 | |
| Country | China |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | National; also distributed in otherAsia countries oncable andsatellite |
| Headquarters | CCTV Headquarters East 3rd Ring Road Chaoyang Metropolitan Beijing,People's Republic of China |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | Mandarin |
| Picture format | 1080iHDTV (downscaled to576i for theSDTV feed) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | China Central Television |
| History | |
| Launched | 1 May 1958; 66 years ago (1958-05-01) (Test Transmission) 2 September 1958; 66 years ago (1958-09-02) (Launch Transmission) |
| Former names | Peking Television (2 May 1958 – 30 April 1978) CCTV (main channel) (1 May 1978 – 31 January 1987) China Central Television First Program (1 February 1987 – 2 April 1995) China Central Television News and Comprehension Channel (3 April 1995 – 7 May 2003) |
| Links | |
| Website | cctv.cntv.cn |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Digital TV (DTMB) | Digital channel number varies by area. |
| RTHK (Hong Kong) | Channel 33 (HD) |
| TDM (Macau) | Channel 71 (SD) |
| Streaming media | |
| CCTV program website | CCTV-1 |
CCTV-1 (CCTV General Channel) is the primary channel ofCCTV, the nationalflagshipterrestrial television network of thePeople's Republic of China. It broadcasts a range of programs fromCCTV Headquarters atEast 3rd Ring Road inBeijing and is available to bothcable andterrestrial television viewers. Theterrestrial signal of CCTV-1 isfree-to-air across China. However, due to copyright restrictions, thesatellite signal of CCTV-1 is encrypted, andsmartcards are necessary for decryption.[1][2]
Initially branded asPeking Television (not to be confused with the present-dayBeijing Television), CCTV-1 was launched on an experimental basis on 2 May 1958 and officially regular broadcasting for 4 hours 30 minutes each day starting on 2 September 1958. Peking Television was granted a free-to-air terrestrial television broadcasting license in the 1960s. From 6 January to 4 February 1967, Beijing Television's transmissions were suspended when theRebel Faction temporarily seized power.[3] It began broadcasting experimentally incolour in 1971 and was later launched via satellite transmissions in 1973 for major events. The first color programs werePAL-D/K, and full-time color broadcasting began in 1977.
On 1 May 1978, Peking Television was renamedChina Central Television (CCTV) with the approval of theCentral Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. CCTV began domestic satellite transmissions in 1984 using theSong Dang Hong 2 satellite. In 1988, it began stereo broadcasting on all television channels. In 1994, it moved satellite broadcasting fromChinasat-3 toChinasat-4, a quality-level broadcaster. It turned on itsdigital signal in 2002. CCTV-1 began broadcasting 24 hours a day on 1 October 2004 and beganhigh-definition broadcasting on 28 September 2009. On 1 March 2011,Hong Kong'sAsia Television (ATV) started relaying CCTV-1 instead ofCCTV-4, a Hong Kong–based free-to-air digital terrestrial station that is usually tuned to 15 on theUHF band. On 29 May 2017, Hong Kong'sRTHK started relaying CCTV-1 instead ofCGTN Documentary, a Hong Kong–based free-to-air digital terrestrial station that is usually tuned to 33 on the high-definition television.
CCTV-1 HD is asimulcast network version of CCTV-1 in high-definition. All standard-definition content is upscaled to high-definition output. The rest of the programming hours consist of mainly upscaled resolution CCTV-1 simulcast. The horizontal resolution was increased to1920 pixels. CCTV-1 HD was created specifically for the2008 Summer Olympics and the2008 Summer Paralympics at theBeijing National Stadium. For the duration of the2012 Summer Olympics broadcasting was increased to 24 hours a day to provide extra coverage of theSummer Olympic Games events.
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A re-compiled edition of CCTV-1 started broadcasting in Hong Kong andMacau on 1 March 2011, and relaunched on digital terrestrial television on 29 May 2017.
Due to copyright and law restrictions, commercial advertisements, some television dramas, and some entertainment shows are not aired on CCTV-1 Hong Kong and Macau versions.
