TV3 (Malaysia)

Infobox Network
network_name = Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad (TV3)
network_
country = flagicon|Malaysia Malaysia
network_type = Private broadcast terrestrial television
available = National and all South-East Asia countries
owner = Media Prima Berhad
key_people =
launch_date = 1 June 1984
founder =
slogan = First in News, Best in Entertainment (Berita Terkini Hiburan Sensasi)
motto = Be There (1984-1985)
Stand Up and Tell'em Malaysia's Great (1985-1988)
Rangkaian Sukaramai (Everyone's favourite network) (1988-1993)
First in News, Best in Entertainment (Berita Terkini Hiburan Sensasi) (1993-2000)
Duniamu (Your World) (2000-2004)
Pilihan Hatiku (My Heart's Choice) (2006-2007)
TV3 Disisimu (TV3 Is At Your Side) (2007-2008)
Inspirasi Hidupku (My Life's Inspiration) (2008-)
past_names =
website = [http://www.tv3.com.my/ www.tv3.com.my]

Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad (STMB) or TV3 was incorporated in 1983 as Malaysia’s first commercial television station. It is part of Media Prima group of companies.

History

Also called 'TV Tiga' (its name in Malay), it began broadcasting in the Klang Valley, (the area surrounding Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's largest city) on June 1, 1984.

It soon increased coverage nationwide, and today can be received in neighbouring countries, either as a terrestrial channel (in Singapore and Brunei) or via satellite, particularly Indonesia. In Singapore, the channel ran into controversy because it broadcast programmes in Cantonese. The Singapore government prevented local newspapers and magazines from carrying listings for the channel, even though these were available for the other Malaysian channels, and TV3 is not available on StarHub, Singapore's only cable TV operator.

In July 1984, TV3 brought Malaysians live coverage of the Los Angeles Olympics, the first station in the country. This boost in popularity led to its listing on the Main Board of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange in April 1988.

Features

Ever since its launch, TV3 has been the leading television station in Malaysia and has twice reached 51% of audience share (January 12 - 18, 2003 and June 29 - July 5, 2003), the highest audience share ever achieved by a Malaysian television station. In terms of advertising revenue, the company retains its leadership position and continues to produce strong revenue growth from advertisements. TV3 continues to upgrade its equipment for production and transmission, and its employees receive continuous exposure and training in television production. This has enabled TV3 to remain as the premier private commercial broadcaster.

TV3, together with 8TV and local English daily the New Straits Times and Malay daily Berita Harian form the largest media group in Malaysia, collectively known as Media Prima. It is currently headed by Ahmad Izham Omar.

With Malaysia on the track to economic recovery, there has been a correspondingly steady demand for local programmes, whether it be news, , magazines, talk shows, sports, documentaries, dramas or films. With a strong base of television producers have revolutionized local content production to admiral levels in the broadcast industry. The station has been a trendsetter by producing quality local production and has caught the attention and loyalty of Malaysians. Believing in the precept that local content is the way to go, TV3 continues to invest in people and equipment to produce quality local content. However, the station also broadcast a balance of quality foreign content movies, dramas, situation comedy, documentaries and sports. The station has a strong market position and reinforces its brand awareness amongst its viewers through various on air and ground events.

TV3 currently broadcasts under UHF (Ultra High) Frequency, although it is also available in the Klang Valley under VHF (Very High) Frequency band III Channel 12 (TV3 initially started transmission in the Klang Valley on VHF Band III Channel 12). In the Klang Valley, the UHF channel is 29.It is widely seen as favouring the government and not giving enough coverage for the opposition.

TV3 is also available over Astro on Channel 103.

Programme

Dramas are in blue; variety programmes are in flax; movies and/or specials are in black; reality shows are in orange; serial soap dramas are in corn; comedies are in "'green.

TV3's Primetime programmes as of August, 2008.

Criticism

TV3 has bring some controversies to Malaysian entertainment. Especially with the excessive advertistment space which lead to the anger of the audience.

Trivia

*In 1991, the "TV3 7:00 News" and the "TV3 Buletin Utama" were chosen to be Malaysia's news entries for the American cable TV network [http://www.scola.org/ Scola] , which carries news programs from around the world. The two TV3 news programs aired on alternating days in Scola's schedule. Scola dropped TV3's news programs from their schedule in 1994.
*TV3 was the first channel in Malaysia to carry Teletext signal, and the last one in the country to drop it. Known as Infonet, it is available to television sets with Teletext capabilities. Before being renamed to Infonet, TV3's Teletext service was called Beriteks, and was launched in 1984. The Infonet service was shut down on January 1 2008.
*TV3 was the first channel in Malaysia to broadcast a 3D-movie on January 2001. The movie, Jaws 3-D, required the viewers to have a pair of anaglyph glasses that can either be bought from certain stores partnered with TV3 for the event or attained from elsewhere (i.e. a 3D comic book the viewer already has).
*TV3 was the first channel in Malaysia to adopt stereo broadcasting. Stereo transmission started in the early nineties using the Zweikanalton stereo transmission system over TV3's UHF broadcast in the Klang Valley. Shortly after, the stereo transmission is introduced into their VHF broadcast. Recently, TV3 began switching their VHF broadcast over to NICAM, although their UHF transmission is still in Zweikanalton. TV3 was also experimenting with Bilingual over Zweikanalton for a short period of time in the early nineties.
*TV3 attempted 24 hours transmission in 1997, making it the first station in Malaysia to do so. However, the 24 hours broadcast ceased in 1998 due to the Asian economic crisis. In 2004, the 24-hour broadcasts returned only from Thursday morning to Sunday night. TV3 resumes daily 24-hour broadcast on July 2007 and occasionally not on air through the night for essential maintenance in early July.
*In February 2007, a reality television programme which broadcasted on TV3 called Sensasi was banned. This was because, one of the judges on this show touched on sensitive issues relating to Islam. The judge's comment made a huge controversy. All live and recorded telecast of this show were also banned from viewing. This also occurred on another reality TV show called "Teleskop", several years back.
* TV3 was awarded the 2007 Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Award for Responsible Entrepreneurship organized by Enterprise Asia for its significant contribution towards corporate social responsibility.

ee also

* List of Malaysian television stations
* TV9
* 8TV
* Ntv7
* Media Prima Berhad
* New Straits Times
* Berita Harian

External links

* [http://www.tv3.com.my Official Site]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmhWStaIDvA YouTube - First TV3 Promo (1984-1988)]
* [http://malaysiantv.blogspot.com/ Malaysian TV Listing Blog]