TVB facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Television Broadcasts Limited

Headquarters at TVB City
Native name	電視廣播有限公司
Type	Public
Traded as	SEHK: 511
Industry	Television broadcasting; media and entertainment
Founded	19 November 1967; 57 years ago (1967-11-19) in Broadcast Drive, Kowloon Tong, British Hong Kong
Headquarters	77 Chun Choi Street, Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate, New Territories, Hong Kong
Area served	Cantonese Language Markets (Worldwide)
Key people	Thomas Hui (Chairman & Non-Executive Director) Li Ruigang (Non-Executive Director) Eric Tsang (General Manager)
Products	TVB Jade, TVB Pearl, TVB Anywhere, MyTV Super, TVBS, TVBNews, TVB.com, TVB Publishing, TVBUSA, TVB8, TVB.cn
Revenue	HK$2.5 billion (2022)
Net income	-HK$0.8 billion (2022)
Number of employees	3,200 (2023)
Parent	Clear Water Bay Land Company Limited

Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a big television company based in Hong Kong. It runs several free TV channels in Hong Kong. Its main channel for Cantonese speakers is TVB Jade, and for English speakers, it's TVB Pearl. TVB's main office is located at TVB City in the Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate.

TVB started broadcasting on November 19, 1967. The company was officially created on July 26, 1965. It was co-founded by Sir Run Run Shaw, who was the chairman for many years, along with Sir Douglas Clague and Harold Lee Hsiao-wo. When TVB first started, people often called it "Wireless Television" in Chinese. This was to show it was different from the cable TV company at the time, Rediffusion Television. Even though other companies later offered free-to-air TV, TVB is still often called "Wireless Television."

TVB is very famous for its TV shows, especially its dramas. It also produces popular beauty pageants like Miss Hong Kong and Miss Chinese International. For a long time, TVB has been the most important TV broadcaster in Hong Kong.

How TVB Started

The main TVB transmitter at Temple Hill. TVB was Hong Kong's first "wireless," or free-to-air television station.

In the early 1960s, the government in Hong Kong thought about starting a second TV station. At that time, the only TV available was a paid service called Rediffusion Television, which used wires. There was a lot of discussion about how the new station should be set up. One challenge was finding enough shows to broadcast. It was hard to find many Chinese-language shows from other countries, so most of them would need to be made in Hong Kong.

Even with these challenges, many companies were interested. The government asked for bids to create a new "wireless" (free-to-air) TV station in 1965. On January 25, 1966, it was announced that Television Broadcasts Limited had won the chance to create this new station.

The Grand Opening

The new TVB station officially opened on November 19, 1967. The Governor of Hong Kong, David Trench, was there for the opening. He talked about how TV could help society by sharing information and helping people learn.

The very first thing shown on TVB was a live broadcast of the Macau Grand Prix. After that, there was a special color broadcast called "London Calling Hongkong," which featured greetings from former governors. The new station had two channels: TVB Jade for Cantonese shows and TVB Pearl for English shows. Some of the first shows included a Chinese variety show called Enjoy Yourself Tonight and an English news program called Meet The Press.

Building the Network

Hong Kong has many mountains, which made it tricky for TVB to broadcast wirelessly. TVB was the first TV station to use transmitters on mountains instead of a complex cable system. A network of transmitters was built on different mountains to cover the whole area. The main transmitter was on Temple Hill, which helped reach most of Hong Kong's main cities and parts of the New Territories. More stations were added later on Lamma Island and Castle Peak to expand coverage to other areas like Pok Fu Lam, Aberdeen, and Tuen Mun. Another station on Cloudy Hill helped bring TVB to Fanling, Taipo, and Sheung Shui.

What TVB Offers

TVB is known for its wide range of shows.

• Many people, including the middle class, enjoy TVB's shows. For example, the historical drama War and Beauty was very popular in 2004.
• TVB often broadcasts soap operas, variety shows, and other popular programs.
• The annual TVB Music Awards ceremony is a big event for Cantopop singers.
• In 2001, TVB received an award called the International Broadcasting Excellence Award from the National Association of Broadcasters. This award recognized TVB's great work in helping the community through many charity programs. Hong Kong was the first city in Asia to get this award.
• In 2005, TVB worked with the Hong Kong Jockey Club to organize a huge fundraising event. They raised over one hundred million Hong Kong Dollars to help people affected by a big tsunami in Southeast Asia.
• TVB also has channels for audiences outside Hong Kong, like TVB Australia and TVBS-Europe, which offer many different channels.

Where TVB is Located

TVB Clear Water Bay headquarters in 2002

TVB was first located on Broadcast Drive in Kowloon Tong, near other TV stations. By the late 1980s, TVB needed more space. So, in November 1988, they built a new studio complex called T.V. City at Clear Water Bay. This first TVB City was actually the old Shaw Movie Town complex, which had been used by Shaw Brothers since 1958. The old Broadcast Drive building was later turned into apartments.

To prepare for future growth, TVB started planning a new, even bigger facility in 1998. The new TVB City opened fully in October 2003. It cost about HK$2.2 billion. This new headquarters is much larger, with over 110,000 square meters of building space. Studio 1 in TVB City is the biggest TV production studio among commercial TV stations in Asia, able to seat 630 people.

TVB News

TVB broadcasts several news programs, like "News at 6:30" and "News at 7:30." It also has its own news channel, TVB News Channel.

Popular Shows from TVB

TVB has produced many memorable shows over the years:

• Enjoy Yourself Tonight (1967–1994): A very long-running variety show, similar to Saturday Night Live in America.
• The Bund (1980): A drama starring Chow Yun-fat that was very popular across Asia.
• The Legend of the Condor Heroes (1983): A popular show based on a famous novel, starring Felix Wong and Barbara Yung.
• Looking Back in Anger (1989): A sad drama that became one of the most-watched Hong Kong dramas.
• The Greed of Man (1992): A drama that was so impactful it even affected stock markets!
• The File of Justice series (1992–1997): A popular legal drama series, sometimes called Hong Kong's version of Law & Order.
• A Kindred Spirit (1995–1999): The second longest-running drama series in Hong Kong TV history.
• Super Trio Series (1995–2023): A very popular variety game show.
• Journey to the West (1996): One of the few TVB Jade shows that was dubbed into English and shown on TVB Pearl.
• The Healing Hands series (1998–2005): A popular medical drama known for being very accurate. It's often compared to America's ER.
• War of the Genders (2000): A sitcom that many consider TVB's best.
• Square Pegs (2003): A drama about a young man with a mental disability that had very high viewership.
• Triumph in the Skies (2003) and Triumph in the Skies II (2013): A drama series about airline staff and pilots.
• War and Beauty (2004): A historical drama that made palace harem dramas very popular.
• Moonlight Resonance (2008): A drama that reached very high viewership numbers.
• Rosy Business (2009): An award-winning historical drama that won many major awards.
• Beyond the Realm of Conscience (2009): Another historical drama that also reached very high viewership.
• Line Walker (2014): A crime drama that became the most-watched Hong Kong drama in mainland China, with over 2 billion views online.
• A Fist Within Four Walls (2016): A martial arts drama set in Kowloon Walled City that won many awards.
• Come Home Love: Lo and Behold (2017): A very long-running TV series about two families. It's so popular that it started airing every day.
• The Queen of News (2023): This drama was the highest-rated drama of the year.

TVB Channels

Hong Kong Free-to-air Channels

• TVB Jade
• TVB Plus (This channel used to be TVB J2 and TVB Finance, Sports & Information Channel)
• TVB News Channel
• TVB Pearl

MyTV SUPER Channels

MyTV SUPER is a paid TV service that replaced an older service called TVB Network Vision.

• Channel 18 (Horse Racing)
• Asian Drama
• Chinese Drama
• Chinese Opera Channel
• Entertainment News
• SUPER Kids Channel
• TVB Classic (Shows dramas from the 2000s to now)
• Super FREE
• Golden Classic (Shows programs from 1967 to 1999)
• Golden Chinese Drama
• Golden Jade

International Channels

TVB also offers many channels around the world:

• Asian Action Channel
• Hub Cantonese on Demand (in Singapore)
• Hub Drama First (in Singapore)
• Fairchild TV (TVB owns 20% of this company)
• Jadeworld (USA)
• TVB Chinese Opera Channel (International version)
• TVB Entertainment News (International version)
• TVB Jade (International version)
• TVB Korea Channel
• TVB News Channel (International version)
• TVB Finance, Sports & Information Channel (International version)
• TVB Vietnam
• TVB Xing He (in Asia & Thailand)
• TVB-Europe
• TVB Jade Southeast Asia (in Malaysia & Singapore)
• Hub VV Drama (in Singapore; shows TVB dramas dubbed in Mandarin)
• TVB Queen (International version)
• TVB Comedy (International version)

Channels in Malaysia

TVB works with Astro in Malaysia to offer these channels:

• Astro AOD HD
• Astro Wah Lai Toi On Demand
• TVB Classic Malaysia
• TVB Jade Southeast Asia
• TVB Xing He
• TVBS-Asia

Channels in Thailand

• TVB Drama Thai Channel (V2H8)
• TVB Thai Treat

Channels in Cambodia

• TVB Cambodia Drama
• TVB Cambodia - Romance & Comedy

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