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 appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscripti ...

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 i ...

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 or Singapore Time * Society of Glass Technology {{disambiguation ...

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 occasi ...

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 organizatio ...

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 bet ...

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 characters created by Paul Terry, originally produced at his own Terrytoons animation studio and released through 20th Century Fox. The characters are a pair of identical anthropomorphic yellow-bi ...

in " Off to the Opera" and " Moose on the Loose", a news report 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, inform ...

, 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 Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sidney James; the radio version also co-starr ...

'' and a local

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a co ...

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 ...

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, bor ...

was part of

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

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. Moo ...

. 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 ser ...

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 ...

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 A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. C ...

. About 2,000 colour television sets were sold in

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 The National Day Parade (NDP) is an annual parade held in Singapore to commemorate its independence. Held annually on 9 August, it is the main public celebration of National Day, consists of a parade incorporating contingents of the Singapore ...

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 Sai ...

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

channel. '' News 5 at Seven'' an

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 ...

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 programmes were transferred from SBC Channel 5 to SBC Channel 12. On 29 August 1994, " AM Singapore", Singapore's first

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 The modern 24-hour clock, popularly referred to in the United States as military time, is the convention of timekeeping in which the day runs from midnight to midnight and is divided into 24 hours. This is indicated by the hours (and minutes) pass ...

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 Si ...

) 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