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In 2006, Singapore was the first country in Southeast Asia to launch HDTV public trials.
MediaCorp launched its HDTV trial on 18 June 2006 over its new terrestrial Channel 38, opening with the Hollywood blockbuster, "Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers". During MediaCorp's trial covering 1,000 households and retail outlets, an average of 14 hours of HD content per week were telecast during the primetime hours of 7pm and 11pm, comprising locally produced and acquired programmes, as well as simulcasts of Channel 5 programmes which were upconverted to high-definition format.
Starhub also conducted a 1,000 strong selected HDTV trial from 10 June to 10 July 2006. Participants enjoyed 64 'live' World Cup matches in high-definition format. Fifty-six of these matches were telecast on Channel 300, and the remaining eight simulcast matches were carried on the supplementary HDTV trial channel, Channel 301.
To facilitate the national deployment of HDTV, MDA worked with industry partners on a slew of publicity and educational activities to educate and engage the community on HD technology. These included sponsored table-top advertisements at Gelare Cafes; sponsored commercials along Orchard Road, and in the cinemas, MacDonald’s restaurants islandwide and the National Library; as well as roadshows and exhibitions at community centres and libraries. A fun contest, "Hi-Def Showtime" with sponsored prizes worth over S$133,000.00 in cash and kind, was also held to bring HDTV closer to the people.
By end of 2007, Singaporeans were able to choose from three HD services providers. StarHub launched 2 HD channels - Discovery HD and National Geographic HD in January 2007. This made Singapore the first country in South-east Asia to offer a commercial HD service. In July 2007, Singtel launched their IPTV service mioTV which offers a wide variety of HD channels, programmes and movies. Mediacorp was the the first broadcaster in Southeast Asia to roll out an HD channel over terrestrial in November 2007.
- For more information about HD & You, do download the brochure here.
- If you still have burning questions about HD, take a look at our FAQs here.
- If you would like to get technical and find out about the jargons used in HD, check out the HD glossary here.
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