ntv7 is a Malaysian free-to-air channel focused on the Urban area. It was launched on 7 April 1998.
Background
The station was launched under the entity of Natseven TV Sdn Bhd in 1998 by businessman Mohd Effendi Norwawi, broadcasting daily from 6 am to 1 am the next day. used by ntv7 during the channel's downtime. In 2005, Media Prima Berhad announced its acquisition of ntv7 under a price of RM90 million, effectively making the latter one of its subsidiaries. Media Prima also owns three other private television stations in Malaysia: TV3, 8TV & TV9, as well as a controlling stake in the New Straits Times, owned by New Straits Times Press Sdn Bhd.
Programming
The station, which targets the Malaysian urban demographic, offers a wide variety of programming including drama, comedy, entertainment, game shows, children's programmes, anime, documentaries and movies. There are also news bulletins in English, Mandarin and Malay through the 7 Edition, Mandarin 7, and Edisi 7 brands, respectively. Since 1 April 2016, a teleshopping block bought by the Korean conglomerateCJ Group called CJ WOW Shop has been broadcasting across Media Prima channels. Media Prima established two CJ WOW Shop exclusive channels on my Freeview. Several Media Prima channels are more affected by the changes. It attracted public criticism on social media as a large part of the daytime schedule has been replaced by the block, in which these slots had been previously dedicated to reruns, religious programming and kids programming.
Modern Malaysia Era and Chinese content reduction attempt
From 5 March 2018, Media Prima attempted a new brand positioning for NTV7. The channel tried to target “Modern Malaysia” as a contemporary station through its new content line-up, including new Turkish Telenovelas; as well as its new slogan Feel It. The relaunch saw major changes as it became a dominated English-Malay language channel, with the channel name read as "n-t-v-tujuh" instead of "n-t-v-seven." Also, infomercial programming was reduced upon the channel's rebranding. Upon the March 2018 rebranding, Chinese content on this channel was reduced to selected Chinese dramas from Hong Kong and China along with Mandarin news bulletins, with much of the remainder transferred to sister channel 8TV. Originally, Mandarin 7 was supposed to be cancelled in May 2018 to complete its plan of moving all Chinese content to a single dedicated channel. However, when the 2018 General Election occurred, the bulletin became Malaysia's 2nd most watched after TV3's Buletin Utama. Due to the Chinese community's positive response, Media Prima decided to reshuffle NTV7's news programming in June instead of axing Chinese news. In its current format, only one news bulletin per language is aired on the channel with a single Mandarin newshour, while retaining half-hour editions in Malay and English.
Reverts back to Chinese content
The rebrand caused confusion among viewers, particularly Chinese communities who tuned in to NTV7 after finding out that most of its former programmes were moved to 8TV. Overall Chinese viewership were believed to be surprisingly lower. As a result, on 31 December 2018, CEO of Media Prima, Johan Ishak, said that the Mandarin variant of CJ Wow Shop will be broadcast on the channel and replace Malay variant. The move was part of the company's restructuring NTV7 by axed English and Malay-language shows, dropped the channel nomenclature, moved some to the main TV3. It also brought back the channel's perception as a Chinese channel; yet the channel's Mandarin, Malay and English news bulletins remained unchanged. Reruns of axed NTV7 shows were then aired on TV9 after the former's retreat while slogan "Feel it" was removed.
Returning broadcast Urban programmes and reduce homeshopping blocks
Since 1 June 2019, NTV7 reduced CJ Wow Shop airtime by re-airing most of the Chinese programmes, English programmes, and kept the latest Korean drama and variety shows. On 26 October 2019, NTV7 started re-airing Thai drama with Chinese subtitles. On 1 January 2020, NTV7 has temporary axed English programmes until 15 June 2020.
Homeshopping blocks in two languages
Since 31 December 2019, NTV7 broadcasts CJ Wow Shop in two languages. Malay variant broadcasts at 9.00 AM to 12.00 PM, 2.00 PM to 4.00 PM, and Mandarin variant broadcasts at 1.00 PM, 4.00 PM, 8.30 PM to 10.30 PM and 11.30 PM.
The end of Mandarin 7
After 21 years of broadcasting, Mandarin 7 aired its final edition on 7 June 2020 and merged into 8TV Mandarin News the following day. 8TV Mandarin News was also extended to one hour due to high ratings during the Movement Control Order and COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. The Malay and English language news bulletins, Edisi 7 and 7 Edition respectively, remain unaffected by the change.
