Overview
Upon entering the museum, in the Overview gallery, visitors will be greeted with a large screen which is decorated to look like the oldest television sets we ever had in Singapore. Here visitors will view a short 10-minute video clip which serves as an introduction to this virtual museum, its purpose and its exhibits. Besides that, this video clip, which would have some scenes from Channel News Asia's publicity campaign for Mediacorp's TV50 Festival, would also provide visitors with a brief overview of the five decades of history of Singapore TV. The following milestones would be highlighted in the video clip:
1963 April 2: Television Singapura (English), Singapore's first free-to-air TV channel under Radio Television Singapore (RTS), started broadcasting English TV programmes.
1963 November 23: Television Singapura (Mandarin), our second free-to-air TV channel, began broadcasting Mandarin and Tamil TV programmes.
1980 February 1: RTS ceased transmission and became Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Television Singapura (English) and Television Singapura (Mandarin) became SBC-5 and SBC-8 respectively.
1984 January 31: SBC-12, Singapore's third free-to-air TV channel which showed mainly arts and cultural programmes, was launched.
1994 January 1: SBC-5 underwent a change, and Malay programmes were shifted to being broadcasted on SBC-12.
1994 October 1: SBC was privatised and operations were undertaken by three separate companies. Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS) and Singapore Television Twelve (STV12) took over SBC's television broadcasting operations, and Radio Corporation of Singapore (RCS) took over SBC's radio broadcasting operations.
1995 September 1: TCS-8 started its 24-hour transmission.
1995 September 29: TCS-5 followed TCS-8 and started its 24-hour transmission as well. Two new free-to-air channels were created, Prime 12 for Malay programmes, and Premiere 12 for Tamil programmes. This was the first time in the history of Singapore TV that the nation has a free-to-air channel for each of the four national languages.
1999 March 1: Channel News Asia (CNA) was formed.
2000 January 30: Suria replaced Prime 12, and Central replaced Premiere 12. The latter consisted of three sub-channels - Kids Central for children programmes, Vasantham Central for Tamil programmes, and Arts Central for arts and cultural programmes.
2001 February 12: TCS, STV12, and RCS became MediaCorp TV, MediaCorp TV12 and MediaCorp Radio respectively.
2001 May 6: MediaWorks, created by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), began transmission of two free-to-air channels - Channel U (Mandarin programmes) and TVWorks (English programmes).
2002 March 3: TVWorks was renamed Channel i.
2004 December 31: MediaCorp and SPH merged.
2007 January 1: HD5 was launched, becoming the first free-to-air HDTV channel in Singapore.
2008 October 19: Okto replaced MediaCorp TV12 Central, Kids Central, Arts Central, and Channel i. Vasantham replaced Vasantham Central.
2010 June 25: Mediacorp won 13 awards (four golds, four silvers, and five bronzes) at 2010 PromaxBDA World Gold Awards, which is recognised to be the most prestigious awards in this field.
2011 December 12: Mediacorp won Terrestrial Broadcaster of the Year at the 16th Asian Television Awards.
2013 January 21: CNA began its 24-hour transmission.
2013 June 21: Mediacorp won 18 awards (eight golds, seven silvers, and three bronzes) at 2013 PromaxBDA Global Excellence Awards, which aims to recognise excellence in media marketing around the world.
1963 April 2: Television Singapura (English), Singapore's first free-to-air TV channel under Radio Television Singapore (RTS), started broadcasting English TV programmes.
1963 November 23: Television Singapura (Mandarin), our second free-to-air TV channel, began broadcasting Mandarin and Tamil TV programmes.
1980 February 1: RTS ceased transmission and became Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Television Singapura (English) and Television Singapura (Mandarin) became SBC-5 and SBC-8 respectively.
1984 January 31: SBC-12, Singapore's third free-to-air TV channel which showed mainly arts and cultural programmes, was launched.
1994 January 1: SBC-5 underwent a change, and Malay programmes were shifted to being broadcasted on SBC-12.
1994 October 1: SBC was privatised and operations were undertaken by three separate companies. Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS) and Singapore Television Twelve (STV12) took over SBC's television broadcasting operations, and Radio Corporation of Singapore (RCS) took over SBC's radio broadcasting operations.
1995 September 1: TCS-8 started its 24-hour transmission.
1995 September 29: TCS-5 followed TCS-8 and started its 24-hour transmission as well. Two new free-to-air channels were created, Prime 12 for Malay programmes, and Premiere 12 for Tamil programmes. This was the first time in the history of Singapore TV that the nation has a free-to-air channel for each of the four national languages.
1999 March 1: Channel News Asia (CNA) was formed.
2000 January 30: Suria replaced Prime 12, and Central replaced Premiere 12. The latter consisted of three sub-channels - Kids Central for children programmes, Vasantham Central for Tamil programmes, and Arts Central for arts and cultural programmes.
2001 February 12: TCS, STV12, and RCS became MediaCorp TV, MediaCorp TV12 and MediaCorp Radio respectively.
2001 May 6: MediaWorks, created by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), began transmission of two free-to-air channels - Channel U (Mandarin programmes) and TVWorks (English programmes).
2002 March 3: TVWorks was renamed Channel i.
2004 December 31: MediaCorp and SPH merged.
2007 January 1: HD5 was launched, becoming the first free-to-air HDTV channel in Singapore.
2008 October 19: Okto replaced MediaCorp TV12 Central, Kids Central, Arts Central, and Channel i. Vasantham replaced Vasantham Central.
2010 June 25: Mediacorp won 13 awards (four golds, four silvers, and five bronzes) at 2010 PromaxBDA World Gold Awards, which is recognised to be the most prestigious awards in this field.
2011 December 12: Mediacorp won Terrestrial Broadcaster of the Year at the 16th Asian Television Awards.
2013 January 21: CNA began its 24-hour transmission.
2013 June 21: Mediacorp won 18 awards (eight golds, seven silvers, and three bronzes) at 2013 PromaxBDA Global Excellence Awards, which aims to recognise excellence in media marketing around the world.
Short video to be included in our 10-minute video clip
Traditionally, the TV is placed in the living room, in yesteryears at least, where children and adults alike would gather around to watch their favourite TV programmes. The TV was more than just a tool for leisure – it was something which families and communities bonded over. With this in mind, the team seeks to recreate that special sense of bonding by having visitors sit on stools and benches in the Overview gallery, whereby its interior would be designed to look like that of a kampung home in an attempt to create the nostalgia of the 1960s when TV was first born in Singapore. The large screen, juxtaposed with the nostalgic settings, would allow visitors to appreciate how greatly Singapore TV has changed over time. Hopefully, this would bring back some of the memories for those who grew up during that era when broadcasting first started in Singapore.
References
Information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaCorp,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaCorp_HD5,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcasting_in_Singapore,
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/mediacorp-and-national/849210.html?cid=FBSG,
http://mediacorp.sg/en/media/EDC101020-0000285/mediacorp%20wins%2013%20medals%20at%20the%20promaxbda%20world%20gold%20awards%202010,
http://amic.org.sg/blog/2011/12/12/mediacorp-cnn-international-win-top-awards/,
and http://news.xin.msn.com/en/singapore/mediacorp-wins-18-awards-at-2013-promaxbda-awards
Video clip from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0vbVA_KBdU
Information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaCorp,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaCorp_HD5,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcasting_in_Singapore,
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/mediacorp-and-national/849210.html?cid=FBSG,
http://mediacorp.sg/en/media/EDC101020-0000285/mediacorp%20wins%2013%20medals%20at%20the%20promaxbda%20world%20gold%20awards%202010,
http://amic.org.sg/blog/2011/12/12/mediacorp-cnn-international-win-top-awards/,
and http://news.xin.msn.com/en/singapore/mediacorp-wins-18-awards-at-2013-promaxbda-awards
Video clip from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0vbVA_KBdU