* Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water.
Australia
* Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...
. ''
News 5 at Seven'' an
English-language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
evening news programme premiered on New Year's Day 1994 from 7:00pm to 7:30pm SGT. ''
News 5 Tonight'' became a late news bulletin on SBC Channel 5 aired daily from 10:30pm to 11:00pm SGT.
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 ...
programmes were transferred from SBC Channel 5 to
SBC Channel 12.
On 29 August 1994, "
AM Singapore", Singapore's first
English-language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
breakfast programme, made its official premiere.
Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) was
privatised/privatisation on 1 October 1994 into a new holding company
Singapore International Media (SIM Group of Companies) with four business units:
Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS),
Radio Corporation of Singapore (RCS),
SIM Communications and
Television Twelve (TV12). SBC Channel 5 was officially launched new name as TCS Channel 5.
On 29 September 1995 at midnight stroke SGT, Channel 5 began
24-hour broadcasts.
Channel i
Channel i ( bn, চ্যানেল আই) is a Bangladeshi Bengali-language satellite and cable television channel owned by Impress Group. It was launched on 1 October 1999, as Bangladesh's first digital television channel. It is one of the ...
officially closing telecast on New Year's Day 2005 at 1:30am SGT and all Channel i shows officially moved to Channel 5.
On 1 November 2014, Channel 5 announced a planned expansion of local original programming, including more current affairs programming focusing on Singapore (including the weeknight talkshow ''The 5 Show''), a "local serial drama", and a new talent search competition.
On 1 May 2019, Channel 5 replaced its morning and afternoon schedule (which primarily featured simulcasts of
Channel NewsAsia
CNA (stylised as cna), which is an acronym derived from its previous name, Channel NewsAsia, is a Singaporean multinational news channel owned by the country's national public broadcaster Mediacorp. It broadcasts free-to-air domestically in Sin ...
) with the children's programming block ''
Okto
Okto is a daily children's program block on Mediacorp's Channel 5. The block airs daily during 5's morning and midafternoon time slots. It is also a weekend Mandarin children's program block on Mediacorp's Channel 8. It airs every weekend fro ...
on 5'' (replacing the Okto channel, which was discontinued).
Its English sports programming was integrated into the Channel 5 lineup.
Programming
*
List of programmes broadcast by Channel 5 (Singapore)
This is a list of programmes produced and broadcast on Mediacorp Channel 5, a television channel in Singapore. Lists of programmes includes those telecast when the channel was operated by Television Singapore, Radio Television Singapore (RTS), ...
References
External links
*
{{Mediacorp
1963 establishments in Singapore
Mediacorp
Television stations in Singapore
Television channels and stations established in 1963