Launched 1966 Country South Vietnam | Closed 1975 Broadcast area Domestic | |
Owned by Radio-Television Public Broadcasting Centre
Government of the Republic of Vietnam Headquarters 9 Hồng Thập tự Street, Saigon | ||
Vietnam Television (Vietnamese: Đài Truyền hình Việt Nam, abbreviated THVN), also known as Saigon Television (Đài Truyền hình Sài Gòn) or Channel 9 (Đài số 9), was one of two national television broadcasters in South Vietnam from February 7, 1966, until just before the Fall of Saigon on April 29, 1975. It was the first television broadcaster in Vietnam. It was operated by the Vietnamese Bureau of Television (Nha Vô tuyến Truyền hình Việt Nam), part of the General Department of Radio, Television, and Cinema (Tổng cục Truyền thanh, Truyền hình và Điện ảnh) in the Ministry of Propaganda. Vietnam Television broadcast from the capital Saigon on channel 9 (4.5 MHz) in FCC-standard black and white. The other national broadcaster was the English-language Armed Forces Vietnam Network or NWB-TV on channel 11. Both channels used an airborne transmission relay system from airplanes flying at high altitudes, called Stratovision, as part of Operation Blue Eagle.
Vietnam Television's final programming aired the evening of April 29, 1975. The next day, the station was reconstituted as Saigon Liberation Television (Đài truyền hình Sài Gòn Giải phóng, SGTV) with a live broadcast of South Vietnamese President Dương Văn Minh's surrender. SGTV became Ho Chi Minh City Television on May 1, 1975.