The Channel 7 or Channel 7 HD, fully known as Bangkok Broadcasting & Television Company Limited Channel 7 (Thai: สถานีโทรทัศน์สีกองทัพบกช่อง 7) or BBTV Channel 7, is a Thaifree-to-air television network that was launched on 27 November 1967. It is the first color television broadcast in the Mainland Southeast Asia. It was owned by the Royal Thai Army on Analog transmission. Its headquarters are located in Mo Chit, Chatuchak, Bangkok. Similar to a British ITV, America NBC and CBS.
History
The channel was launched in a ceremony on 27 November 1967 at 7:00 pm Bangkok Time. It was presided over by the then Prime Minister of ThailandField MarshalThanom Kittikachorn. The first programme to air was the 1967 Miss Thailand Pageant. Channel 7 was known back then as "Bangkok Color Television", airing on channel 5. On 1 January 1972, it started broadcasting nationwide.[1][2]
Channel 7 launched its high-definition television feed on 25 April 2014 on its digital terrestrial television system (DTT) on channel 35. Three years later, on 19 June 2017, Channel 7 was given authorisation from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to shut down its analogue frequencies in the rest of the country, in order to replace them with its digital channels on DTT. Thus, the network was expected to stop broadcasting on analogue 1 January 2018, but the process was postponed to 16 May 2018 and eventually completed on 16 June.
Thailand