Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad, operating as TV3 (pronounced as TV Tiga), is a Bangsar-based Malaysian commercial free-to-air television channel owned by Malaysian media conglomerate, Media Prima.
TV3 is the third oldest TV station in Malaysia. It was launched on 1 June 1984 as the country's first and oldest private television channel. As of October 2021, TV3 remains the most-watched television station in Malaysia with about 17% viewing share among Malaysian television stations. It is followed by TV9 with 15% of viewing share. This makes the two of them the most watched television stations in the country, despite the declining viewership of the 3 free-to-air television channels.
The network is notable for opening the big doors for the launching of private TV stations in Malaysia and responsible for launching the careers of many well-known personalities in broadcasting fields. Since 2003, it also organised the Jom Heboh carnival to promote its brands and products. It is the dominant local channel targeted at the majority Malay population in Malaysia.
History
Setup As early as 1976, some members of parliament demanded the creation of a commercial television channel, but concerns were raised by the government over a potential loss of revenue from newspapers and magazines.
A license was granted to Fleet Group Sdn. Bhd., owned by the Daim Zainuddin on 15 September 1983. Officials from Corporate Business Solutions (CBS) were in talks with Fleet Group executives regarding the development of broadcasting in the country. The plan was to produce 30% national content and air 70% international content, with the option to buy programmes produced by the government. Fleet Group, the publisher of the New Straits Times, was chosen due to its "capacity, capability and expertise". The channel, with a projected launch date of 1 January 1985, was budgeted at RM 45 million. One of the plans was to recapture urban audiences, who had escaped television in pursuit of other forms of entertainment, especially home video, a practice that, among the ethnic groups, was more prevalent in Chinese Malaysians.
In November 1983, TV3 announced that its broadcasts would start ahead of schedule, at some point in 1984. Work for the transmitter at Bukit Besi started in February 1984, revealing the TV3 name to the public. In a surprise move, the channel later secured the rights to the 1984 Summer Olympics days later, to be held later in the year in Los Angeles. The decision still depended on whether or not the owners would start the channel on time. A prospective launch date of between June and July was then announced.
Beginning of operations TV3 (Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad) officially began broadcasting in the Klang Valley (the area surrounding Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia) in conjunction the Hijri date of the first day of the holy month of Ramadan year 1404 AH (1 June 1984) at 5:00pm local time. The deliberate choice of starting the channel during Ramadan was to test the openness of the Malaysian society. The television channel used to broadcast from a building in Jalan Liku, Bangsar, Lembah Pantai, Kuala Lumpur before it moved to Sri Pentas, Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, Selangor in 1995.
Initially, the channel ran for seven hours a day - 5:00pm to 12:00am relying largely on television series produced mainly in the UK and the USA. The programming was mostly new to Malaysia, although some shows were already acquired by SBC (now Mediacorp) in neighboring Singapore. The channel initially had its coverage area limited to the Klang Valley, with plans to start increasing its coverage by the end of the year. Among the shows seen on the new service were Yellow Rose, Hill Street Blues (which SBC rejected), Just Our Luck and Scarecrow and Mrs King. There was also a dedicated slot for Chinese viewers (7 to 8pm), prime-time entertainment at the time RTM's channels were airing news and related programming, and movies in the last slot before closedown. Initially the channel, despite its entertainment format, was faced with criticism over the lack of news and documentaries, while clerics believed that the channel's lack of documentaries would have an adverse influence. Facing the moral controversies the channel had suffered, the channel added prayer calls (RTM had already done for its channels) and had plans to air the main news from RTM. In order to broadcast the news, TV3 needed permission from various organisations (ABU, Asiavision, Visnews, etc.).
In late June 1984, the government was studying the effects to TV3 related to the permission of allowing private radio stations to be opened.
In July 1984, it was announced that TV3 was extending its signal "before long", with an estimated cost of $100 for the maintenance of three transmitting stations, with stations in Penang and Johor to relay its programming, but would also provide separate programming adhering to differences between states. The stations outside Kuala Lumpur would refuse to air content that had already been the source of controversy from conservative figures, with documentaries and related programming likely to fill in the slots. In the case of Johor, the station - which owing to the recent creation of a third VHF channel in Singapore was disabled from broadcasting on VHF) - would refuse to carry content that was already being carried by SBC's channels, due to content rights issues between the two countries. An agreement was held on 23 August to start relaying RTM news bulletins from 31 August.
By October 1984, the channel had surpassed the popularity of both RTM networks, despite its limited coverage area at the time. A survey of 25,000 people conducted by Survey Research Malaysia in September gave satisfactory results to the channel. The slot between 8 and 9pm was seen by 66.9% of the sample, whilst on weekends, the figure increased to 76.9% in the 10pm to midnight period alone. Video rental shops have been feeling the pressure of the channel, witnessing a 20% drop in sales. TV3 had also gained a shadow audience outside of the Klang Valley, with viewers in the area taping programming to relatives and friends in areas without its signal.
TV3 announced in December 1984 that its network would expand by the middle of 1985. Dual audio and stereo were to start in the Klang Valley station in January 1985. The service was the first in the region.
The separate signal for the southern end of Peninsular Malaysia - which included Singapore in its spillover area - was to get TV3 in August 1985. The lack of frequencies available on VHF prompted the station - whose line-up was separate from the Klang Valley station - to start on UHF. Within weeks TV3 showed its silence over the installation of the new station in Johor, as well as further incompatibilities with the Singaporean legal system, including tobacco advertising (which SBC outlawed) and movies in Chinese dialects other than Mandarin. As of February 1985, TV3 was still submitting a proposal to the government to install stations in Ipoh, Johor Bahru and Penang. The government approved the expansion plan in March 1985, encompassing all of West Malaysia, with the plans starting in July. Singaporean advertisers at the time were hesitant in switching to TV3, preferring to wait for the arrival of the station to Johor in order to see the results. At the end of March, equipment had arrived from Japanese company Toshiba to set up the Johor station. Negotiations were underway to find a suitable UHF frequency. Technical difficulties led to the delay of the opening of the Johor station. Consequently, the final date was settled for December 1985. The plan involved five new stations: Penang, Ipoh, Malacca, Johor and Kuantan. The initial idea of having different schedules for different states was scrapped in favor of a uniform national schedule. In addition, UMNO Youth demanded the channel to end its western cosmopolitan image in favor of one that is more supportive of the Malaysian identity, as well as adopting the same censorship system as the two RTM channels.
For its first anniversary on 1 June 1985, the channel aired the 1985 Eurovision Song Contest held in Gothenburg, on a four-week delay, in primetime.
In August 1985, it was decided that the station should start in Johor on 1 November 1985.
By the end of the year, TV3 was broadcasting 60 hours a week. 10% of the programming was in Malay (main news and the current affairs programme Majalah Tiga), 10% in Chinese (especially Hong Kong dramas) and the remaining 80% in English. The hour-long Cantonese drama slot attracted high advertising revenue.
Test signals in Johor started on 2 November 1985. Singapore's Housing Development Board said that it wouldn't modify its rooftop antennas to receive the new service, as it was against the Singaporean government's policy to facilitate the reception of foreign television stations. Furthermore, Singaporean newspapers wouldn't have access to listings for the channel. The government discouraged its viewing, largely due to series in Chinese dialects other than Mandarin.
As of August 1986, TV3 aired 32% local content compared to RTM's 65%.
TV3 began stereo broadcasts in 1987, using the German system. Despite the scarcity of stereo programmes in the market, TV3 has managed to make programmes in mono audio sound like stereo by splitting the mono sounds with a special synthesizer.
In January 1987, Fleet Holdings transferred its 30% stake in STMB to the NSTP in exchange for M$33.75 million. The NSTP's control over the company increased to 40%. Later in the month, it expanded its stake to 70%. An underwriting agreement with several local banks for its public listing was held on 26 January 1988. The station was listed at the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (now Bursa Malaysia) for the first time on 25 April 1988.
In December 1987, TV3 began running its in-house produced 41-second public service announcement spot on AIDS, featuring the voice of Nassier Rahman. The spot aired eleven times between programmes since it started. It ran concurrently with competitor RTM's, which ran for 45 seconds and air once a day on its television channels.
TV3 started broadcasting to Sarawak in 1988. Initially it was scheduled for 26 August but technical problems delayed its launch there by a few days.
TV3 expanded to central Kelantan, Kota Kinabalu and central Pahang in 1989.
TV3 had its near-debut in the food business in November 1988 with the acquisition of some of Cold Storage's shares but did not materialise because the receipt of approval did not reach the authorities at that time.
In May 1989, representatives of MCA Youth met with TV3's management on whether to air Chinese news on TV3, despite its shortage of Mandarin-speaking staff. The Young Malaysian Movement launched a boycott on TV3 in January 1990 to urge Malaysian Chinese to stop watching the channel and ask all TV channels to air news in the languages of Malaysia's three main races. The boycott would also be supported by MCA Youth as well. In June 1990, MCA Youth gave TV3 a 10-day ultimatum to decide whether to broadcast the news in Mandarin. Meanwhile, RTM had planned to air its Mandarin news broadcast on TV3; however the decision was left to TV3 on whether to air it.
Later years By 1990, half of TV3's programmes are in Malay, as required by the government.
TV3's sports programmes in 1990 consist of American football, the 1990 Super Bowl and Italian soccer, competing with RTM's 1990 Commonwealth Games.
During the 1990 general election campaign, TV3 was the only TV crew among the thirty local and foreign newsmen in the Semangat 46 party manifesto reveal. The party's leader refused to allow his voice to appear in news reports but have the crew film the ceremony.
TV3 expanded to Seremban, Bukit Fraser and two more sites in Sabah in 1991 and Mersing, Johor and Miri, Sarawak in late 1992.