Rediffusion Television

This article is about the Hong Kong station. For the defunct ITV contractor in London, see Associated-Rediffusion. For Rediffusion in general, see Rediffusion. For its successor, see Asia Television.

For Indonesian television network known as RTV, see RTV (Indonesian TV network).

Rediffusion Television
RTV
麗的呼聲

Type	Subsidiary
Country	British Hong Kong
First air date	22 March 1949 (radio) 29 May 1957 (television)
TV transmitters	British Hong Kong
Headquarters	Broadcast Drive, British Hong Kong
Broadcast area	British Hong Kong
Owner	BET, Broadcast Relay Services
Dissolved	24 September 1982 (1982-09-24)
Language	English Cantonese
Replaced by	Asia Television

Rediffusion Television
Traditional Chinese	麗的電視有限公司
Simplified Chinese	丽的电视有限公司
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lì de diànshì yǒuxiàn gōngsī Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Laih dīk dihn sih yáuh haahn gūng sī Jyutping Lai6 dik1 din6 si6 jau5 haan6 gung1 si1

Rediffusion Television (RTV) was the first television station in Hong Kong, which became at its launch the first British colony and the first predominantly ethnically Chinese city to have television. It began as a radio station in 1949 and became Asia Television on 24 September 1982.

History

Radio Rediffusion was officially founded in 1949 as a wired radio station run by the Rediffusion company. The radio service was highly successful against its main competitor, Commercial Radio. Some of the early contents included plays, stories, concerts and Cantonese operas. The broadcasts were one of the main attractions in Hong Kong tea shops. One of the most famous broadcasters was Li Ngaw: another was Uncle Ray, the pioneering DJ.

It later became a subscription cable television station on 29 May 1957, becoming the first television station in a colony of the British Empire, as well as the first television station in a predominantly Chinese city. It initially offered a four-hour-per-day English-language and Chinese-language service. The installation fee during its launch was HK$25, with an equipment rental fee of $45, and a monthly subscription charge of $36.

The charge was considered expensive, at a time when the average worker in Hong Kong earned HK$100 per month. Hong Kong tea shops again provided an outlet for the broadcasts to the working class who could not afford the subscription fees.

When competitor TVB made its first free-to-air broadcast on 19 November 1967, RTV had 67,000 subscribers. It was renamed Rediffusion Television Limited (RTV; 麗的電視有限公司) on 1 June 1973 when it was granted its free-to-air terrestrial broadcasting license. Cable television broadcasts were ceased thereafter. On 24 September 1982 it was renamed as Asia Television (ATV; 亞洲電視).

See also

• Television in Hong Kong
• Commercial Radio Hong Kong