Malaysian television channel
Not to be confused with
Trans7
(formerly known as TV7), an Indonesian language television channel owned by
Trans Media
.
Television channel
Natseven TV Sdn. Bhd.
, operating as
NTV7
is a Malaysian free-to-air television channel owned by
Media Prima Berhad
.
[1]
[2]
The third private commercial TV station in Malaysia,
[3]
the network focused on the urban area with various types of programmes, dramas and news. As of October 2021, NTV7 is now become the second most-watched television station in Malaysia with about 15% of its viewing share, together with
TV9
, despite the declining viewership of 2 free-to-air television channels.
[4]
History
Establishment, as part of Media Prima and early history (1998?2018)
The
Sarawak
company
Nasional Televisyen
(NTV), from
Kuching
, was given the green light from the Malaysian government on 5 June 1996. Under the conditions, the station would broadcast nationwide, 18 hours a day in various languages, with a minimum quota of 60% for national content.
[5]
The station was owned by
Mohd Effendi Norwawi
's company Kenyalang Jasa Sdn Bhd.
[6]
[7]
[8]
Encorp Group, another company that also owned by Effendi, holds 60% of equity interest in NTV.
[9]
[10]
It planned to launch on 31 August 1997,
[11]
but postponed to 25 December 1997.
[12]
[13]
Prior to NTV7's launching,
[14]
the channel launches its official website in March 1998.
[15]
The channel was launched on 7 April 1998 under the entity of Natseven TV Sdn Bhd by businessman
Mohd Effendi Norwawi
, broadcasting daily from 6 am to 1 am the next day.
[16]
[17]
Its launching ceremony was officiated by the then-fourth Prime Minister,
Mahathir Mohamad
on 22 May 1998.
[18]
At the time of its establishment, its headquarters was located at Hicom-Glenmarie Industrial Park in
Shah Alam
,
Selangor
. It also had a studio in
Kuching
,
Sarawak
.
[19]
[20]
[21]
Its first day started with the then-prime minister attending a prayer service for
Eid ul-Adha
prayers at a mosque in the state of
Kedah
.
[22]
NTV7 at launch employed a staff of 250 people, with broadcast centres at
Shah Alam
in
Selangor
and had a transmitting network of ten stations, reaching peninsular Malaysia and the cities of Kuching in Sarawak and
Kota Kinabalu
in
Sabah
. There were already plans outlined for the station to go national "within a year". The slogan "Feel Good with NTV7" had the aim of creating "a happy and more enlightened" Malaysia.
[23]
For years, the channel started and ended with the James Brown song
I Feel Good
, which became a part of NTV7's branding.
In 2001, NTV7 began using a variation of the
Circle 7 logo
used by the American broadcast network
ABC
for its several
owned-and-operated
and
affiliated stations
; the logo would stay in use until 2018.
On 19 January 2003, NTV7 aired a special tribute to the nation's longest serving Prime Minister,
Mahathir Mohamad
at 8pm.
[24]
In 2004, NTV7 was restructured to make the motorsports events as its key revenue generator.
[25]
In 2005, NTV7 planned to be listed on the main market of
Bursa Malaysia
, but it would said that it "depends on the nation's media industry's current situation".
[26]
In May 2005, NTV7 in collaboration with telecommunications company,
Celcom
to air 24 hour news and current affairs on internet under the My News Network banner.
[27]
[28]
NTV7 announced that it would begin the operations of the first Studio in the City in Galeri Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur by the year-end.
[29]
In October the same year,
Media Prima Berhad
announced its acquisition of NTV7 under a price of
RM
90 million, effectively making the latter one of its subsidiaries. As a result, it operates from Sri Pentas, Petaling Jaya from that year onward along with three other private television channels in Malaysia:
TV3
,
8TV
and
TV9
.
[30]
[31]
[32]
In its early history, the channel offered a wide variety of programming which targets the Malaysian urban demographic including drama, comedy, entertainment, game shows, children's programmes, anime, documentaries and movies. There were also news bulletins in English, Mandarin and Malay through the
7 Edition
,
[33]
Mandarin 7
, and
Edisi 7
brands, respectively.
In December 2005, NTV7 has completed the implementation of voluntary separation scheme (VSS) on its 338 staffs who receives the scheme.
[34]
[35]
In 2006, NTV7 collaborated with Singapore media company
Mediacorp
to produce Chinese language programmes. It also said that it would produce local content as a preparation to exploring the export market in the future.
[36]
[37]
It also projected its financial performances and intended to be debt-free.
[38]
[39]
[40]
The channel dominates 25% of television advertising market in March 2007.
[41]
On 6 September 2007, NTV7 along with its sister channels,
TV3
,
8TV
and
TV9
made available for online viewing via Media Prima's newly-launched streaming service, Catch-Up TV, which later rebranded as Tonton.
[42]
[43]
[44]
At the same time, NTV7 announced that it would spend RM40 million to strengthening its operation and gaining a stronger viewership by 2008.
[45]
In 2009, NTV7 recorded highest viewership rating from 800,000 up to 1 million viewers, mostly its Chinese viewers, per day.
[46]
It also collaborated with the Branding Association of Malaysia to held the branding workshop called "Be Branded, Be Seen' to help the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) to strengthening their brands through media.
[47]
In the third quarter of 2013, NTV7 recorded its viewership ratings through the two programmes aired ?
The Undercover
and
The Game 2
.
[48]
Introduction of home shopping block (2016?2021)
On 1 April 2016, a
teleshopping
block bought by the
Korean conglomerate
CJ Group
through subsidiary
CJ E&M
Co Ltd called CJ WOW Shop (now Wow Shop) was broadcasting across Media Prima channels. Several Media Prima channels (especially NTV7 and TV9) were more affected by the changes. It attracted public criticism on social media as a large part of the daytime schedule was replaced by the block, in which these slots had been previously dedicated to reruns, religious programming and kids programming.
[49]
[50]
On 1 November 2020, CJ Wow Shop was rebranded into Wow Shop after Media Prima bought the remaining 49% stake in the teleshopping network previously held by CJ Group.
[51]
Modern Malaysia era (2018)
From 5 March 2018, Media Prima attempted a new brand positioning for NTV7. The channel tried to target "Modern Malaysia" as a contemporary station through its new content line-up, including new Turkish Telenovelas; as well as its new slogan
Feel It
.
[52]
[53]
[54]
[55]
[56]
The relaunch saw major changes as it became a dominated English-Malay language channel, with the channel name read as "
n-t-v-tujuh
" instead of "
n-t-v-seven
." Also, infomercial programming was reduced upon the channel's rebranding.
Chinese content reduction attempt
Upon the March 2018 rebranding, Chinese content on this channel was reduced to selected Chinese dramas from Hong Kong and China along with Mandarin news bulletins, with much of the remainder transferred to sister channel
8TV
(which also attempted to reposition as Media Prima's sole all-Chinese channel on the same day). Originally, Mandarin 7 was supposed to be cancelled in May 2018 to complete its plan of moving all Chinese content to a single dedicated channel. However, when the
2018 General Election
occurred, the bulletin became Malaysia's second-most watched after TV3's
Buletin Utama
(the said spot was formerly held by
Berita TV9
). Due to the Chinese community's positive response, Media Prima decided to reshuffle NTV7's news programming in June instead of axing Chinese news. In this format, only one news bulletin per language was aired on the channel with a single Mandarin newshour, while retaining half-hour editions in Malay and English.
Reverting to Chinese content (2018?2020)
The rebrand caused confusion among viewers, particularly Chinese communities who tuned in to NTV7 after finding out that most of its former programmes were moved to 8TV. Overall Chinese viewership was believed to be surprisingly lower.
[
citation needed
]
As a result, on 31 December 2018, the former CEO of Media Prima Television Networks, Johan Ishak, said that the Mandarin variant of CJ Wow Shop would be broadcast on the channel and replace the Malay variant.
[57]
The move was part of the company's restructuring NTV7 by axed English and Malay-language shows, dropped the channel nomenclature, moved some (including those from TV9) to the main
TV3
. It also brought back the channel's perception as a Chinese channel; yet the channel's Mandarin, Malay and English news bulletins remained unchanged.
Reruns of axed NTV7 shows were then aired on TV9 after the former's retreat while slogan "Feel it" was removed.
Mandarin 7 discontinuation (2020)
On 7 June 2020, Mandarin 7 aired its final edition and was merged into 8TV Mandarin News the following day. 8TV Mandarin News was also extended to one hour due to high ratings during the
Movement Control Order
(MCO) and
COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
.
[58]
[59]
Programming change, Ministry of Education collaboration and takeover (2020?present)
On 1 November 2020, CEO (now former) of Media Prima Television Networks, Dato' Khairul Anwar Salleh announced that NTV7 would be targeted for ages 15?28 by focusing on magazines, information and current affairs programs to meet the public needs, while Korean dramas would stop airing and all Chinese programmes have finally been integrated to
8TV
. Korean variety show
Running Man
remains on this channel along with homeshopping block Wow Shop.
[60]
[61]
On 18 November 2020, DidikTV@ntv7, an educational programming block was introduced by
Ministry of Education
from 23 November 2020 until 16 January 2021. It formerly ran from 9
am to 12
pm every Monday to Friday.
[62]
It was later split into two timeslots (9
am – 12
pm and 3
pm – 5
pm) on 27 January 2021, resulting the educational programming to be aired daily.
[63]
DidikTV KPM
On 12 February 2021, as the Ministry of Education will have a one-year term with Media Prima,
[64]
it was announced that NTV7 will be rebranded through a takeover as a fully educational TV channel known as DidikTV KPM starting 17 February; the new channel will focus on educational content based on
SPM
curriculum and co-curriculum. It would also provide news focused on education, edutainment programs, and content produced by the students. The channel will have 17 hours of airtime and will run daily from 7
am to 12
am.
[65]
[66]
On 16 February 2021, Media Prima confirmed that ntv7 will not be defunct and its ownership remains unchanged, while the current team will be focusing on DidikTV KPM.
[67]
[68]
[69]
Following the closure, many of longtime NTV7 viewers bid farewell to the channel on their respective social media accounts.
[70]
[71]
[72]
Since the DidikTV KPM launch, the main newscasts Edisi 7 was ceased entirely in replacement with
Buletin Didik
while 7 Edition moved to digital platforms; though it was later discontinued in May due to DidikTV KPM slot. Homeshopping block Wow Shop was ceased from airing on the channel.
Soal Drama
and
Running Man
were transferred to
TV9
since 21 February 2021. Some of the original programming such as
Trio On Point
,
Topik@7 (now Topik)
,
Breakfast@9PM
,
Kail X
and
Jurnal Resipi
will continue to air.
During the DidikTV@7 segment, the channel airs documentary, drama (weekends only), lifestyle, and cartoon programmes.
[73]
Only certain programmes broadcast in
Chinese
language such as Let's Cycle (season 1) hosted by Rickman Chia and Baki Zainal.
From 15 to 30 September 2021, according to the viewership statistics from
Media Prima Omnia
, the viewership share for NTV7 has increased from 2% to 15%, making the channel become the second most-watched television station in Malaysia after
TV3
(which the viewership share for TV3 is about 17%), together with
TV9
, which has the same viewership share of 15%.
[74]
[4]
Programming
Logo history
See also
References
External links
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Television Networks
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Media Prima Audio
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New Straits Times Press
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Media Prima Digital
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Production and Distribution
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Out of Home Advertising
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- Big Tree Sdn Bhd
- Kurnia Outdoor Sdn Bhd
- Gotcha Sdn Bhd
- UPD Sdn Bhd
- The Right Channel Sdn Bhd
- Big Tree Seni Jaya Sdn Bhd
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