Education Ministry’s DidikTV goes live today, Media Prima insists NTV7 isn’t dead

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has officially launched DidikTV KPM, a dedicated education TV channel by the Ministry of Education. DidikTV KPM will operate 17 hours daily from 7.00 am to 12:00 am and it will broadcast specially designed content to boost home-based teaching and learning (PdPR) classes. The station aims to benefit 5 million students throughout Malaysia.

How to Watch?

DidikTV will be broadcasted on the same frequency and platforms where you can tune in to NTV7. Here’s the list of platforms where you can watch the channel:

Online – Tonton
Digital TV (MYTV) – Channel 107 (NTV7)
Astro – Channel 147 (NTV7)
Unifi TV – Channel 107 (NTV7)

You can also rewatch selected segments on the NTV7 YouTube channel. Below is the TV Guide for its first day of broadcast:

DidikTV KPM is seen as an evolution of TV Pendidikan. The education TV initiative was first launched in Malaysia by former Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak in 1972 and after several iterations it ceased TV broadcast in 2008.

Media Prima says NTV7 hasn’t ceased operations

As most people have bid farewell to NTV7, Media Prima has clarified that NTV7 has not ceased operations. It said that DidikTV KPM is a strategic commercial collaboration between the Education Ministry and Media Prima to boost access to quality and education to students nationwide. The media giant clarified that there’s no change in ownership of the TV channel and it has not ceased operations as perceived and reported by certain quarters.

While it is true that NTV7 identity and ownership are retained, the programming is no longer the same as before.

As shown in the TV schedule above, the NTV7 channel now focuses mainly on educational content and even the news slots are now scheduled to show Buletin Didik. Most entertainment content have also been replaced with documentary or infotainment shows that cater towards students and youths. Yesterday also marks the final airtime for 7 Edition news.

On Digital TV (MYTV), the NTV7 channel is still showing the old schedule as Edisi 7 and WOW Shop are still listed on the TV Guide. The channel is being broadcast in 576i SD resolution in 4:3 format.

NTV7 was launched in 1998 by Mohd Effendi Norwawi under Natseven TV Sdn Bhd before it was acquired by Media Prima Berhad in 2005. During its early days, NTV7 provided a variety of international TV shows such as CSI, Survivor and Pua Chu Kang. There are also notable news bulletins such as 7 Edition, Mandarin 7 and Edisi 7. Its Chinese content including Mandarin 7 news have been moved to 8TV.

[ SOURCE 2, IMAGE SOURCE ]

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