Vasantham (TV channel)

Vasantham (வசந்தம்) is a Tamil-language free-to-air terrestrial television channel in Singapore, owned by state media conglomerate Mediacorp. The channel broadcasts entertainment and news programming targeting the Singaporean Indian community.

The channel was established on 1 September 1995 by Singapore Television Twelve as Premiere 12, an UHF spin-off of Channel 12 focused on arts, cultural, sports, and English-language entertainment programmes. Premiere 12 inherited the previous format of Channel 12, which concurrently relaunched with a multilingual format focused on Malay and Tamil programmes.

On 30 January 2000, the channel relaunched as Central; the channel's schedule was divided into three different strands, with children's programmes under the Kids Central strand, Tamil-language programmes under the Vasantham Central strand, and arts and cultural programming under the Arts Central strand. On 19 October 2008, MediaCorp discontinued Central and spun its programming off into the new channels Okto and Central rebranded again as the Tamil-specific Vasantham on 19 October 2008.

History
Since the inception of television broadcasting in Singapore, Tamil-language programming had been broadcast by Mediacorp and its predecessors via its existing channels; after having carried programming in all four of Singapore's official languages on Channel 5 and 8, the channels were split on 30 March 1973. Channel 5 would focus on English and Malay, and Channel 8 would focus on Chinese and Tamil.

Premiere 12
On 26 August 1994, ahead of the bill that suggested the planned privatisation of the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation, the Minister for Information and the Arts (Brigadier General) George Yeo announced the plan for the creation of a fourth free-to-air television channel in Singapore, offering a predominantly cultural lineup. Under this plan, arts and cultural programming would be spun off from Channel 12 into a new channel, broadcasting on the UHF band due to the lack of VHF slots available. Tamil programmes would be moved from Channel 8 to Channel 12, so that 8 would shift exclusively to Chinese-language programming, and 12 would focus on Malay and Tamil language programmes.

On 27 July 1995, Television Twelve (later renamed Singapore Television Twelve)—who became responsible for Channel 12 after privatization—received the greenlight from the Singapore Broadcasting Authority to broadcast a UHF channel. Test transmissions began on 1 August 1995, with trial programming running nightly from 7 to 9 pm and the test pattern filling the rest.

The new channel would launch on 1 September 1995 as Premiere 12, with the existing Channel 12 concurrently rebranded as Prime 12. At launch, Premiere 12 planned to broadcast 72 hours of programmes weekly, 15 1/2 hours of which would be devoted to sports coverage such as S. League and Serie A football, basketball, and golf among others. Unlike Prime 12, much of Premiere 12's programmes were in English. The channel also planned to air a weekly slot for "baby boomers" featuring comedy series from the 1970s and classic films, and acquired the American late-night talk show Late Show with David Letterman. Sandra Buenaventura, CEO of Singapore Television Twelve, said that the channels were "like a tin of assorted biscuits", reflecting the individual nature of the specialist programming of the new services.

Data from Nielsen Survey Research Singapore showed that Premiere 12's viewership share went from 10% in September 1995 to 22% in February 1996, attributed to the channel's better selection of programmes than those of Channel 5.

Central
In September 1999, Singapore Television Twelve announced that Premiere 12 would be relaunched as Central as part of a company-wide restructuring of MediaCorp's television output, with the launch set for 30 January 2000. Central's programming schedule was divided into three strands; On launch week, Kids Central reportedly had 70,000 to 173,000 viewers, Vasantham Central exceeded 30% share and the showing of the Cirque du Soleil performance Quidam on Arts Central attracted 140,000 viewers. On 28 February 2000, Singapore Television Twelve increased Central's on-air hours from 91½ to 110½ hours per week.
 * Kids Central, focusing on children's programmes targeting viewers 12 and younger; many of these programmes moved from Channel 5, which elected to focus more on teen-oriented programmes. The block was positioned as a competitor to pan-Asian cable channels such as Cartoon Network, featuring programmes acquired from international markets (such as Dragon Tales and Tweenies), alongside original domestic productions such as Hip-O & Friends, The Big Q, and Kids United. As per licence conditions, at least twelve hours of programmes per-week were expected to have educational components.
 * Vasantham Central, which would focus on Tamil-language programmes, including news, cultural, and entertainment programmes.
 * Arts Central, which would focus on arts programmes (including the newsmagazine Art Nation), theatrical productions, documentaries, and classical music.

In March 2008, MediaCorp announced that Central would be split into two standalone channels; the changes took effect on 19 October 2008, with Vasantham Central relaunched as Vasantham, becoming a full-time Tamil-language channel, and Okto inheriting the children's and arts programming.

Broadcast hours
Vasantham broadcasts from 9:00am SGT daily, signing off at 12:00am SGT on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 12:30am SGT on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays and 1:30am SGT on Saturdays. A simulcast of Mediacorp's Tamil-language radio station Oli 968 is carried during the overnight and morning hours until sign-on.