Rediffusion Television
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Type | Government Franchised[1] |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1949 (radio) May 29, 1957 (television) |
| Headquarters |  Hong Kong |
| Industry | Radio broadcasting Television broadcasting |
Rediffusion Television (RTV) (麗的電視有限公司) was the first television station in Hong Kong, established in May 29, 1957, making it both the first British colony and the first predominantly Chinese city to have television.[2] It began as a radio station in 1949 and became ATV by September 24, 1982.
[edit] History
"Radio Rediffusion" was officially founded in 1949 as a highly successful wired radio station run by the Rediffusion company.[2] It was known by the Chinese name 麗的呼聲. The radio service was highly successful with its main competitor Commercial Radio. Some of the early contents included plays, stories, concerts and Cantonese operas. The broadcasts were some of the main attraction in Hong Kong tea shops. One of the most famous broadcaster was Li Ngaw.[1] The other was Uncle Ray the pioneering DJ.
It later became a subscription cable TV station on May 29, 1957 under the Chinese name 麗的映聲 (pinyin: li4 de5 ang3 sheng1), thus becoming the first TV station in a British colony, as well as the first TV station in a predominantly Chinese city. The content at the time was color. It initially offered a four-hour-per-day English language and Chinese language service. The monthly fee during its launch was HK$25, which was expensive at the time. [3] Hong Kong tea shops once again provided an outlet for the broadcasts to the working class who could not afford the subscription fees. When competitor TVB made its first free-to-air broadcast in February 1, 1967, RTV had 67,000 subscribers.[2] In June 1, 1973, it was renamed as Rediffusion Television Limited or RTV (麗的電視有限公司) when they granted its free-to-air terrestrial broadcasting license and cable television had ceased broadcast from RTV. In September 24, 1982 it was renamed as ATV (亞洲電視).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Evans, Grant. Tam, Maria. [1997] (1997). Hong Kong: the anthropology of a Chinese metropolis. ISBN 0700706011
- ^ a b c Kitley, Philip. [2003] (2003). Television, Regulation and Civil Society in Asia. Routledge. ISBN 0415297338
- ^ (Chinese) http://www.rthk.org.hk/broadcast75/topic03a.htm RTHK website on 75 years of broadcasting in Hong Kong
