TV9 (Malaysian TV network)

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Country	Malaysia
Network	Terrestrial
Affiliates	TV3, ntv7
Headquarters	Sri Pentas, Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Programming
Language(s)	Malay
Ownership
Owner	Media Prima Berhad

TV9 is a free-to-air private television station in Malaysia. TV9 began broadcasting on 22 April 2006 as a subsidiary of Media Prima Berhad. It formerly existed as Channel 9, which began airing on 9 September 2003 and ceased transmission on 1 February 2005 due to financial difficulties faced by the operator.

TV9 broadcasts programmes that are marketed mostly to Muslim Malays in Malaysia. Its line-up is of religious shows, Indonesian dramas and Nickelodeon animated shows.

History

As Channel 9

Channel 9 old logo

Old Channel 9 Headquarters at Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

Channel 9 began its on-air broadcast on 9 September 2003 and its workforce mostly consist of the former MetroVision employees. The channel's line-up consisted of programmes in English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil. It also featured a TV Shopping programme.

Anaza Sdn Bhd, the then-operator of THR.fm, acquired Channel 9 from Medanmas Sdn. Bhd. Subsequently, Channel 9 launched its new slogan Malaysia...lah! in 2004.

Under the new management, a slot dedicated for Hindi movies, known as Hindi Power, which also included Tamil Bollywood programmes, was introduced. It airs from 16:00 to 20:00 local time daily.

Channel 9 airs its own news segment called Liputan 9 (literally: 9 Coverage) was Channel 9's primetime news programme, which airs on 20:00 local time daily.

On New Year's Day 2005, Channel 9 announced that it was halting its operations on 1 February 2005 to restructure its debts and corporate organisation. It also faced intense competitions from the other free-to-air television stations in Malaysia during that time. On the same day, Malaysia's largest media corporation, Media Prima Berhad announced its acquisition of 98% equity stake in Ch-9 Media Sdn Bhd and almost completed the company's ownership of all private free-to-air television stations in Malaysia.

Relaunch as TV9

Channel 9 was rebranded as TV9 and began broadcasts on 22 April 2006, 12:00 local time. It was relaunced with a new slogan: Dekat di Hati (Malay for Close at heart).

On 1 January 2010, the channel launched a new tagline, Di Hatiku (At my heart in Malay).

For the first months of broadcast, TV9 did not have its news bulletin and broadcasts Edisi 7, courtesy of ntv7. TV9 only had its own news bulletin by the start of next year in 2007, known as Berita TV9, which airs on 20:00 local time every day.

TV9 is currently only available in Peninsular Malaysia. TV9 was not included in Astro until December 2006, when it was assigned channel 22 on Astro. The inclusion of TV9 in Astro enabled TV9 to spread its wings to Sabah and Sarawak. Due to Astro's channel renumbering in October 2007, TV9 broadcasts on channel 119 today.

The channel usually starts at 06:30 and signs-off at 00:00 the next day, showing a test card except for during the holy month of Ramadan, when it broadcasts for 24 hours a day.

See also

• List of Malaysian television stations
• List of programmes broadcast by TV9 (Malaysia)
• TV Pendidikan
• Radio Televisyen Malaysia

External links

• Official Site
• The Return Of Channel 9
• Channel 9 homepage at Archive.org