Picture format PAL (576i) (4:3/16:9) Country Malaysia Astro (Malaysia) Channel 119 (SD) Owned by Media Prima Network Terrestrial | Audience share 8% (Sept 2013, ) Astro NJOI (Malaysia) Channel 119 (SD) Motto TV9 Di Hatiku (2010–) Broadcast area Nationwide | |
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Launched 9 September 2003 (2003-09-09) (as Channel 9)
22 April 2006 (2006-04-22) (as TV9) Closed 1 February 2005 (2005-02-01) (Channel 9) Slogan TV9 Di Hatiku (since 2010) TV shows Upin & Ipin, Buletin Utama, Cinta Jangan Pergi, ChalkZone, Waktu Rehat Profiles | ||
TV9 is a free-to-air private television station in Malaysia. TV9 began broadcasting on 22 April 2006 as a subsidiary of Media Prima Berhad. It formerly existed as Channel 9, which began airing on 9 September 2003 and ceased transmission on 1 February 2005 due to financial difficulties faced by the operator.
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TV9 airs programming that tends mostly towards the rural Malay demographic, such as religious shows and Indonesian soap operas. In addition, it also has a joint segment with American children-oriented channel Nickelodeon on afternoons airing the latter's animated shows albeit dubbed in Malay, as Nick di 9.
As Channel 9
Channel 9 began its on-air broadcast on 9 September 2003 and its workforce mostly consist of the former MetroVision employees. The channel's line-up consisted of programmes in English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil. It also featured a TV Shopping programme.
Anaza Sdn Bhd, the then-operator of THR.fm, acquired Channel 9 from Medanmas Sdn. Bhd. Subsequently, Channel 9 launched its new slogan Malaysia...lah! in 2004.
Under the new management, a slot dedicated for Hindi movies, known as Hindi Power, which also included Tamil Bollywood programmes, was introduced. It airs from 16:00 to 20:00 local time daily.
Channel 9 airs its own news segment called Liputan 9 (literally: 9 Coverage) was Channel 9's primetime news programme, which airs on 20:00 local time daily.
On New Year's Day 2005, Channel 9 announced that it was halting its operations on 1 February 2005 to restructure its debts and corporate organisation. It also faced intense competitions from the other free-to-air television stations in Malaysia during that time. On the same day, Malaysia's largest media corporation, Media Prima Berhad announced its acquisition of 98% equity stake in Ch-9 Media Sdn Bhd and almost completed the company's ownership of all private free-to-air television stations in Malaysia.
Relaunch as TV9
Channel 9 was rebranded as TV9 and began broadcasts on 22 April 2006, 12:00 local time. It was relaunced with a new slogan: Dekat di Hati (Malay for Close at heart).
On 1 January 2010, the channel launched a new tagline, Di Hatiku (At my heart in Malay).
For the first months of broadcast, TV9 did not have its news bulletin and broadcasts Edisi 7, courtesy of ntv7. TV9 only had its own news bulletin by the start of next year in 2007, known as Berita TV9, which airs on 20:00 local time every day.
TV9 is currently only available in Peninsular Malaysia. TV9 was not included in Astro until December 2006, when it was assigned channel 22 on Astro. The inclusion of TV9 in Astro enabled TV9 to spread its wings to Sabah and Sarawak. Due to Astro's channel renumbering in October 2007, TV9 broadcasts on channel 119 today.
The channel usually starts at 06:30 and signs-off at 00:00 the next day, showing a test card except for during the holy month of Ramadan, when it broadcasts for 24 hours a day.
Critics and controversy
Since 1 April 2016, this channel will have teleshopping blocks call CJ WOW Shop between 10AM-12PM and 12.30PM to 4PM. Some Media Prima channels (especially NTV7 and TV9) are more affected by the changes. However, this block has attract huge criticism on social media as a large part of daytime schedule has been replaced by CJ Wow Shop, which these slots had been previously running mostly reruns, religious programming and kids programming.