TTV Main Channel is the primary

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 ...

terrestrial television Terrestrial television, or over-the-air television (OTA) is a type of television broadcasting in which the content is signal transmission, transmitted via radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a TV station to a TV rece ...

channel of the Taiwan Television company and is the first television channel launched in the

Republic of China 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 ...

(Taiwan).

History

It was established on April 28, 1962, test transmissions on October 3, 1962 and officially inaugurated by the First Lady of the

Soong Mei-ling Soong Mei-ling (also spelled Soong May-ling; March 4, 1898 – October 23, 2003), also known as Madame Chiang (), was a Chinese political figure and socialite. The youngest of the Soong sisters, she married Chiang Kai-shek and played a prom ...

on October 10, 1962. The launch was the result of a joint Japan-Taiwan study group. On October 12, 2020, TTV Main Channel converted its terrestrial feed to high-definition.

Appearances

Test card

From the start of its television broadcasts in 1962 until the 1970s, TTV used a monochrome "bullseye"-style

test card A test card, also known as a test pattern or start-up/closedown test, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast (often at sign-on and sign-off). Used since the ear ...

. It was then replaced with the colour

Philips PM5544 The Philips circle pattern (also referred to as the Philips pattern or PTV Circle pattern) refers to a family of related electronically generated complex television station colour test cards. The content and layout of the original colour circle pa ...

test card from the 1970s until 2014. Now replaced with EBU colour bars and SMPTE RP 219:2002 HDTV color bars.

Opening and closing times

TTV Main Channel starts up every Monday at 05:00 and closes down every Monday at 02:45 for transmitter maintenance. All other days are 24 hours.

HD version channel

TTV HD was launched on July 21, 2012, simulcasting the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in high-definition format. After coverage ended, it began simulcasting with TTV Main Channel. On December 29, 2014, TTV Main Channel started broadcasting in HD, while TTV HD closed. ''Note:'' # The song " 中華民國國歌" ''Zhōng Huá Mín Gúo Gúo Gē'' (

National Anthem of the Republic of China The "National Anthem of the Republic of China", also known by its incipit "Three Principles of the People", is the national anthem of the Republic of China, commonly called Taiwan, as well as the party anthem of the Kuomintang. It was adop ...

), lyrics by

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-senUsually known as Sun Zhongshan () in Chinese; also known by Names of Sun Yat-sen, several other names. (; 12 November 186612 March 1925) was a Chinese physician, revolutionary, statesman, and political philosopher who founded the Republ ...

(孫中山) and composed by Ch'eng Mao-yün (程懋筠) was played at the start of each broadcast day.

References

Television stations in Taiwan Chinese-language television stations Television channels and stations established in 1962 Mass media in Taipei 1962 establishments in Taiwan Taiwan Television {{Taiwan-tv-stub