Channel 8 (Singapore)

Channel 8 began its test transmissions on Sunday, 1 September 1963 as an ad-hoc channel for special events. Its first day of test transmissions began with additional highlights of the 1963 Southeast Asia Cultural Festival, followed by a sports coverage with the Athletics triangular meet in Farrer Park, the premiere of the 1959 Hindi movie, Chhoti Bahen, a Malay variety special "Puisirama" (a combination of poetry and Malay music) and concluded with a Chinese classical film. A second test transmission took place between 16 and 20 September of that year and devoted much of its time to the week-long celebrations, to coincide with the formation of the Federation of Malaya, and the political campaigns leading up to the 1963 General Election.

Channel 8 officially began broadcasting on 23 November 1963 at 7:40 p.m. as "Saluran 8 Televisyen Singapura" and aired at first in Chinese (including Mandarin, dialects of Chinese and Cantonese) and Tamil. Its sister station Saluran 5 Televisyen Singapura was launched on 2 April that year with a mix of English and Malay-language shows. Following the separation from Malaysia on 9 August 1965, Channel 8 became part of Television Singapore, and was later integrated as part of "Radio Television Singapore". This led to the expansions of the network, including a move to the new $3.6 million Television Centre in Caldecott Hill on 27 August 1966.

Channel 8 began broadcasting in colour on 1 May 1974. In 1978, all its Chinese language programming as well as advertisements, as a result of the government's Speak Mandarin Campaign, were broadcast solely in the Mandarin dialect. It started airing 24 hours a day on 1 September 1995, becoming a Mandarin-language only channel as all its Tamil programs were transferred to a new channel, Prime 12. It was privatised on 12 February 2001.

Its long line of Chinese language dramas, a source of pride for Singapore's Chinese-speaking community, began in the fall of 1982.

• Mediacorp Channel 8i

• Official Website