Arts- Television

This week, we’ll be delving more into the arts scene in Singapore; mainly the television aspect. The television scene in Singapore is mainly controlled by Media Corporation of Singapore, also known as Mediacorp. Mediacorp was formerly known by a few other names, such as Television Singapura, Radio Television Singapore, Television Corporation of Singapore, etc. It first started in 1963 and has 48 years of history on its back up till the year 2011.

There are 7 main free-to-air terrestrial television channels as of 2011. Some of these include Channel 5, Channel 8, Channel U, Channel News Asia and OKTO. Even with the little number of channels offered by Mediacorp, they are still able to cater to all walks of life and all the different races in Singapore. The 7 different channels encompasses variety shows, sitcoms and news channels in 4 different languages.

In 2001, SPH Mediaworks Ptd Ltd set up 2 extra free-to-air terrestrial television channels (Channel U and Channel I) in order to pose as healthy competition in the television industry to Mediacorp. However, the 2 channels were ephemeral and merely lasted 3 years before SPH and Mediacorp announced that the 2 companies were going to merge, thus leading the Mediacorp being to sole television provider in Singapore up to date.

Some of the notable television series that Mediacorp has successfully produced over the years includes Return of the Condor Heroes, starring Fann Wong and Christopher Lee, as well as Holland V, which is the first long-running drama to be filmed, produced and aired completely in Singapore. A considerable number of television programmes have also been outsourced to neighbouring countries such as China and Malaysia, where foreigners will get to watch our local dramas as well.

Other distinguished variety shows include the annual Star Search Contest, which is hosted to discover new acting talents in Singapore. This has recently been extended to overseas countries such as China and Taiwan where more talents were uncovered. The latest winner was actually a Shanghainese. Many television actors in the local industry also hail from various countries such as Thailand (Pornsak), China (Dai Yang Tian, Zhou Ying) and Malaysia (Christopher Lee) and have all found fame on our sunny shores.

Overall, the television scene is Singapore is pretty vibrant although paling in comparison to neighbouring countries, such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, whom have a longer history compared to ours. However, we believe that the local arts scene will continue to prosper and flourish in the years to come.