Television is a prominent industry and form of mass media in China. Since 2018, state administration of the television industry has been overseen by the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA). China Central Television (CCTV) is China's largest state-run national television broadcaster. Television has existed in China since the Mao era, but has substantially increased in reach and popularity since the 1980s. By 1987, two-thirds of people in China had access to television. As of August 22, 2023, over 3,300 local, regional, and national TV channels are available in the country.
History China has had access to film and movie theaters since the early twentieth century, but plans for a broadcast television network did not develop until 1953. While Hong Kong established the first Chinese television station, Rediffusion Television, in 1957, the first mainland television transmission signal was made a year later on May 1st, 1958, in Beijing. Beijing Television (now China Central Television, since 1978) was formally launched on September 2, 1958. The first regional station, Shanghai Television, was launched a month later on October 1, 1958. Launching a television network was impossible given the size of the country; in the early years, the only microwave link was between Beijing and Tianjin, while outside of the capital area, it was launched on a per-region basis. In the early years, television studios in China were primitive. In 1965, an agreement was signed with Visnews to open up news images from China to its head offices in London. Growth in telecommunications halted with the general economic collapse after the Great Leap Forward (1958–60). During the Cultural Revolution, military control was exerted over China's Broadcasting Bureau, and television growth was again stagnated. When broadcasts resumed, there was little other programming than the news (mostly rolling captions of Chairman Mao's thoughts) and performances of the five approved Peking operas by various theatrical troupes. Nevertheless, television infrastructure developed at a moderate pace during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1965, there were 12 television stations in mainland China, 1 national and 11 regional, and by 1971, there were 31. Most experienced television through communal viewing areas, and there were few to no personal television sets. Television in China did not become a national institution until after the Mao Zedong era. Expansion and modernization of the broadcasting systems continued throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s. China's first television commercial aired on 18 January 1979.
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