CCTV-4 is a Chinese

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

television channel. It is one of six

China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is the State media, national television broadcaster of China, established in 1958. CCTV is operated by the National Radio and Television Administration which reports directly to the Publicity Department of th ...

channels that broadcasts outside of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It airs a variety of programmes, including documentaries, music, news, drama series, sports and children's programmes for the

Greater China In ethnogeography, "Greater China" is a loosely-defined term that refers to the region sharing cultural and economic ties with the Chinese people, often used by international enterprises or organisations in unofficial usage. The notion contains ...

region, including China,

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

History

Before the launch of CCTV-4, CCTV's programming was sent abroad to areas with a sizeable Chinese diaspora. In January 1992, CCTV delivered programmes to the Americas using Ku- and C-band satellites, in English, for an hour a day. CCTV-4 was officially launched on 1 October 1992 with broadcasts from 8:30 am to 12:10 am

Beijing Time The time in China follows a single standard time offset of UTC+08:00, where Beijing is located, even though the country spans five geographical time zones. It is the largest sovereign nation in the world that officially observes only one time ...

. In 1997, the channel was made available to the Americas. The following year, its content was made available in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

on a joint service called Daifu Channel. The programming of CCTV-4 initially consisted of a mixture of English- and Chinese-language programming. English broadcasts stopped with the launch of CCTV-9 in September 2000. Select CCTV-4 programmes were also broadcast in

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

until 2007. On 1 November 1994, CCTV News was replaced by "China News". On 1 July 1995, the channel expanded and extended its international coverage by launching on satellite. At the same time, the channel was revised and programmes were broadcast in Mandarin, Cantonese and English, and started airing 24 hours a day. On 1 January 2007, the channel was split into three editions: * ''CCTV-4 Asia'' * ''CCTV-4 Europe'' * ''CCTV-4 America''

Criticism

In 2016,

Peter Dahlin A forced confession is a confession obtained from a suspect or a prisoner by means of torture (including enhanced interrogation techniques) or other forms of duress. Depending on the level of coercion used, a forced confession is not valid in rev ...

's forced confessions were aired on CCTV-4. In 2019, Dahlin filed a complaint against China Central Television-4 (CCTV-4 World) with Canadian authorities, having previously accused the Canadian regulator CRTC of inaction.

Programmes

CCTV New Year's Gala The ''CMG New Year's Gala'', formerly known as the ''CCTV New Year's Gala'', also known as the ''Spring Festival Gala'', and commonly abbreviated in Chinese as ''Chunwan'' (), is a Chinese New Year special produced by China Media Group (CMG). I ...

* China's Public Opinion Field * Across China * Traditional Chinese Medicine * Our Chinese Heart * China Showbiz * China News *

Xinwen Lianbo ''Xinwen Lianbo'' () is a Chinese daily news television programme produced by state-owned television broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV). It is shown simultaneously by all local TV stations in mainland China, making it one of the world ...

* Journey to Civilization * Foreigner in China * Tian Ya Gong Ci Shi * Sports on Line * Happy Chinese * Asia Today * Focus Today * Chinese World * Beloved Family

References

{{Television in the People's Republic of China China Central Television channels Television channels and stations established in 1992 1992 establishments in China