Television
Cambodia launched a test television station, its call sign is XUTV, which began broadcasting in 1966. The station was part of state-owned Radio dffusion Nationale Khmere in 1970, operating 12 to 14 hours daily, with advertising as its primary income. Its studios were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge in 1975, halting the role of television during the Khmer Rouge era.
In 1983, the government launched another station, TVK, under the Vietnamese-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea regime. It began broadcasting in color from 1986. There was only one station until the late 1990s, when private companies began to launch their own stations.
All of these stations have local programming, including serials, variety shows and game shows. Thai soap operas (dubbed in Khmer) were extremely popular, until a backlash following the 2003 Phnom Penh riots, after which Thai programs were banned.
Cable television, including UBC programming from Thailand as well as other satellite networks, is also widely available in Cambodia. Many people in Cambodia do not watch Cambodia-produced television, instead applying for UBC from Thailand to view Thai programs. Cambodians living abroad can watch Khmer television content via Thaicom from Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
Most television networks in Cambodia shut down in the evening. Since 2008, the government have allowed TV channels to close at 12.00 a.m. (midnight) and resume at 6.00 a.m..
Read more about this topic: Media Of Cambodia
Famous quotes containing the word television:
“There was a girl who was running the traffic desk, and there was a woman who was on the overnight for radio as a producer, and my desk assistant was a woman. So when the world came to an end, we took over.”
—Marya McLaughlin, U.S. television newswoman. As quoted in Women in Television News, ch. 3, by Judith S. Gelfman (1976)
“Never before has a generation of parents faced such awesome competition with the mass media for their children’s attention. While parents tout the virtues of premarital virginity, drug-free living, nonviolent resolution of social conflict, or character over physical appearance, their values are daily challenged by television soaps, rock music lyrics, tabloid headlines, and movie scenes extolling the importance of physical appearance and conformity.”
—Marianne E. Neifert (20th century)
“Photographs may be more memorable than moving images because they are a neat slice of time, not a flow. Television is a stream of underselected images, each of which cancels its predecessor. Each still photograph is a privileged moment, turned into a slim object that one can keep and look at again.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)