China Central Television

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

CCTV (中国中央电视台)

Type	Television network, Satellite television and Cable television
Founded	September 2, 1958
Headquarters	Beijing, China
Industry	Television Broadcasting
Website	www.cctv.com

China Central Television or Chinese Central Television, commonly abbreviated as CCTV (Chinese: 中国中央电视台 pinyin: Zhōngguó Zhōngyāng Diànshìtái), is the major broadcast television network in Mainland China. Organizationally, it is a subministry of the People's Republic of China's central government within the State Administration of Radio, Television, and Film and as such it does not have any editorial independence from the PRC government.

Its news reporting follows parameters directed by the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China. Most of its programming, however, is a mix of comedy and dramatic programming, the majority of which consists of Chinese soap operas. Like many media outlets in China, CCTV has had its state subsidy reduced dramatically in the 1990s, and hence finds it necessary to balance its role as a government agency with the practical fact that it must attract viewers so that it can sell commercial advertising.

In searching for viewers, CCTV has found itself in competition with local television stations (which are also state run) which have been creating increasingly large media groups in order to compete with CCTV.

1 History
2 Channels
3 Overseas broadcasting
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

CCTV first broadcast on September 2, 1958 under the name Beijing Television, after an experimental broadcast on May 1. The name was changed to CCTV on May 1, 1978. In 2008, the new CCTV Headquarters will open.

[edit] Channels

Design of new CCTV headquarters by Rem Koolhaas.

CCTV has sixteen different channels of programming content and competes with television stations run by local governments (such as BTV and several regional channels) and foreign programming which can be readily received via satellite television. Unlike US channel naming conventions, but similar to the situation in many countries in Europe, most CCTV channels are listed in sequential order with no discerning descriptions, e.g. CCTV-1, CCTV-2, etc.

The sixteen channels are:

CCTV-1 Mixture
CCTV-2 Economy
CCTV-3 Arts (similar to ARTV {French-Canadian TV network} and France 4)
CCTV-4 International, in Chinese
CCTV-5 Sports
CCTV-6 Movies and series
CCTV-7 Military/Agriculture
CCTV-8 TV drama
CCTV-9 International, in English
CCTV-10 Science and Technology
CCTV-11 Opera
CCTV-12 Society and Law
CCTV-News -- 24-hour News
CCTV-Children -- Children's channel
CCTV-Music -- Music
CCTV-E&F -- International, in Spanish and French

[edit] Overseas broadcasting

Logo of CCTV.com

Outside China, it is only possible to receive channels CCTV-4 (overseas channel), CCTV-9 (overseas channel targeted at an English-speaking audience), and CCTV-E&F (overseas channel targeted at Spanish-speaking and French-speaking audiences) via a Digital Video Broadcast signal. CCTV has just recently switched from analog to DVB primarily due to better signal quality and the ability to charge for reception (about 10 USD per year subscription). The aforementioned overseas channels are relayed off many different satellites around the world. Alternatively, CCTV-1 through CCTV-10 can be obtained as a peer-to-peer internet feed through PPLive.

The English language CCTV-9 feed is available in the United States on Dish Network, Channel 265; the Spanish and French service (CCTV E&F) is available on Channel 884. Neither of these services are available from DirecTV.

[edit] See also

Media in China
List of Chinese language television channels
CCTV New Year's Gala (中国中央电视台春节联欢晚会)

[edit] External links

CCTV Official Site (Chinese)
CCTV (English)
Skyscrapernews.com article on CCTV Headquarters(English)
List of world TV channels (English)

China Central Television (CCTV) stations
CCTV-1 \| CCTV-2 (Economy/Finance) \| CCTV-3 (Arts) \| CCTV-4 (International Mandarin) \| CCTV-5 (Sports) \| CCTV-6 (Movie) \| CCTV-7 (Military/Agriculture) \| CCTV-8 (Drama) \| CCTV-9 (International English) \| CCTV-10 (Science & Technology) \| CCTV-11 (Opera) \| CCTV-12 (Law & Society) \| CCTV-News \| CCTV-Children \| CCTV-Music \| CCTV-E&F (International Spanish/French)