Launched 19 November 1967 | Audience share 75% | |
Owned by Television Broadcasts Limited Picture format Analog:4:3 (SDTV)Digital:16:9 (HDTV) |
TVB Pearl (Chinese: 無綫電視 明珠台) is owned and operated by Television Broadcasts Limited, and together with its sister Cantonese language station TVB Jade, is broadcast from TVB City at 77 Chun Choi Street in Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate in Tseung Kwan O, in the Sai Kung District, which is in the Eastern region of Hong Kong's New Territories.
Contents
- Originals
- TVBS News on TVB Pearl
- CCTV News on TVB Pearl
- NBC Nightly News NBC on TVB Pearl
- CGTN News Live CGTN News on TVB Pearl
- CNN Indonesia Tonight on TVB Pearl
- Weekend Blockbuster and audience popularity
- Obtaining schedules
- Digital broadcasting
- References
Apart from the use of English rather than Cantonese, TVB Pearl's daytime output differs from TVB Jade's in providing more serious programming, such as documentaries and news, and during peak viewing time it is much more reliant on overseas-made TV series and films. Occasionally, TVB Pearl also shows programmes in other languages (but usually well outside peak viewing time), including Mandarin, Japanese and Korean. Established on 19 November 1967, TVB Pearl broadcasts free of charge to over 2.1 million households in Hong Kong. The channel is operated by Television Broadcasts Limited or TVB, along with its sister channel TVB Jade. In 1991, TVB Pearl began to broadcast in NICAM, a digital audio modulation system that provides a facility for stereo or bilingual or trilingual audio transmission. (For the digital counterpart, multiple AC-3 streams are transmitted for the same purpose.) With a compatible television, the viewer can receive audio in their choice of language; typically, English and Cantonese. Chinese subtitles are available on most programmes after 18:20.
The transmission of TVB Pearl digital TV channel have been upgraded from SDTV to HDTV video format on 28 October 2012 at 02:50.
Originals
TVBS News (台灣無綫衛星電視台新聞) on TVB Pearl
TVBS News (台灣無綫衛星電視台新聞) is carried on TVB Pearl delayed at 05:00 to 05:30 Hong Kong Time (live television at 23:00 to 01:00 Taiwan Time) and is currently the only Republic of China daily news television stations carried on TVB Pearl.
CCTV News (中國新聞) on TVB Pearl
CCTV News (中國新聞) is carried on TVB Pearl delayed at 05:30 to 06:00 Hong Kong Time (live television at 19:00 to 19:30 Beijing Time) by CCTV-4 Chinese International (Asia) and is currently the only People's Republic of China daily news television stations carried on TVB Pearl.
NBC Nightly News (NBC英語新聞) on TVB Pearl
NBC Nightly News (NBC英語新聞) is carried on TVB Pearl live television at 07:30 to 08:00 Hong Kong Time (18:30 to 19:00 New York City Time) and is currently the only United States of America daily news television stations carried on TVB Pearl.
CGTN News - Live (CGTN News - 直播) on TVB Pearl
CGTN News - Live (CGTN News - 直播) is carried on TVB Pearl live television at 09:00 to 10:00 Beijing/Hong Kong Time by "The World Today (今日世界)" and 12:00 to 13:00 Beijing/Hong Kong Time by "Global Watch (環球瞭望)" on weekday which 20:15 to 21:15 Beijing/Hong Kong Time by "China 24 (中國24小時)" on daily and is currently the only People's Republic of China daily news television stations carried on TVB Pearl.
CNN Indonesia Tonight on TVB Pearl
CNN Indonesia Tonight is carried on TVB Pearl live television at 00:00 to 01:00 Hong Kong Time (23:00 to 00:00 Jakarta Standard Time) and is currently the only Indonesia daily news television stations carried on TVB Pearl.
Weekend Blockbuster and audience popularity
Movies are the most watched programmes on TVB Pearl. The generic title for movies on the channel was originally Studio 930, as the starting time is 9.30pm, but was replaced by Weekend Blockbuster. This title is familiar to most Hong Kong viewers, according to ratings surveys conducted by ACNielsen in 2001. While most drama programmes air over four nights (Monday-Thursdays), Weekend Blockbuster generally airs on Fridays and over the weekend.
Obtaining schedules
Schedules are published in the South China Morning Post and The Standard and in other daily Hong Kong newspapers, including English newspapers. TVB Pearl listings are no longer carried in the South China Morning Post.
Digital broadcasting
Jade and Pearl officially started digital and high definition (HD) broadcasting on 31 December 2007 with the terrestrial number 81 for digital broadcasting and number 85 for high definition (HD) broadcasting The aspect ratio of the digital version and high definition (HD) version of Jade and Pearl is 1080i 16:9 and it changed to full high definition on 22 February 2016 at 03:00 HKT as grand launching ceremony in a live telecast via digital high definition.