MediaCorp Central

History

Central had 3 program belts:

1. Kids Central – a children's television channel with enriching educational & animation programming.
2. Vasantham Central – a Tamil language channel.
3. Arts Central – a channel that showcases art, cultural and largely foreign award-winning productions and incorporated a significant amount of niche programming, making the channel rather distinctive compared to the others.

Startup

Central starts up at 9:00 am (weekday), 8:00 am (weekend). The national anthem was played and stations ident. The first programme of the day would be broadcast there after.

Closedown

Central closes down at 12:00 midnight. The last programme will be broadcast and the stations ident and national anthem are played.

Transmission hours

Transmission hours are from 9:00 am (weekday}, 8:00 am (weekend) to 12:00 midnight in daily a day and public holidays from 9:00 am (weekday}, 8:00 am (weekend) to 12:00 midnight under same time daily it plays the national anthem.

TV Tuner Frequency

495.000 MHz

Kids Central

Kids Central was Singapore's most-watched children's channel. Its programmes aim to bring fun television entertainment to children aged 4 to 12 years, as well as appeal to people's inner children. Kids Central airs both local and international kids programmes. Some of the international programmes were bought over from other channels, such as Disney Channel Asia.

By providing kids programming for 9.5 hours every weekday, 6 hours every Saturday and 5 hours every Sunday, Kids Central received the highest commitment among all free-to-air children's channels in Singapore. It featured shows such as Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Barney & Friends.

Transmission hours

Weekdays
9:00 am – 6:30 pm

Weekends
8:00 am – 4:00 pm (Saturday)
8:00 am – 1:00pm (Sunday)

Children's shows

Original Productions

Vasantham Central

Vasantham Central (The Season "Spring") Central catered to the Tamil community in Singapore, providing them with Indian dramas, variety, news, information and entertainment programmes. The station offers many hours of programming on weekdays and on weekends, with approximately 25% local programming.

With the strategic goal of nurturing Vasantham Central into a global brand name, the programmes had attained regional and international acclaim in recent years. Ie. The Children's Day Telemovie Special, Matchstick was awarded the Certificate of Distinction at the New York Festivals this year.The channel was determined to build a perennial link with the Indian community by conducting acting workshops, training and ground events like Mother's Day celebrations in Tekka Mall.

Showcasing the best in local and international talents, Vasantham Central's programming permeated a wide spectrum of genres and appealed to the mass Indian market.

Transmission Hours

Weekdays
6:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Weekends
4:00 pm – 1:00 am (Saturday)
1:00 pm – 9:00 pm (Sunday)

News

Movies

There are 7 movie slots per week.

Arts Central

Arts Central positioned itself as an alternative channel for the masses. Reflecting the vibrant and diverse world of arts and culture, Arts Central aimed to stimulate the cultural adrenaline in the masses through magazine programmes, in-depth documentaries, performances, art-house movies, adult animation and short films. Arts Central offered a total of 20 hours of programming per week. In 2007, it revamped its image and introduced a new slogan, Life Begins @ 9.

Having forged a strong alliance with the arts community, Arts Central had established itself as the proud supporter of the arts. Arts Central's bold and stimulating programmes not only raised awareness of the arts in Singapore, it also helped promote the local arts scene. This was apparent in our locally produced programme Art Nation.

The locally produced programmes had received international recognition for their quality. In 2001, both 'Hanging by the Thread' and 'AlterAsian' received a Finalist status at the New York Festival, and in 2007, the I-Collector series won the Runners-up position in the Asian TV Awards and also showing you the live television broadcasting delayed relay simulcast coverage multi national and international sports event such as : Summer Olympic Games, Winter Olympic Games, Summer Paralympic Games, Winter Paralympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, Southeast Asian Games, Asian Youth Games, Youth Olympic Games'.

Transmission hours

Sunday to Friday
9:00 pm – 12:00 midnight

Restructuring

Central was restructured. Vasantham Central became Vasantham and Kids Central and Arts Central, the other two program belts of Central remained and Central was renamed OKTO. Vasantham took over the frequency of the Central and Okto took over the frequency of Channel I, a channel which went defunct since 1 January 2005.