The National Television of Cambodia (TVK; Khmer: ទូរទស្សន៍ជាតិកម្ពុជា, ទទក) is the national television station of Cambodia. It is owned and operated by the government of Cambodia in Phnom Penh together with the national radio station, National Radio of Cambodia (RNK; Khmer: វិទ្យុជាតិកម្ពុជា).[2] TVK is member of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU).[3]
TVK broadcasts nine hours on weekdays and seventeen hours on weekends. On weekdays it is separated into two sessions, morning session from 11:30 to 14:30, and evening session from 17:00 to 23:00, and on weekends it broadcasts in one section from 6:00 to 23:00. Reruns are also broadcast at night.
In 1946 Radio Cambodge opened in Phnom Penh, at the time part of French Indochina (French protectorate of Cambodia), using Japanese equipment.[4] After independence it became Radiodiffusion Nationale Khmère (RNK). With Japanese aid, a TV station was set up in 1961, starting broadcasts the following year broadcasting for six hours a week,[5] but ended in June 1966 due to technical problems.[6] Regular transmissions began on 2 February 1966,[1] or in November of 1966, according to some sources, using a Japanese transmitter on VHF channel 6, with a power of eight kilowatts and a 200-watt relay.[6]
Subsequent names include Voice/TV Station of the National United Front of Cambodia (1975) and Voice of the Kampuchean People (VOKP, 1979). The civil war during the Pol Pot regime destroyed the transmitters. After these events, a production and broadcast center was rebuilt, this time with new equipments, broadcasting on channel 9 in the NTSC-M standard, with a stronger transmitter (40 kilowatts, 800-watt relayer on channel 11 in Bokor).[6] In 1983 a Radio and Television Commission was created.[7] The committee set up Radio Television Cambodge (RTC) for the restored television service. Initially broadcasting three nights a week, by 1986 it broadcast every day, for an average of four to five hours. A few years later, Cambodia's first provincial station opened. Both stations had outdated equipment, limited funding and amateur production levels.[8]
In 1994 state TV and radio were placed under the Ministry of Information and separated into different organizations.[4]
Both stations carry English and French news at 01:00 pm and 07:00 pm local time.