Television in the Republic of Vietnam

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Television in the Republic of Vietnam was first broadcast in 1966 and, within a few years, became a popular mass medium.

construction

When the number of US troops in South Vietnam rose steadily due to the escalating Vietnam War from 1964, plans began within the United States' armed forces to set up a television service for the US troops in 1965 . At the same time, a television station in Vietnamese should be built, which should make its contribution to nation building and remove the population from the influence of the FNL .

The American Forces Network was able to carry out the first test broadcasts on January 22, 1966, and regular operations began on February 7, 1966. The USA initially provided 500 and later another 2000 televisions, on which the first television program in Vietnam could be received in the Saigon area. A state television broadcaster, Truyền hình Việt Nam (“Television Vietnam”, THVN), was established. Since a terrestrial transmission infrastructure was not yet available at that time, the television signals were broadcast by three appropriately equipped C-121 Super Constellations that circled over the transmission area. The English-language broadcaster AFVN-TV on channel 11 broadcast three hours of American programming for the US troops each day , while the Vietnamese- language TNVN-TV on channel 9 broadcast one hour a day.

In October 1966, a terrestrial transmitter went into operation in Saigon, and the planes then broadcast their programs via Cần Thơ .

Mass medium

By around 1970, further transmission systems were built in Huế , Đà Nẵng , Nha Trang , Quy Nhơn and Cần Thơ; At that time, 80% of the population lived in the transmission area. The television program duration was extended to six hours a day. 350,000 televisions were in operation in 1970, with around 17 million inhabitants. At times, their energy consumption endangered the electricity supply in large cities. People who could not afford the US $ 175 for a television set sometimes installed dummy television antennas in their homes. By 1975, the number of televisions rose to two million, with an average household size of five people and a good 20 million inhabitants, half of the population had a private television set. In North Vietnam, where television was also introduced with Cuban support in 1970, there were only 30,000 sets at that time.

On the part of the Saigon government, the popular new medium was seen as an extremely effective propaganda tool, despite (or perhaps because of it) the program was of poor quality. In 1970 the station had an annual budget of only US $ 375,000; six people produced the news programs. Even the cheaply produced entertainment programs were primarily used to spread political propaganda. Advertisements were not broadcast; instead, political slogans were occasionally shown.

THVN-TV was thus in constant competition with AFVN-TV with its US TV series and sports broadcasts. Audience ratings were never recorded, but various independent observers attested that the American program was much more popular. It was once reported that around 90% of viewers switched to the American channel while President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu was broadcasting a speech to the National Assembly .

The End

After the US troops withdrew, AFVN-TV was discontinued at the beginning of 1973 and most of the transmission systems were handed over to THVN. After the conquest of Saigon by the armed forces of North Vietnam and the FNL, the North Vietnamese state broadcaster Đài Truyền hình Việt Nam took over the facilities and from now on broadcast a pan-Vietnamese program.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ South Vietnam. The Tube Takes Hold . In: TIME Magazine. November 30, 1970 ISSN  0040-781X , p. 36
  2. ↑ South Vietnam. The Tube Takes Hold. In: TIME Magazine. November 30, 1970 ISSN  0040-781X , p. 36
  3. ↑ Television in Vietnam (PDF; 46 kB)
  4. ↑ Harvey H. Smith (Ed.): Area handbook for South Vietnam . Foreign Area Studies, the American University, Washington DC 1967, pp. 293f
  5. ↑ Harvey H. Smith (Ed.): Area handbook for South Vietnam . Foreign Area Studies, the American University, Washington DC 1967, p. 282
  6. ^ Cultural Profile - Media, Broadcasting - Television ( Memento of January 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), via archive.org ( Memento of January 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ South Vietnam. The Tube Takes Hold . In: TIME Magazine. November 30, 1970 ISSN  0040-781X , p. 36
  8. ^ William J. Duiker (ed.): Historical Dictionary of Vietnam 2nd edition. Scarecrow Press, 1989, ISBN 978-0-8108-2164-4 , p. 265
  9. ↑ according to South Vietnamese information, according to Peter Scholl-Latour : The death in the rice field. Thirty years of war in Indochina . 3rd edition 1991. Heyne, Munich 1979, ISBN 978-3-453-03398-6 , p. 253
  10. ↑ South Vietnam. The Tube Takes Hold . In: TIME Magazine. November 30, 1970 ISSN  0040-781X , p. 36
  11. ↑ South Vietnam. The Tube Takes Hold . In: TIME Magazine. November 30, 1970 ISSN  0040-781X , p. 36
  12. ↑ Television in Vietnam (PDF; 46 kB)
  13. ^ Cultural Profile - Media, Broadcasting - Television ( Memento of January 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive )