Central (TV channel)

For other uses, see Central Television.

Central

Country	Singapore
Broadcast area	Singapore Johor Bahru/Johor Bahru District (Malaysia) Batam/Batam Islands, Riau Islands (Indonesia)
Headquarters	Bestway Building, 12 Prince Edward Road, 079212 Singapore
Programming
Language(s)	English Tamil
Picture format	576i (4:3 SDTV)
Ownership
Owner	MediaCorp (MediaCorp TV12)
Sister channels	Suria City TV
History
Launched	1 September 1995;29 years ago (1995-09-01)
Closed	19 October 2008;16 years ago (2008-10-19)
Replaced by	Vasantham Okto
Former names	Channel 12 (1984 – 1995) Premiere 12 (1995 – 2000)
Availability (at time of closure)
Terrestrial
Analog terrestrial television	Channel 24

Central was a Singaporean free-to-air terrestrial television channel in Singapore, owned by state media conglomerate MediaCorp.

The channel was established on 1 September 1995 by Singapore Television Twelve as Premiere 12, an UHF spin-off of Channel 12 focused on arts, cultural, sports, and English-language entertainment programmes. Premiere 12 inherited the previous format of Channel 12, which concurrently relaunched with a multilingual format focused on Malay and Tamil programmes.

On 30 January 2000, the channel relaunched as Central; the channel's schedule was divided into three different strands, with children's programmes under the Kids Central strand, Tamil-language programmes under the Vasantham Central strand, and arts and cultural programming under the Arts Central strand. On 19 October 2008, MediaCorp discontinued Central and spun its programming off into the new channels Okto and Vasantham.

History

Premiere 12

On 26 August 1994, ahead of the bill that suggested the planned privatisation of the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation, the Minister for Information and the Arts (Brigadier General) George Yeo announced the plan for the creation of a fourth free-to-air television channel in Singapore, offering a predominantly cultural lineup. Under this plan, arts and cultural programming would be spun off from Channel 12 into a new channel, broadcasting on the UHF band due to the lack of VHF slots available. Tamil programmes would be moved from Channel 8 to Channel 12, so that 8 would shift exclusively to Chinese-language programming, and 12 would focus on Malay and Tamil language programmes. ^[1]

On 27 July 1995, Television Twelve (later renamed Singapore Television Twelve)—who became responsible for Channel 12 after privatization—received the greenlight from the Singapore Broadcasting Authority to broadcast a UHF channel. ^[2] Test transmissions began on 1 August 1995, with trial programming running nightly from 7 to 9 pm and the test pattern filling the rest. ^[3]

The new channel would launch on 1 September 1995 as Premiere 12, with the existing Channel 12 concurrently rebranded as Prime 12. At launch, Premiere 12 planned to broadcast 72 hours of programmes weekly, 15 1/2 hours of which would be devoted to sports coverage such as S. League and Serie A football, basketball, and golf among others. Unlike Prime 12, much of Premiere 12's programmes were in English. The channel also planned to air a weekly slot for "baby boomers" featuring comedy series from the 1970s and classic films, and acquired the American late-night talk show Late Show with David Letterman . ^[3] Sandra Buenaventura, CEO of Singapore Television Twelve, said that the channels were "like a tin of assorted biscuits", reflecting the individual nature of the specialist programming of the new services. ^[4]

Data from Nielsen Survey Research Singapore showed that Premiere 12's viewership share went from 10% in September 1995 to 22% in February 1996, attributed to the channel's better selection of programmes than those of Channel 5. ^[5]

In September 1998, Japan Hour moved from Prime 12 to Premiere 12, as the viewing audience matched Premiere 12's profile: 69% of the average viewer base consisted of professionals, managers and executives. Dramas were also moving to the channel. This enabled a boost in Japanese programming on weekends. By then, the newsmagazine produced by NNN (NTV) moved to the slot before the drama; up until then it aired before the Japan Hour documentaries. ^[6]

Central

In September 1999, Singapore Television Twelve announced that Premiere 12 would be relaunched as Central as part of a company-wide restructuring of MediaCorp's television output, with the launch set for 30 January 2000. ^{[7] [8]} Central's programming schedule was divided into three strands;

• Kids Central, focusing on children's programmes targeting viewers 12 and younger; many of these programmes moved from Channel 5, which elected to focus more on teen-oriented programmes. The block was positioned as a competitor to pan-Asian cable channels such as Cartoon Network, featuring programmes acquired from international markets (such as Dragon Tales and Tweenies ), alongside original domestic productions such as Hip-O & Friends, The Big Q, and Kids United. As per licence conditions, at least twelve hours of programmes per-week were expected to have educational components. ^{[9] [10] [11]}
• Vasantham Central, which would focus on Tamil-language programmes, including news, cultural, and entertainment programmes. ^[11]
• Arts Central, which would focus on arts programmes (including the newsmagazine Art Nation), theatrical productions, documentaries, and classical music. ^[11]

On launch week, Kids Central reportedly had 70,000 to 173,000 viewers, Vasantham Central exceeded 30% share and the showing of the Cirque du Soleil performance Quidam on Arts Central attracted 140,000 viewers. ^[12] On 28 February 2000, Singapore Television Twelve increased Central's on-air hours from 91½ to 110½ hours per week. ^[13]

In 2002, TV12 launched the Take the First Step campaign, aiming at people getting interested in the arts. ^[14]

In 2006, Arts Central organised the Front Awards, aimed at young local arts practicioners. It is named after its weekly arts magazine series of the same name, Front. ^[15]

In March 2008, MediaCorp announced that Central would be split into two standalone channels; the changes took effect on 19 October 2008, with Vasantham being spun off as a dedicated channel for Tamil programmes, and Okto inheriting the children's and arts programming. ^{[16] [17]}

References

1. "Fourth TV channel will feature cultural shows". The Straits Times (retrieved from NLB). 27 August 1994. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
2. "TV 12 to start new channel". The Straits Times (retrieved from NLB). 29 July 1995. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
3. "More Malay, Indian programmes plus arts, sports". The Straits Times. 2 August 1995. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
4. "More as TV 12 splits into 2". The New Paper (retrieved from NLB). 31 August 1995. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
5. "Ch 5: More foreign shows on prime-time". The Straits Times. 28 March 1996. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
6. "Japanese shows move". The Straits Times. 29 September 1998. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
7. "Ch 5: More foreign shows on prime-time". The Straits Times. 28 March 1996. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
8. Haman, Andrea (1 December 1999). "STV 12 unveils Kids Central". Kidscreen. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
9. Haman, Andrea (1 December 1999). "STV 12 unveils Kids Central". Kidscreen. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
10. "Killer new look". The Straits Times. 6 April 2007. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
11. "Seventh Annual Report by the Programme Advisory Committee (PAC)" (PDF). Infocomm Development Authority. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
12. "Programme Ratings for STV12 Channels Soared on Debut!". MediaCorp Group. February 2000. Archived from the original on 27 June 2001. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
13. "STV12 to Increase Programming Hours on Central". MediaCorp Group. February 2000. Archived from the original on 10 April 2001. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
14. "Reluctant switch". Today (Singaporean newspaper). 30 January 2002.
15. "Pushing the frontier in arts". Today (Singaporean newspaper). 13 November 2006.
16. "Two more to savour". Today (retrieved from NLB). 21 October 2008. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
17. Wong, Alicia (1 March 2008). "Dedicated Indian and kids TV channels". Today (retrieved from NLB). Retrieved 24 March 2020.