Vietnam Television

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**Vietnam Television**

Type	Analog television network
Branding	VTV
Country	Vietnam and worldwide via satellite
Availability	Vietnam
Founded	by Voice of Vietnam
Launch date	September 7, 1970
Website http://www.vtv.vn or http://www.vtv.org.vn

Vietnam Television, or VTV, is the national television broadcaster for Vietnam. Like all media of Vietnam, its programming is directly controlled by the government.

1 History
2 Channels
3 Programming
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

The first television broadcasts in Vietnam were in the 1960s when the United States set up two channels (one Vietnamese language and one in English in Saigon).

VTV was established with technical assistance and training from Cuba on September 7, 1970 in Hanoi. During the Vietnam War it broadcast intermittently from a mountainous region.

After Reunification in 1975, the former US-run stations in the south became part of the national network and broadcasting was extended to the entire country.

Color television was introduced in 1978. Vietnam Television became an official name on April 30, 1987. And by 1990, VTV viewers had two national TV channels to choose from.

VTV's regional broadcasting centers are located in Ho Chi Minh City, Hue, Da Nang, Phu Yen, Nha Trang, Can Tho, Vinh and Tam Dao. Programming is relayed nationwide via a network of provincial and municipal television stations. There are transmitters in most outlying areas of the country. By 2003, more than 80% of all urban households owned a television set. The percentage was considerably less in rural areas, but even the most remote village cafe has a TV and video or DVD player.

In addition, each major city and most of the 59 provinces have their own television stations.

[edit] Channels

VTV today has the following channels:

VTV1 (channel 9): News and current affairs. VTV1 initially broadcast on January 1, 1990.
VTV2 (channel 11): Science, technology and education. VTV2 initially broadcast on January 1, 1990.
VTV3 (channel 22): sports and entertainment. VTV3 was started in April 1995.
VTV4: An international channel launched in 2000, offering a best-of package of programming from the three domestic channels to Vietnamese worldwide.
VTV5: Introduced on February 10, 2002 to serve the ethnic minority communities in Vietnam.
VTV6: Youth channel. VTV6 was started on April 29, 2007
VTV9: South favour, started on 1 October, 2007
VTV7: Youth and education, in preparation.
VTV8: English channel, in preparation.

Since 2003, all above channels have also been made available via satellite. In addition, VTV has also offered 9 channels (from VCTV1 to VCTV9) in the system of cable television VCTV, including many translated programs from Reuters, ESPN, Discovery Channel, BBC plus about 40 original channels but users have to pay for these programs.

[edit] Programming

VTV has its own film production company, the Vietnam Television Film Center, or VFC, which makes made-for-television movies and miniseries. However, only about 30% of the entertainment programming shown on VTV is made locally. The rest is imported and dubbed in Vietnamese. Shows include Korean and Chinese serial melodramas, which are the mainstay of nightly programming on VTV3.

Aside from news and current affairs programming, VTV1 devotes itself to orchestral concerts, ballets, traditional theater and ethnic minority culture shows.