Big, not too bad.

Despite its government-owned background and monopoly status in Singapore’s broadcasting market, MediaCorp is something unusual.

First, it is a group of commercial media companies. Well I guess I will never understand why MediaCorp’s subsidiaries can be called “Private Limited” while they are fully owned by the government. The same goes to Singtel and almost all other Temasek’s companies. Does it mean the whole Singapore government is “private”?

Moreover, to a lesser extent, MediaCorp also stretches into periodicals and newspaper publishing and film-making. At present, MediaCorp runs eight television channels and 14 (yes, thats right!) radio channels, making it the largest media broadcaster and provider in Singapore.

Copyright MediaCorp

For Channel 8, well I dont think it is a bad Channel. It imports quite a lot of Taiwanese soap drama, following the fashion trend quite closely. And I have to say their Mandarin news presenter is quite professional. The 1 o’clock news bulletin is classic. I love to watch it if I am taking a bus.

As of Channel 5, really a great channel, I mean, if it is your only source for American TV series ( for most Singaporeans, yes). Surprisingly, their news bulletin has a better broadcasting room than Channel News Asia. More trendy, looks more authoritative. And since it’s not branded as a professional news channel, the audience does not expect any exclusive news or point of view from it. Thats why I think even Channel 5 does a better job than Channel News Asia.

Let’s talk about Channel U. It was funded by the SPH in the early 2000s. Due to fierce competition with MediaCorp, the two were both losing money. But how could the Ministry of Finance ( which fully owns Temasek, which in term, fully owns MediaCorp and SPH) let that happen? So Channel U was merged into MediaCorp. It brands “Lead Asian Fashion”, which nearly made me puke.

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Television Singapura. This was the name of MediaCorp in 1963 till 1965. It had some other names over the years and finally sticked to MediaCorp in 2001.

Can you imagine how many TV series it produced  in the past 3 decades? I think more than 100. Of course most of which are so not intelligent. You wonder why Singaporeans dont file complains of humiliating their IQ to MDB.

Recent years the company cooperated with HK, Chinese and Taiwanese companies and produced quite some blockbusters. I am not saying it is good. But for sure it is a clever move.

Actually you know what I love about MediaCorp ? Their radio stations.

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Favourite channel would be Lush995. Can you imagine you drive on they way back home and the radio is playing some light music, the whole car is filled with relaxation and joy. It really help you forget stress.

Buy a radio and try it.