Broadcast since 1 May 1958 as China Central Television (CCTV), CMG has a total of 49 television channels as of February 2021, consisting of 26 free channels, 17 pay channels and 6 foreign channels,[1] making CMG the world's largest number of TV channels operated by a single television network. All CMG channels are broadcasting around the world through satellite, cable and on Internet television. Those channels are listed below in sequence of launch day.
Television channels
Free public channels
All channels below are using Mandarin Chinese, with some news-related programmes showing sign language on the bottom-left or bottom-right.
The first TV channel of People's Republic of China, renamed to China Central Television on 1 May 1978, defined as CCTV-1 during launching of CCTV-2, and renamed to CCTV General when launch of CCTV-13.
The first color TV channel of People's Republic of China, at the earlier test launch era, the programmes are related to education, later for economical.
传承中华文明 服务全球华人(Inheriting Chinese Civilization, Serving Global Chinese)
Was general television for culture. Was having English and Cantonese programmes before 2006, channel signal splitted to 3 edition (Asian, European and American) in 2006, bilingual captions available since 2009 for dramas.
All channels below are using Mandarin Chinese. The previous 13 channels are owned by Central Digital Television Media Co., Ltd., their HD signals were launched on 23 September 2019, and their SD signals were shut down in 2020. The last 3 channels are owned by CND Films.
None of channels below are available for subscribers within mainland China.
Name
Language
Format
Launch date
Note
Daifu
Standard Chinese and Japanese
SD: PAL 576i 16:9 (extruded)
HD: 1080i
27 May 1998 (SD)
1 June 2014 (HD)
Japanese edition of CCTV-4, available in Sky PerfecTV!.
CCTV Entertainment
Standard Chinese
SD: PAL 576i 16:9
1 October 2004
Overseas edition of CCTV-3.
CCTV Chinese Opera
Overseas edition of CCTV-11.
CCTV-1 Hong Kong & Macau Edition
Standard Chinese and Cantonese
SD: PAL 576i 16:9 (pure)
HD: 1080i
1 March 2011 (SD)
29 May 2017 (HD)
For both: Due to copyright and trademark concerns, all advertisements and some programmes of original CCTV-1 are censored, and replaced by local, mainly Cantonese-speaking, advertisements and other news programmes.
Hong Kong Edition: Was transmitted by ATV before 1 April 2015, later de facto only available for some pay channel networks, such as now TV 541, until 23 May 2017 where RTHK took over the channel spectrum as RTHK33.
Macau Edition: Transmitted by TDM, was using original CCTV-1 spectrum during 20 December 2016 through 29 May 2017.
Former channels
China 3D TV Test Channel - a television channel broadcasting various digital 3D television content.
CCTV High Definition Test - The first HDTV channel in the Great China area, as well as the world's first Chinese-speaking HDTV channel, launched on 1 October 1999, closed date 2013
plus an additional 10+ advanced integration satellite providers if possible
International broadcasts
It is possible to receive channels CCTV-4 (Mandarin channel targeting an overseas Chinese audience), CGTN (English channel targeting an Foreigner audience), CGTN Spanish (in Spanish) and CGTN French (in French) outside China by using a Digital Video Broadcast signal (plus additional broadcast support together with Dolby Stereo, Dolby Surround, Dolby SR, Dolby Digital Advanced Sound Quality Definition and Improvement System Support, technologized and developed by Dolby Laboratories, Datasat, and the SDDS for digital audio system supportments). CCTV has just recently switched from analog to DVB primarily due to better signal quality and the ability to charge for reception (about US$10 per year subscription). The overseas channels are widely available across many cable and satellite providers.
