Korean Central Television

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the North Korean television service. For the operator of the service, see Korean Central Broadcasting Committee. For the South Korean broadcasting network with the name "Chosun", see TV Chosun. For the Kansas City, Missouri, television station, see KCTV.

Korean Central Television
조선중앙텔레비죤
Logo of the Korean Central Television.svg
KCTV title.png
CountryNorth Korea
Broadcast areaNational
International
HeadquartersPyongyang, North Korea
Programming
Picture format1080i HDTV
(downscaled to letterboxed 576i for the SDTV feed)
Ownership
OwnerKorean Central Broadcasting Committee
History
LaunchedMarch 3, 1963; 58 years ago (1963-03-03)
Former namesPyongyang Television
(1 September 1953 – circa1961)
Central Television Broadcasting System of the DPRK
(1961 – 3 January 1973)
Availability
Terrestrial
AnalogueChannel R12 (223.25 MHz in Pyongyang)
DigitalTests underway[1]
Satellite
ChinaSat 12 87,5°E4180 V, SR 4167, FEC 3/5 DVB-S2 8PSK MPEG-4 HD
Intelsat 21 58°W4080 V, SR 30000, FEC 5/6 DVB-S2 MPEG-4 SD
IPTV
ManbangOver-the-top streaming
Streaming media
kctv_elufa on Twitchkctv_elufa
KCTV조선중앙텔레비죤 on YouTubeKCTV조선중앙텔레비죤
NK NewsKCNA Watch
KFA SPAINKFA SPAIN
Korean Central Television
Chosŏn'gŭl
조선중앙텔레비죤
Hancha
朝鮮中央텔레비죤
Revised RomanizationJoseon Jungang Tellebijyon
McCune–ReischauerChosŏn Chungang T'ellebijyon
People in Pyongyang watch a public display of KCTV.

Korean Central Television (KCTV; Korean: 조선중앙텔레비죤; MR: Chosŏn Chungang T'ellebijyon) is a television service operated by the Korean Central Broadcasting Committee, a state-owned broadcaster in North Korea. It is broadcast terrestrially via the Pyongyang TV Tower in Moranbong-guyok, Pyongyang, streamed via the government-run internet television service Manbang, and also uplinked via satellite.

History[]

KCTV was established on 1 September 1953 as Pyongyang Television after the Korean War ended. Kim Il-sung personally envisioned that the time was ripe for television broadcasting in North Korea, but this was not yet to happen. Thus, the young service began an 8-year period of preparation for commencement of television broadcasts, with the help of the national government.

The station later was renamed as Central Television Broadcasting System in 1961, and conducted on 1 September the same year its first test broadcasts.

The CTBS-DPRK officially began operations on 3 March 1963 at 19:00 (7:00 pm) KST based in Pyongyang, broadcasting two hours between 19:00 (7:00 pm) until 21:00 (9:00 pm) KST on weekdays only, and then expanding to 4 and later 6 hours.

The network carried live the whole proceedings of the 5th Workers' Party of Korea Congress held on 1 October 1970.

The CTBS would later be renamed Korean Central Television (KCTV) and was officially relaunched at 17:00 (5:00 pm) local time on 3 January 1973 (the first working day in 1973 in North Korea). The broadcasting hours were only on weekdays (workdays in North Korea) and closed on weekends and national holidays.

KCTV officially began color television broadcasts on 1 July 1974 and broadcast the first live color telecast in preparation for the 7th Asian Games held in Tehran via satellite transmission on 1 September 1974, the first network to do so. KCTV was the first live color television channel to broadcast the New Year's Eve in color on 31 December 1974, and in 1975 began weekend broadcasts as well. KCTV started their full-time color broadcasts on 1 September 1977.

The first broadcast received via satellite television broadcasts was the opening of the 22nd Summer Olympic Games on 19 July 1980.

KCTV started broadcasting on national holidays on 1 March 1981. On national holidays, the broadcasting time of each station is the same as weekends save for major ones. The channel was the official host broadcaster of the 1989 13th World Festival of Youth and Students.

In September 2012, China Central Television (CCTV) announced that it had recently donated 5 million yuan in new broadcasting equipment to KCTV, which was to be used to improve its programming and prepare for digital television.[2][3]

Programming[]

KCTV broadcasts for 7 hours from 3:00 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. PYT daily, and 17 hours from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. PYT or later on weekends and key national holidays. Its sign-on sequence traditionally features the playing of the national anthem "Aegukka", "Song of General Kim Il-sung" and "Song of General Kim Jong-il".[4]

The station's output was dominated by propaganda programs focusing on the history and achievements of the ruling Korean Workers' Party, the Korean People's Army (KPA), its leaders, and the Juche ideology. Locally produced feature films, children's programs, theater, and patriotic musical shows and filmed theatre shows are also shown on the networks. On national holidays, military parades, musical performances and movies, plus more special programs are shown on KCTV with similar programming on its three other sister channels.

By December 2018, Korean Central Television's programs had begun to gain a more contemporary feel as opposed to the strictly authoritarian style used before, with more programming showcasing the North Korean people. Programming was observed to have featured more field reporting with visible anchors and production staff, younger hosts and personalities with modern attire, increased use of modern production techniques (such as aerial cameras), and a looser and more energetic presentation.[5][6][7][8] Western analysts felt that these shifts in tone were intended to make the programmes' production values more in line with international broadcasters (appealing to those that have managed to access such programmes), and to make them more appealing to younger audiences.[9][8][6][10]

News operation[]

KCTV broadcasts daily news bulletins under the title Bodo (보도, News or Report), which serve as one of the main propaganda organs of the Workers' Party of Korea. The day-to-day activities of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un are prioritized above all other headlines, and presented in a means consistent with other government propaganda. Stories covering the country's military and economy are also featured.[11][8][7][4]

North Korean newscasts are long known for being melodramatic; newsreaders use one of five tones—a lofty, wavering one for praising the nation's leaders, an explanatory one for weather forecasts, a conversational one for uncontroversial stories, one denouncing the West and a mournful tone for announcing the death of a North Korean official or leader. Many North Korean journalists who have defected to the South have noted the contrasts with the more conversational South Korean broadcasting style. Long-time chief newsreader Ri Chun-hee is well known for her melodramatic style, and for typically wearing a traditional, pink Chosŏn-ot dress on-air.[12][13] Ri retired as a full-time anchor in 2012, stating that she wanted to focus more on training a newer generation of broadcasters. She has continued to make infrequent on-air appearances to deliver top-level announcements from the government, such as missile tests, a broadcast discussing the Singapore Summit, and to announce the death of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il.[12][13][14]

By September 2012, after receiving new equipment from Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, KCTV introduced a refreshed set for its bulletins, which featured a new anchor desk and a video backdrop.[2][3] By December 2018, as part of a wider pattern of modernization across KCTV programmes, its bulletins began to employ contemporary presentation elements such as double boxes.[5] Kim Jong-un's New Year's address similarly saw the leader delivering the speech from an armchair in the Workers' Party headquarters, rather than from a podium.[6] Experiments with further modernization occurred in March and May 2019, when economic reports used three-dimensional infographics (including 3D text overlaid into video footage), drone footage, and time-lapse video.[8][7]

KCTV may return to air or remain on-air past its usual sign-off time during breaking news situations. On 26 August 2020, in adherence to calls from Kim Jong-un to take measures to protect the country from Typhoon Bavi, KCTV broadcast rolling reports throughout the day with advisories and updates from the State Hydro-Meteorological Administration on the storm. For what was believed to be the first time, KCTV remained on-air through the night in order to provide updates—including segments which aired during an overnight block of films, and bulletins the following morning with field reports covering the impact of the storm across the country. However, no other reports regarding to the typhoon were seen during KCTV's regularly-scheduled bulletins until 28 August, which as per the aforementioned prioritization on his activities, focused on Kim Jong-un assessing damage from the typhoon.[4][15][16] A few weeks later, KCTV aired similar coverage of Typhoon Maysak, building upon the format it had used for the Typhoon Bavi coverage.[17]

Broadcasting[]

The station began its first color broadcasts on 1 July 1974 following the PAL system with 576i scanning lines. On the 50th anniversary of Workers' Party of Korea in 1999, KCTV began a satellite television uplink via Thaicom 3.

In 2012, KCTV began experimental digital terrestrial television broadcasts, using the European DVB-T2 standards (in contrast to South Korea, which uses the American ATSC standards).[18][1] On 19 January 2015, KCTV began experimental high-definition television broadcasts on the Thaicom 5 satellite. Although it had been producing a growing number of programmes in the 16:9 aspect ratio for several years, KCTV was still broadcasting in a 4:3 format, and these programmes were letterboxed. For satellite transmissions, this meant that the station's 4:3 output was being windowboxed as well.[19][20]

The station began natively broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen with stereophonic sound on 4 December 2017, one of the last state-run broadcasters to do so, albeit several years after other developed nations have done so. To reflect this change, the station's graphics have been refreshed and its test card has been changed for the first time since 1980.[21]

Availability[]

Outside North Korea[]

On August 1, 2010, KCTV was broadcast free-to-air on Thaicom 5 until February 25, 2020, so with the appropriate equipment can be picked up in Southeast Asia, Australasia, Middle East, Africa and Europe.[22] In April 2015, KCTV expanded its satellite broadcast coverage in America and Europe via Intelsat 21.[23]

Since March 2019, KCTV HD Thaicom 5 signal is also being relayed by Koreasat 5A, a South Korean satellite owned by KT Sat, a unit of KT Corporation, to allow media outlets and journalists base in Seoul to continue monitoring the channel. This is due to the new 5G cellular networks which was launched in the city uses frequencies that overlap with KCTV satellite frequency, making the feed unwatchable.[24]

On January 18, 2020, KCTV moved its satellite broadcast on ChinaSat 12 as the Thaicom 5 began experiencing technical difficulties around December 2019.[25]

The daily KCTV news bulletin is also distributed online with Japanese subtitles through a Chongryon-supported website.

Test card[]

During the last 30 minutes of the broadcast of the tuning table, patriotic songs or classical musical works of the DPRK are played. There are minor test card changes from time-to-time.

  • c.1980s – 3 December 2017: EBU Colour Bars and modified Philips PM5544 testcard with digital clock. Towards the top of the testcard Chosŏn'gŭl characters for "Pyongyang" are written on either side of a chollima emblazoned on a blue background.
  • 4 December 2017 – present: EBU Colour Bars and modified Philips PM5644 testcard with digital clock. Towards the top of the testcard Chosŏn'gŭl characters for "Korean Central Television" are written below an image of Mount Paektu's Heaven Lake emblazoned on a sky blue background.

  • Former test card used until 3 December 2017

  • Test card in use since 4 December 2017

  • Test card recorded on 1 January 2019

See also[]

Sources[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Report: DPRK testing digital TV". North Korea Tech - 노스코리아테크. 17 March 2013. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Williams, Martyn (1 October 2012). "China modernized North Korea's TV news". North Korea Tech. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Williams, Martyn (9 September 2012). "KCTV's evening news gets an update". North Korea Tech - 노스코리아테크. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c Williams, Martyn (28 August 2020). "We Interrupt this Propaganda...A Dynamic 24 Hours on North Korean TV". 38 North. The Henry L. Stimson Center. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Cho, Joohee (2 December 2018). "North Korea's state TV gets a quiet makeover, adding neon suits and smiles to newscasts best known for delivering the party line". ABC News. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c Williams, Martyn (13 January 2019). "Kim Jong Un's New Year's Address: The Art of Propaganda". North Korea Tech. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c Williams, Martyn (7 May 2019). "New graphics in regular use during North Korean TV's economic news segments". North Korea Tech - 노스코리아테크. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "With New Style And Graphics, North Korea Gives Propaganda A Makeover". NPR.org. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  9. ^ McCurry, Justin (26 March 2019). "Propaganda, but with graphics: North Korea's news bulletins get a makeover". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  10. ^ "North Korean propaganda gets makeover to appeal to youth". CNN. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  11. ^ Williams, Martyn (3 January 2019). "North Korean Media: KCTV's Coverage of Kim Jong Un's Diplomatic Push in 2018". North Korea Tech. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b The voice of North Korea. Dec 8, 2009. The World Archived 4 June 2012 at archive.today
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b "Count on North Korea's 'pink lady' broadcaster for joyful news of bombs and missiles". Washington Post. 5 September 2017. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  14. ^ Smith, Nicola; Riley-Smith, Ben (11 June 2018). "North Koreans finally told about Kim Jong-un's Singapore summit with Trump". The Telegraph.
  15. ^ "North Korea reports real-time typhoon damage in rare overnight broadcasts | NK News". NK News - North Korea News. 27 August 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  16. ^ 朝鮮中央テレビが24時間テレビ状態で台風情報を夜通し伝える. KoreaWorldTimes (in Japanese). 29 August 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  17. ^ "North Korea's east coast hit with damaging typhoon and floods, state TV shows | NK News". NK News - North Korea News. 3 September 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  18. ^ "北朝鮮で4局が地上デジタル放送を実施中、ASUS ZenFone Go TVで確認". blogofmobile.com (in Japanese). 8 September 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  19. ^ KCTV launches HD satellite broadcasts Archived 16 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine North Korean Tech (www.northkoreantech.org). 19 January 2015. Retrieved on 6 June 2015.
  20. ^ KCTV’s slow move to high-definition, what’s taking so long? Archived 16 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine North Korean Tech (www.northkoreantech.org). 15 May 2015. Retrieved on 6 June 2015.
  21. ^ "North Korea's KCTV goes widescreen, stereo in big upgrade". North Korea Tech - 노스코리아테크. 5 December 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  22. ^ https://www.northkoreatech.org/2010/10/19/kctv-moving-transponders-on-thaicom-5/
  23. ^ https://www.northkoreatech.org/2015/04/15/north-korean-tv-expands-satellite-transmissions/
  24. ^ https://www.northkoreatech.org/2019/03/25/kctv-on-koreasat/
  25. ^ Williams, Martyn (5 February 2020). "KCTV appears on Chinese satellite". Archived from the original on 5 February 2020.

External links[]

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