CCTV-1 (CCTV General Channel) is the primary channel of CCTV, the national flagship terrestrial television network of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It broadcasts a range of programs from

CCTV Headquarters The CCTV Headquarters serves as the headquarters for China Central Television (CCTV) formerly located at the old China Central Television Building some to the west. Feted by architecture critics as perhaps "the greatest work of architectu ...

at East 3rd Ring Road in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

and is available to both

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

and

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 ante ...

viewers. The terrestrial signal of CCTV-1 is

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 ...

across China. However, due to copyright restrictions, the satellite signal of CCTV-1 is encrypted, and

smartcard A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card) is a physical electronic authentication device, used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) c ...

s are necessary for decryption.According to LyngSat site, the encryption for CCTV-1 is

VideoGuard VideoGuard (sometimes referred to simply as ''NDS''), produced by NDS, is a digital encryption system for use with conditional access television broadcasting. It is used on digital satellite television systems - some of which are operated by News ...

History

Peking Television (2 May 195830 April 1978)

Initially branded as Peking Television (not to be confused with the present-day

Beijing Television Beijing Radio and Television Station (BRTV), formerly Beijing Media Network (BMN), is a government-owned television network in China. It broadcasts from Beijing. The channel is available only in Chinese. Beijing Media Network was founded o ...

), CCTV-1 was launched on an experimental basis on 2 May 1958 and officially regular broadcasting for 4 hours 30 minutes each day starting on 2 September 1958. Peking Television was granted a free-to-air terrestrial television broadcasting license in the 1960s. It began broadcasting experimentally in

colour Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...

in 1971 and was later launched via satellite transmissions in 1973 for major events. The first color programs were PAL-D/K, and full-time color broadcasting began in 1977.

China Central Television (1 May 1978present)

On 1 May 1978, Peking Television was renamed China Central Television (CCTV) with the approval of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. CCTV began domestic satellite transmissions in 1984 using the Song Dang Hong 2 satellite. In 1988, it began stereo broadcasting on all television channels. In 1994, it moved satellite broadcasting from Chinasat-3 to Chinasat-4, a quality-level broadcaster. It turned on its digital signal in 2002. CCTV-1 began broadcasting 24 hours a day on 1 October 2004 and began high-definition broadcasting on 28 September 2009. On 1 March 2011,

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Asia Television Asia Television Limited (, also known as ATV) is a digital media and broadcasting company in Hong Kong. Established as the first television service in Hong Kong as Rediffusion Television () on 29 May 1957, it shifted to terrestrial television ...

(ATV) started relaying CCTV-1 instead of

CCTV-4 CCTV-4 is a Chinese free-to-air television channel. It is one of six China Central Television channels that broadcasts outside the People's Republic of China. This channel contains a variety of programs including documentaries, music, news, dra ...

, a Hong Kong-based free-to-air digital terrestrial station that is usually tuned to 15 on the UHF band. On 29 May 2017, Hong Kong's

RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service in Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econo ...

started relaying CCTV-1 instead of

CGTN Documentary CGTN Documentary (formerly CCTV-9 Documentary) is a Chinese pay television channel operated by the China Global Television Network (CGTN) group, owned by Chinese state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV). The channel broadcasts documenta ...

, a Hong Kong-based free-to-air digital terrestrial station that is usually tuned to 33 on the high-definition television.

Transmission hours

*2 September 195830 April 1978: 19:00–22:30 Beijing Time *1 May 197827 January 1987: 09:00–13:00 and 17:00–23:30 Beijing Time *28 January 198728 February 1993: 08:25–23:50 Beijing Time *1 March 199331 March 1994: 06:50–01:00 Beijing Time *1 April 19944 May 1997: 06:00-01:58 (06:00–01:12 on Wednesday) Beijing Time *5 May 19977 July 2001: 05:55–02:00 Beijing Time *8 July 200130 April 2003: 05:55–01:45 Beijing Time *1 May 200315 June 2003: 24 hours a day *16 June 200312 August 2004: 05:55–02:10 Beijing Time *13 August 2004 29 August 2004: 05:55–05:00 Beijing Time *30 August 20045 September 2004: 24 hours a day *6 September 200426 September 2004: 05:55–02:25 Beijing Time *27 September 200430 September 2004: 05:55–03:10 Beijing Time *1 October 2004present: 24 hours a day

High-definition

CCTV-1 HD is a simulcast network version of CCTV-1 in high-definition. All standard-definition content is upscaled to high-definition output. The rest of the programming hours consist of mainly upscaled resolution CCTV-1 simulcast. The horizontal resolution was increased to 1920 pixels. CCTV-1 HD was created specifically for the 2008 Summer Olympics and the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was f ...

at the Beijing National Stadium. For the duration of the 2012 Summer Olympics broadcasting was increased to 24 hours a day to provide extra coverage of the Summer Olympic Games events.

Hong Kong and Macau version

A re-compiled edition of CCTV-1 started broadcasting in Hong Kong and

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...

on 1 March 2011, and relaunched on digital terrestrial television on 29 May 2017. Due to copyright and law restrictions, commercial advertisements, some television dramas, and some entertainment shows are not aired on CCTV-1 Hong Kong and Macau versions.

References

External links

Official Site
{{CCTV China Central Television channels Television channels and stations established in 1958 1958 establishments in China