Television Corporation of Singapore

Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS)
Type	Public Broadcasting Department of Singapore Ministry of Information television
Country	Singapore
First air date	1 October 1994
Availability	Nationwide
Founded	1 October 1994
Broadcast area	Singapore Johor, Malaysia Riau Islands Province, Indonesia
Parent	Singapore International Media (SIM Group of Companies)
Launch date	1 October 1994
Dissolved	Renamed as Mediacorp TV 12 February 2001
Analogue channel	TCS-5 TCS-8
Group	Television

Television Corporation of Singapore (Abbreviation: TCS; Singapore Mandarin: 新加坡电视机构 (Abbreviation: 新视); Malaysian: Perbadanan Televisyen Singapura; Tamil: சிங்கப்பூர் தொலைக்காட்சிக் கழகம்) was a television broadcasting services in the then-monopolised media industry in Singapore. TCS existed from 1 October 1994 to 11 February 2001; predecessor of MediaCorp Radio successor of the television broadcasting arm of the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) was privatised on 1 October 1994 in Singapore into three individual companies, one of which was Radio Corporation of Singapore (RCS) and Singapore Television Twelve (STV12). TCS subsequently underwent a group restructuring of subsidiaries by Singapore International Media (SIM Group of Companies) on 12 February 2001 to becoming MediaCorp TV.

History

Timeline

Television Corporation of Singapore (1994–2001)

The Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) was privatised on 1 October 1994, and SBC's operations were split into 3 individual companies under the Singapore International Media (SIM Group of Companies) banner. Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS), Radio Corporation of Singapore (RCS) 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.

On 1 September 1995 at midnight, TCS 8 became the first channel in Singapore to broadcast 24 hours a day, while TCS 5 commenced its 24-hour broadcasts on 30 September, almost 5 weeks later, leaving Singapore Television Twelve to continue closing down at night.

Malay and Tamil programmes (previously aired on TCS 5 and TCS 8, respectively) were moved to Channel 12 such as: Prime 12 (later Suria) and Premiere 12 (later Central) programming.

MediaCorp TV (2001–present)

The SIM Group of Companies was restructured Media Corporation of Singapore (MediaCorp Singapore) on 1 January 1999 and TCS subsequently became MediaCorp TV on 12 February 2001.

Milestones

Before 1 October 1994, Television Corporation of Singapore and Radio Corporation of Singapore was formerly known as:

Television Singapore (16 February 1963 – 30 December 1963)
Television Malaysia (Singapore) (31 December 1963 – 8 August 1965)
Radio and Television of Singapore (RTS, 9 August 1965 – 31 January 1980)
Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC, 1 February 1980 – 30 September 1994)

Important events

Year	Date	Event
1994	30 September	SBC ceased transmission on 1 October 1994, starting with Channels 8 & 12, at 12:30am and Channel 5 at 3:05am. All times are in SST.
1994	1 October	SBC was privatised to form 3-companies: the Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS), Radio Corporation of Singapore (RCS) and Singapore Television Twelve (STV12), the members of the Singapore International Media (SIM) group.
1995	1 January	Chinese programmes produced by TCS Channel 8 were broadcast in Republic of China (Taiwan), via the newly established TCS International cable channel.
1995	6 March	The premiere of Good Morning Singapore on TCS Channel 8. Full morning transmission began and the second channel to do so.
1995	10 March	24 hour broadcasts began for TCS Channel 8, but only from the early hours of Saturday morning until Sunday night. Closedowns were also being continued on Sunday nights till Thursday nights only.
1995	31 August	TCS Channel 8 closed down for the last time after almost 32 years. The following day, the channel began broadcasting 24 hours a day.
1995	1 September	TCS Channel 8 became the first channel to broadcast 24 hours a day permanently and became the full-fledged Mandarin channel. At the same time, all Tamil programmes were being handed over to the newly re-launched TV12's main channel, Prime 12.
1995	28 September	TCS Channel 5 closed down for the last time, at 3:45am, after more than 32 years, leaving with TV12 channels, Prime 12 & Premiere 12, continuing closing down every night.
1995	29 September	TCS 5 began broadcasting 24 hours a day, starting from the early hours of Saturday morning.
1998	31 December	Singapore International Media (SIM) ceased transmission.
1999	1 January	SIM Group of Companies became Media Corporation of Singapore (MediaCorp Singapore).
2001	11 February	TCS, STV12 and CNA ceased transmission within TCS but Channel NewsAsia and the rest of the channels are still on the air within MediaCorp.^[1]^[2]^[3]
2001	12 February	TCS, STV12 and CNA became MediaCorp TV, MediaCorp TV12 and MediaCorp News respectively. It would continue to own and manage Channel 5, Channel 8, Suria, Kids Central, Vasantham Central and Arts Central as well as TVMobile by providing its diverse audiences with a broad range of quality terrestrial television programmes.

List of channels