Tongyeong Central Television

**Tongyeong Central Television** (**TCTV**; Korean: **통영중앙텔레비죤**) was the state broadcaster of the People's Democratic Republic of Tongyeong from 1953-2000 and is currently a public subsidy of the Tongyeong Broadcasting System.

## History

TCTV was established on September 1, 1953, as **Pyongyeo Television** after the Tongyeongese War ended. It was broadcasting two hours between 19:00 (7:00 pm) until 21:00 (9:00 pm) TST on weekdays only, and then expanding to 4 and later 6 hours.

The station later was renamed as **Central Television Broadcasting System** in 1961.

The CTBS would later be renamed Tongyeong Central Television (TCTV) and was officially relaunched at 17:00 (5:00 pm) local time on January 3, 1973 (the first working day in 1973 in North Tongyeong). The broadcasting hours were only on weekdays (workdays in North Tongyeong) and closed on weekends and national holidays.

TCTV officially began colour television broadcasts on July 1, 1974, and broadcast the first live colour telecast in preparation for the 7th Pacifian Games held in Telaira via satellite transmission on September 1, 1974, the first network to do so. TCTV was the first live colour television channel to broadcast the New Year's Eve in colour on December 31, 1974, and in 1975 began weekend broadcasts as well. TCTV started their full-time colour broadcasts on September 1, 1977.

The remarkable broadcasts received via satellite television broadcasts was the opening of the 22nd Summer Olympic Games on July 19, 1980, and the opening ceremony of the 1982 edition of World Cup in Pingeria's opening ceremony match between Encinian national football team-Trawigian national football team on June 14th, 1982 in live transmissions, with the help of the South Tongyeongese satellite communications company Tongyeongsat.

The next year, in 1981, as the PDRT ended the prohibition of imported content, and with the opening of the borders on December 12th, TCTV started airing foreign movies and serials, mostly from communist nations, Ensmond or Jiandao, although with censorship of scenes that relate to the offense of the North Tongyeongese government.

TCTV started broadcasting on national holidays on March 1, 1981. On national holidays, the broadcasting time of each station is the same as weekends save for major ones. The channel was the official host broadcaster of the 1989 13th World Festival of Youth and Students.

Following the collapse of the PDRT and unification with South Tongyeong in March 1998, TCTV was initially redefined as a politically independent public broadcasting system. With the hope for its unification, the channel must simulcast at least 3 hours on weekdays (19:00-20:00, 22:00-00:00) and 5 hours at weekends (17;00-20:00, 22:00-00:00) of TBS1 programming. At the same time, it began international satellite broadcasts via MEASAT-2, but was limited to times when TCTV broadcasts its programming.

TCTV eventually shutted down on the day of 1st May 2000. Its frequencies were taken over by TBS1. Currently, it is a public subsidy of the Tongyeong Broadcasting System, producing several shows, films and documentaries in locations formerly served by TCTV. Some of the programs of the TCTV era, like the news program "Bodo" (Report) is also still on air, but only for locations formerly served by TCTV.