| Hunan Television | |
| Owner: | Hunan Broadcasting System |
| Picture Format: | |
| Network: | Hunan Broadcasting System (HBS) |
| Language: | Mandarin |
| Headquarters: | Changsha |
| Country: | China |
Hunan Television or Hunan TV is a state-owned provincial satellite TV station launched on September 29, 1970. It is currently China's second-most-watched television channel,[1] —second to China Central Television's CCTV-1. Although Hunan TV has occasionally overtaken CCTV-1 in ratings.[2]
Owned by Hunan Broadcasting System, Hunan TV's signal covers most of China, including Macau, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. It is also broadcast overseas as Hunan STV World in Japan, India, Nepal, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Tajikistan, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Fiji, Australia, and parts of Africa, the Americas, and Europe. The channel has broadcast in high-definition since September 28, 2009. The appearance of its logo has resulted in the nickname of Mango TV.
On Dec 15, 2006, Hunan TV collaborated with BBC to broadcast “Just the Two of Us”—the first entertainment collaboration between Chinese television and the BBC on a global scale.[3]
On May 20, 2009, Hunan TV World launched in Hong Kong.[4] It was the first permitted "international channel." Aria Jin served as the host of "Shoot, Brother!"[5]
In 2015, because of changes to the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television's policies, HSTV changed prime-time broadcasts to show 2 episodes per night instead of 3 and changed the start of air time from 19:30 to 20:00. It is the only channel besides CCTV that airs drama at 22:00.[6]
By 2013, HSTV had broadcast to over 1 billion viewers in China, with 358 million showing approval for HSTV programming. There are approximately 210 million daily viewers. Online, HSTV's platform has 730 million views.[7] [8]
In 2017, the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party criticized Hunan TV for chasing ratings, saying that "they have failed to fulfill the mission of being a mouthpiece of the Party." They also claimed that the channel is a "platform for gay entertainment," that its female guests show too much skin, that it advertises fake products, and that it trades social benefits for economic ones.[9] [10]