| TVB Pearl | |
|---|---|
| 無綫電視明珠台 | |
| Launched | 19 November 1967 |
| Network | Television Broadcasts Limited |
| Owned by | Television Broadcasts Limited |
| Picture format | 576i (PAL) 576i 16:9 (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Audience share | 75%[1] (, ) |
| Slogan | This is TVB Pearl (1984-2001) We are the Pearl (1986-1994) The Pearl Watcher Touch (1984-1985) Eye on the World (1986-1987) Eye on 21st (1987) |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Language | English |
| Broadcast area | Hong Kong Macau various parts of Guangdong Province and Guangxi Province Philippines Singapore |
| Headquarters | TVB City, 77 Chun Choi Street, Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate, Tseung Kwan O, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China |
| Sister channel(s) | TVB Jade |
| Website | pearl.tvb.com |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Hong Kong Analogue | Channel 3 |
| Hong Kong Digital | Channel 84 |
| Cable | |
| Cable TV Hong Kong (Hong Kong) | Channel 4 |
| Macau Cable TV (Macau) | Channel 83 |
| IPTV | |
| Now TV (Hong Kong) | Channel 84 |
| HKBN bbTV (Hong Kong) | Channel 84 |
TVB Pearl (Chinese: 無綫電視明珠台) is one of the two free television services in Hong Kong that mainly broadcast in the Hong Kong English, the other being ATV World. It is owned and operated by Television Broadcasts Limited, and together with its sister Hong Kong Cantonese station TVB Jade, is broadcast from TVB City at 77 Chun Choi Street in Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate in Tseung Kwan O, in the Sai Kung District, which is in the Eastern region of Hong Kong's New Territories.
Apart from the use of Hong Kong English rather than Hong Kong Cantonese, TVB Pearl's daytime output differs from TVB Jade's in providing more serious programming, such as documentaries and news, and during peak viewing time it is much more reliant on overseas-made TV series and films. Occasionally, TVB Pearl also shows programmes in other languages (but usually well outside peak viewing time), including Mandarin, Japanese and Korean (see #Non-English programmes).
Established on 19 November 1967, TVB Pearl broadcasts free of charge to over 2.1 million households in Hong Kong. The channel is operated by Television Broadcasts Limited or TVB, along with its sister channel TVB Jade.
In 1991, TVB Pearl began to broadcast in NICAM, a digital audio modulation system that provides a facility for stereo or bilingual or trilingual audio transmission. (For the digital counterpart, multiple AC-3 streams are transmitted for the same purpose.) With a compatible television, the viewer can receive audio in their choice of language; typically, English and Cantonese. Chinese subtitles are available on most programmes after 6:20pm.
Transmission hours are from 6:00 am to 12:00 am in daily a day and public holidays from 12:00 pm to between 12:00 am under same time daily it plays the national anthem (was formerly plays the royal anthem).
TVB Pearl Network starts at 6:00 am. The national anthem (was formerly plays the royal anthem) will be played, followed by the morning prayer and station ident. The first programme of the day follows thereafter.
TVB Pearl Network closes down at 12:00 am. The last programme will be broadcast, followed by the night prayer, station ident, national anthem (was formerly plays the royal anthem) and test card was broadcast at the end.
In the closing (offair) time TVB Pearl is broadcasting a test card complete with date to time and with the text "TVB PEARL - HONG KONG".
As of June 2010, NBC Nightly News is carried on TVB Pearl live at 7:30am, and is currently the only American network news carried on TVB Pearl after the CBS Evening News had disappeared from ATV's schedule. Because NBC Nightly News usually required three commercial breaks, only the first commercial is aired with promos from TVB. When the newscast is on a subsequent break in the United States, TVB Pearl would replace them with financial information from Thomson Reuters until the end of the break.
Movies are the most watched programmes on TVB Pearl. The title for movies was originally called Studio 930, but is replaced by Weekend Blockbuster. This is familiar to most Hong Kong viewers, according to ratings surveys conducted by ACNielsen in 2001. While most drama programmes air over four nights (Monday-Thursdays), Weekend Blockbuster generally airs on Fridays and over the weekend.
The channel produces themed collections of programmes during some special occasions. For example, the collection Be My Valentine (featuring a series of love movies) is released a week before Valentine's Day, and horror movies are shown at Halloween.
Other programmes broadcast include:
TVB Pearl started producing a new programme known as "Dolce Vita" from the spring of 2006. Dolce Vita is a topical lifestyle magazine programme that focuses on current events in Hong Kong, including new restaurants and interviews with visiting English-speaking celebrities.
As a free TV broadcasting channel, TVB Pearl is important in introducing drama produced outside Hong Kong to the populace. This includes such award-winning drama series as Lost, Without A Trace, Nip/Tuck, The O.C., 24, Las Vegas, and Medium. The success of these shows prompted the production of Hong Kong versions of ER (Healing Hands), Desperate Housewives (La Femme Desperado) and Sex and the City (20/30 Dictionary). Moreover, the ratings on the debut of the Japanese Drama Mother at 14 have been the highest ratings recorded for drama on the channel in the last 20 years.
Since the Hong Kong government does not have its own television station, its agency Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) requires the two domestic free television stations to broadcast their programmes and advertisements. One of the well known programmes is Educational Television (ETV) which began in 1971. This follows the Hong Kong education syllabus, serving as a reference for primary and secondary school students of mathematics, Hong Kong English, Putonghua and other school subjects. During the thirty-two week school year, ETV programmes are shown on ATV World from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm and TVB Pearl from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm each weekday.
Other programmes produced by RTHK are broadcast on TVB Pearl on a weekly basis. These programmes are mainly documentaries covering politics and social issues, such as A Week in Politics and Hong Kong Connection.
Both ATV World and TVB Pearl are permitted by the Broadcasting Authority of Hong Kong to broadcast non-Hong Kong English programmes for up to 20% of their daily transmission time, outside peak viewing time. In fact, only 12% of TVB Pearl programmes are in languages other than Hong Kong English: 83.6% of those (10% of its total transmission time) are in Hong Kong Cantonese. The remainder include broadcasts in Japanese, Korean, Filipino and Hong Kong Cantonese.
Schedules are published in the South China Morning Post, The Standard, The Manila Times, Manila Bulletin, Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star and Manila Standard Today and in other daily Hong Kong and Philippine newspapers, including Chinese newspapers.
TVB Pearl operates its own official homepage which contains information about the programmes shown by the channel. In addition to schedules, this includes featured special collections, highlights of some movies, and "editor's choice". A discussion area called Pearl Club, where audience members may post their opinions about the programs of TVB Pearl, is also available; membership is free. Viewers can also register to receive programme information via email, through the "Pearl e-alert" service.
Since the 2002/2003 academic year, TVB Pearl has been in partnership with SCOLAR (The Standing Committee on Language Education and Research) in a pilot project to promote language education in Hong Kong. TVB Pearl will continue to be one of the partner stations of SCOLAR in launching the "English in the Air 2003/04" project, aiming at promoting the learning and teaching of English through television programmes for secondary school students and teachers. Two teenage English television programmes entitled Road Scholars and Lizzie McGuire are to be broadcast on TVB Pearl in accordance with the project. English subtitles will be provided to facilitate the learning of English.
Television Broadcast Limited cooperates with ABC Asia Pacific (ABC AP), whose service is managed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), to provide a broadcast of ABC AP Australian National news every morning after midnight on TVB Pearl. According to the ABC AP Chief Executive, John Doherty, the association between these two channels can offer a rich and diversified quality programming relevant to Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific region. TVB Pearl also includes a block of ABC AP programmes entitled Good Day from ABC Asia Pacific, intended to help viewers refine their English language skills, every Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:40 p.m.. According to David O'Leary, Australian Consul-General in Hong Kong, the ABC AP programmes shown on TVB Pearl would be well received by the Australians working and living in Hong Kong and on the other hand help promote both Australian culture and the use of the English language to Hong Kong people. Now, in Hong Kong, ABC Asia Pacific also live on Cable TV, Now Broadband TV and HKBN Digital TV 24 hours a day.This partnership ended on 17 June 2006.
TVB Pearl is simulcast in analogue and digital, standard definition and 1080i high definition. On 18 March 2007, test simulcasts for 1080i commenced in Manila and Singapore markets, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Bangkok followed on 24 June 2007, with Hanoi following on 25 June 2007, and Hong Kong on 31 December 2007. Prior to this, the HK-TVB Pearl Network provided a 480i 4:3 analog standard-definition broadcast.
TVB Pearl is broadcast through UHF from its six main transmission stations at Temple Hill, Golden Hill, Castle Peak, Kowloon Peak, Tai Mo Shan, and Lamma Island, and two repeaters at Tsuen Wan and Tsing Yi. The Tsuen Wan repeater started service on 22 August 2003, and the Tsing Yi repeater started on 18 September 2003. The repeaters were built to enhance reception of TVB Pearl.
Censorship in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is implemented or mandated by the PRC's ruling party, the Communist Party of China (CPC). However, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has its own English Common Law system and is largely self-governing, so the censorship policy is not implemented in Hong Kong.[2]
TVB Pearl is re-broadcast in Guangdong Province by Southern Television (南方電視臺), the state-owned and operated television network in the Province. Due to the media censorship in China, TVB Pearl is not always available in some parts of the Province. For example, in some cities (like Shaoguan), during those times that the scheduled programme's nature is deemed to be "sensitive”, the local TV provider replaces the programme with pre-taped videos (such as on STD/AIDS Prevention).
TVB Pearl is re-broadcast in the city of Guangzhou by Guangzhou Television (廣州電視臺, GZTV), the state-owned & operated TV network in Guangzhou. In addition to using advertising to replace censored Hong Kong programmes, GZTV also broadcasts adverts during the hours that TVB Pearl is off the air.
TVB Pearl has received a number of awards during the years of its programming production. For example, The Pearl Report: Outsider won a merit at the [Hong Kong Human Rights Press Awards][1] 2002 co-organised by the Foreign Correspondents' Club, Amnesty International Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Journalists Association Meanwhile, 2008 Olympic Image was awarded the Bronze Medal (Station and Image Production) in the New York Festivals.
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