Malaysian Tv Network 8Tv
Metropolitan TV Sdn.
Bhd., operating as 8TV (Chinese: 八度空间), is a Malaysian Chinese-language free-to-air television network focused on the Chinese community of Malaysia, owned and operated by Media Prima. The channel formerly existed as MetroVision from 1 July 1995 until 1 November 1999 and relaunched as 8TV on 8 January 2004.
_logo_in_Chinese.svg){kind=logo} | |
| Country | Malaysia |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Malaysia Singapore Brunei Thailand (South Thailand, particularly Songkhla, Narathiwat, Yala and Satun) Indonesia (West Kalimantan, Riau Islands, North Kalimantan and Riau) Philippines (particularly southern Palawan and Tawi-Tawi) |
| Headquarters | Sri Pentas, Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | Mandarin (China, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan) Cantonese (Hong Kong, Malaysia) Hokkien (Taiwan) Thai English (2004-2018) Korean (2016-2024) |
| Picture format | 576i (4:3/SDTV) (1995 - 1999, 2004 - 2017) 1080i (16:9/HDTV) (2017 - present) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Media Prima (Metropolitan TV Sdn Bhd) |
| Sister channels | |
| History | |
| Launched |
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| Closed |
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| Former names | MetroVision (1995-1999) |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
 myFreeview | Channel 108 (HD) |
| Streaming media | |
| tonton | Watch live (HD) |
| 8TV | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 八度空間 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 八度空间 | ||||||||||
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Its programming consists of mostly dramas, sitcoms and reality shows made in Chinese, either produced in Malaysia or imported from other countries, such as Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Singapore, the occasional Korean and Thai drama is target for Malay viewers.
History
As MetroVision
Plans for a fourth channel or television station were revealed in August 1989. Set to be called "TV4", it planned to launch January 1990 with coverage initially limited to the Klang Valley. One of its applicants, Melewar Group Berhad, said that the channel would air entertainment and sports programmes. The new channel was set to be "another step towards diversifying sources of home entertainment". The plan was cancelled the following month because the government felt that the existing TV channels were adequate to meet the country's "present needs".
The establishment of TV4 received approval from the Cabinet in September 1991 and expected to begin transmission in January 1992 in Klang Valley.
The plan was revived in January 1992, with the application period began in September of the same year. One of the applicants was the Utusan Group – the then-parent company of Utusan Malaysia, which aimed to establish a separate company and have its studios based on its own plot of land at Mukim Batu, Selangor, if it gets the licence. Other applicants included Rediffusion Radio which owned a cable radio station and returner Melewar Group.
Fauzi Abdul Rahman, the then-Parliamentary Secretary of the Information Ministry said in May 1992 at the Parliament House that TV4 likely to set up by early 1993 and will be awarded a tender by June 1992, but delayed to August, before it began its broadcast.
In June 1993, the licence was given to a consortium of four companies which included The Utusan Group, planning to launch in 1994; later delayed to January 1995 and 18 February. In December 1994, City Television applied a broadcasting licence, which is pending approval from the Ministry of Information. By the end of January 1995, the licence has been finalised.
The owners invested RM 45 million for the new channel, with the RM 30 million used for the channel's operations. It also planned to gradually have 60% of its programming in Malay as required by its licence. In February 1995, MetroVision postponed its programme transmission following the feeder cable damage during its shipment from Japan, and rescheduled its transmission by mid-March. It was announced on 23 May 1995 that the channel will start its full broadcasts in the third quarter of 1995. The channel said that it adhered guidelines set by the government before it begin its broadcast.
MetroVision started broadcasting on 1 July 1995 at 6:30 pm, with the official launch on 18 September 1995 at the Putra World Trade Centre. It was managed by City Television Sdn. Bhd., part of the Melewar Group Berhad, a company owned by Tan Sri Tunku Abdullah, a member of the Negeri Sembilan royal family. Other shareholders included the Utusan Group, Medanmas (now Ch-9 Media) and Diversified Systems. Its studios were located at Subang Hi-Tech Industrial Park at Shah Alam, Selangor. MetroVision transmitted on UHF channel 27 from Gunung Ulu Kali (near Genting Highlands). Its signal, spanning a radius of 50 km, covered the Klang Valley and parts of Seremban and Rawang, reaching as far as Tanjung Karang and Seremban. Its target market was "15- to 39-year-olds from urban middle and upper class dual-income households who have high English-language comprehension".
Its prime time Malay news bulletin, Warta Prima, originally aired at 7:30 pm to avoid competition with other channels. It later moved to 8 pm in October 1995. to comply with government rulings.
In September 1995, MetroVision proposed that it would commence 24-hour broadcasts and would use English as its broadcasting medium, but was rejected by the Government. On 12 October 1995, MetroVision became the first in the world to introduce interactive television, presented in a phone-in quiz format. The service was provided by Articulate Interactive Sdn. Bhd. with telephone systems provided by Audiotel Sdn. Bhd.
In October 1995, MetroVision dropped the airing of Taiwanese drama Justice Bao for a week, causing the government to amend the Censorship Board Regulations and Broadcasting Code of Ethics to allow "costume dramas" to air. The drama series was acquired by JV Media Sales Sdn. Bhd.
By 1996, seven percent of MetroVision's programming were foreign; its primetime programming were mostly in English and Chinese. Nickelodeon programmes air on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The station had 75 employees.
MetroVision had problems with the scheduling of its programmes; due to the introduction of the classification system, The Bold and the Beautiful which used to air in the afternoon had to be moved to late evenings.
By the end of 1996, MetroVision was sold to a new owner. By February 1997, the Melewar Group confirms that it has divested its equity stake in MetroVision. In July the same year, MetroVision and TV3 were ordered by the Ministry of Information to relocate their transmitters to the Kuala Lumpur Tower. Beginning in early 1998, MetroVision introduced dual audio channels in its transmissions. Later in June 1998, MetroVision received approval from the Government to broadcast nationwide, but did not prepare for the move, citing the "revenues it obtain from advertisements has dropped due to economic downturn" as a reason. In August 1998, the channel launches its official website, which only active until its closure. It also planned to expand its broadcast transmission to outside of Klang Valley.
Due to the Asian financial crisis and overcrowding from other channels and pay-TV operators (such as Astro, Mega TV and NTV7), MetroVision shut down on 1 November 1999. The operator promised to re-start the channel in March 2000 after a supposed "signal upgrade" but that did not materialise. The staffs and personalities of MetroVision have since moved to different media companies after its shutdown.
In March 2001, MetroVision – then tentatively named Channel 8 – was bought by Rediffusion Radio, a subsidiary of Arab-Malaysian Corporation, a company owned by Tan Sri Azman Hashim, which planned to operate the dormant station for 10 years under the new name, Redi8.
In 2002, Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional said that it has assumed control of MetroVision, but it later divested. Star Media Group – the parent company of The Star rejecting its proposal to acquire MetroVision while saying that there are no discussion plans to buy the channel.
In 2003, the newly-established Media Prima announces its intent to acquire MetroVision as it believes that it could see it "dominate the broadcasting industry". The conglomerate also was in talks with the operator's Special Administrators on the possibility to revived the channel while it plans to positioned the channel as the "important component" in its business operation. On 24 October 2003, the 8TV name was unveiled to the public as part of Media Prima's plan to relaunch MetroVision.
Renamed as 8TV and early history
On 8 January 2004, MetroVision was relaunched and rebranded as 8TV under the entity of Bhd. (formerly known as City Television) after the company was brought by Media Prima in 2003 with few Chinese, Malay and English contents in the beginning. Throughout its history, all the contents were gradually replaced by Chinese content as more of them were added to the channel's broadcasting slot. Mandarin is used in all of its news broadcasts nowadays and there was also a short-lived Malay news broadcast that was available in the channel's early years.
On 1 October 2004, 8TV was made available on the Astro platform.
On 6 September 2007, 8TV along with its sister channels, TV3, ntv7 and TV9 made available for online viewing via Media Prima's newly-launched streaming service, Catch-Up TV, which later rebranded as Tonton.
As a Chinese-oriented TV channel, 8TV broadcasts more Chinese programmes and movies and hold its own Chinese New Year campaign in conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebrations every year. As part of the campaign, the TV company distributes its Chinese New Year singles discography in competition with rival Astro since 2009. (Astro began to distribute Chinese New Year singles since 2008.) Beginning from 2015, 8TV release and distribute its Chinese New Year singles yearly with its own themes, theme songs and mascots based on the 12 animal zodiac as well as its related merchandise (e.g. soft toys). Over the years, it also collaborate with other Media Prima partners for the singles such as One FM (now 8FM) and NTV7. In addition, the discography team also tour across the country to promote their discography and its merchandise. The singles' Compact Discs can also be bought at Popular Bookstore CD Rama kiosks nationwide during the festive season. (Astro already have its own 12 animal zodiac campaign since 2010.) The 2023 CNY theme Full score Love You Rabbit (Chinese: 活力满分Love You兔, Pinyin: Huólì mǎnfēn love you tù) is used on air until the closing of 2022 Winter Olympics.
Programme rescheduling
A programme reschedule was implemented on 1 April 2016, with almost all Chinese programmes shown on Saturdays to Tuesdays, while English programmes retain their time slots as usual on Wednesdays to Fridays, but by June 2017, this channel broadcast only one English programme, which broadcasts every Friday.
The rescheduling also includes a 3-hour morning home shopping block titled CJ Wow Shop (now Wow Shop) which had also been introduced across other Media Prima channels, some more affected by the changes (especially sister channels NTV7 and TV9). However, this block has attract huge criticism on social media as it replaced a large part of daytime schedule, which these slots had been previously running mostly reruns, religious programming and kids programming. The programme was initially broadcast in Malay on the channel like its sister channel before being broadcast in Mandarin beginning 8 January 2017 onwards.
In 2017, this channel signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the China International Communication Center. On 5 March 2018, 8TV became an independent first Chinese-language television channel and all 8TV's English programming was moved to NTV7 while NTV7's Mandarin programming was moved to 8TV as early as March 2018, due to the former changing its audience focus. On 8 June 2020, the day after Mandarin 7 aired its last edition on NTV7, 8TV's Primetime Mandarin News was extended to 1 hour.
On 11 February 2021, this channel has started its HDTV broadcasting in conjunction of Chinese New Year and available exclusively through myFreeview DTT service on channel 108.
On 4 May 2021, this channel started 24 hours a day due to Eight FM launch simulcast radio every midnight.
Programming
Criticism and controversies
In 2004, during the UEFA Euro 2004, 8TV was allegedly aired an ad for the liquor manufacturer Carlsberg which is the football telecast's sponsor. As a result, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) imposed a fine of RM50,000 on 8TV in accordance with the provisions of Section 242, Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
On 13 January 2008, during its 4th anniversary, singer-songwriter Faizal Tahir took off his shirt and to reveal his chest on stage during the live broadcast. On 19 January, the MCMC said they suspended live and delayed entertainment programs on 8TV for three months effective January 15, 2008.
In October the same year, the MCMC take action against 8TV by immediately suspending its chatting service after finding that the service were "misused by viewers to find sex partners," with the possibility of being banned after the completion of MCMC's investigation into this case.
At the beginning of the 2011 Ramadan season, 8TV aired three public service announcements that were said to be racist and insulting to the Chinese as they depicted a Chinese woman eating openly, wearing immodest and uncivilized clothes during Ramadan, with the intention of ordering non-Muslims to respect fasting month accordingly. These adverts were eventually withdrawn following criticism from various parties, including Muslims who claimed to be offended by the advertisements.
See also
Notes
References
External links
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