Talentvision


Talentvision is a Canadian Mandarin Chinese specialty channel. It is owned by the Vancouver-based Fairchild Media Group and TVB. Talentvision's studios are located at Aberdeen Centre in the Golden Village district along with Fairchild TV and Fairchild Radio, in Richmond, British Columbia.
Talentvision features programming from China as well as Taiwan. It also has a Korean and Vietnamese block of programming. Originally it was a regional TV station only available in British Columbia but it is now available nationally across Canada.
Talentvision is the first Mandarin channel in Canada and it first went on the air in 1993. It started out as a channel with mixed Cantonese and Mandarin content. Originally the broadcasting content was 60% Cantonese and 40% Mandarin. It started broadcasting entirely in Mandarin from June 1998 onwards. All of the Cantonese programs were transferred to Fairchild TV.

History

Early History

The history of Talentvision can be traced back to World View Television in Vancouver. Founded by Tianjun Liu, the station was granted a regional pay-TV license by the Canadian Video Commission in 1982 and began broadcasting in the same year. World View Television's broadcasting area was limited to British Columbia, serving minority communities in the province in languages such as Cantonese, Mandarin and Punjabi. Its headquarters were located on Cambie Street in Vancouver. The station was not allowed to broadcast advertisements at the time, and its revenue came from subscriber fees; this restriction was lifted in 1992.
In 1983, World View Television applied to the CRTC for a nationwide Chinese pay-TV license. However, in 1984, the authorities granted the license to Chinavision, founded in Toronto by Francis Cheung. Given that the Chinese television broadcasting industry in Canada was in its infancy at that time, the authorities believed that the Vancouver area could not support two competing Chinese television stations. Therefore, they added a clause to the license of Chinavision, restricting the station from landing in British Columbia within two years of its launch, so that World View Television could maintain its status as the only Chinese television station in the province.
However, shortly after World View Television was established, the shareholders had disagreements on financing and corporate governance. In 1984, the board of directors decided to voluntarily enter bankruptcy administration, while several World Television shareholders formed Cathay International Television to bid for World Television’s assets. After Cathay successfully bid, the transaction was approved by the CRTC in 1985, and the television station was renamed Cathay International Television, and its headquarters were subsequently moved to West 39th Street in Vancouver.
After the CRTC lifted the broadcasting restrictions on Chinavision in 1987, the station was able to receive broadcasts in British Columbia. Cathay International Television used to broadcast programs from TVB in Hong Kong, while Chinavision broadcast programs from ATV in Hong Kong.

Fairchild Takeover

In 1992, Vancouver-based Chinese businessman Thomas Fung's Fairchild Group, together with Television Broadcasts International Limited, announced that it would spend CAD 9.25 million to acquire the assets of Chinavision and at the same time acquire Cathay International Television for CAD 3.8 million. The two transactions were approved by the CRTC in October and December of 1993, respectively, and the two stations were subsequently reorganized: the regional television license originally belonging to Cathay International Television was reorganized into Talentvision, while the national television license originally belonging to Chinavision was reorganized into Fairchild TV. After the reorganization, Talentvision continued to broadcast within British Columbia, with Cantonese and Mandarin as its main service languages, and began to broadcast ATV programs, but also produced some local programs.
In 1995, Fairchild Group planned to sell Talentvision to Rogers Communications Group in order to focus on developing Fairchild TV. Rogers planned to convert it from a cable TV station to a terrestrial broadcast channel and add TV programs in 11 languages. However, Fairchild later changed its mind and stated at a CRTC hearing that it had no intention of giving up Talentvision's license, and the plan was thus abandoned.
In view of the increasing number of Mandarin-speaking immigrants from China and Taiwan, Talentvision underwent another reform and transformed into a Mandarin-only channel on June 1, 1998. The target audience changed from Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong immigrants to Mandarin-speaking Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants, and the channel began broadcasting programs produced by mainland China and Taiwan television stations. The television market for Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong immigrants was replaced by Fairchild TV, and a small number of programs from Hong Kong ATV were also moved to Fairchild TV.
Talentvision applied to the CRTC in 2000 to change its license from a regional pay TV to a national pay TV. The application was approved in May 2001, and Talentvision began broadcasting nationally that fall.

Current local programming list

Morning Exercise 早安運動
Expert Hour 專家來開講
Magazine 26 26分鐘見證實錄
Straits Today 兩岸三地加國情
Urban Life 城市串吧

News

Talentvision TV produces two hours of local news on the weekdays and one hour of local news on the weekends. The newscast airs at 7:30 pm PT/10:30 pm ET and is repeated at 11:30 pm PT/2:30 am ET, 4:00 am PT/7:00 am ET, & 6:00 am PT/9:00 am ET and is anchored out of their studios in Richmond.
Talentvision also airs foreign Mandarin newscasts from CCTV and TVBS.

News Team

Vancouver (Richmond, British Columbia) Bureau

Toronto (Richmond Hill, Ontario) Bureau

  • Hua Zhang - Reporter

    Former Anchors and Reporters

  • Jessamine Wang
  • David Jang
  • Frank Qi
  • Livian Liu
  • Lawrence Wu
  • Catherine Qiu
  • Cynthia Lin
  • Cindy Wang
  • Emily Chen
  • George Liao - Producer, My Country, My Home; Reporter, City View & Mandarin Profile; now with OMNI News
  • Richard Zhu - Host, My Country, My Home
  • Kyle Kang - Host, My Country, My Home
  • Ellen Ma - Host, My Country, My Home; now with OMNI News
  • Carol Xu - also anchor/reporter for Fairchild TV News; now Communications Coordinator at City of Richmond
  • Jocelyn Wang
  • Vera He
  • Janice Luk, also reporter for Fairchild TV News

    Current Presenters

Vancouver (Richmond, British Columbia)

Toronto (Richmond Hill, Ontario)

Former Presenters

Vancouver (Richmond, British Columbia)

  • Leah Chen - Host, Urban Life; now Writer and Data Collection for Urban Life
  • Cindy Wu - Host, Urban Life; 2021 Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant Winner
  • Jessica Chou - Host, Urban Life; now Fairchild Radio DJ
  • Alice Lin - Host, Asian Magazine & Urban Life; 2018 Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant Winner
  • Rachel He - Host, Asian Magazine & Urban Life; 2018 Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant's Second Runner-Up
  • Mandy Jin - Host, Asian Magazine & Urban Life; 2012 Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant's Master of Ceremonies; 2011 Super10 Finalist
  • Christina Fu - Host, Asian Magazine
  • Tingting Niu - Host, Asian Magazine; 2017 Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant's Second Runner-Up; 2019 Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant's Master of Ceremonies
  • Danni Jia - Host, Asian Magazine; 2019 Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant's Second Runner-Up
  • Vincent Dong - Host, Everyday English
  • Abby Zhao - Host, Everyday English
  • Prenda Wang - Host, Asian Magazine; 2016 Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant's First Runner-Up
  • Anna Chen - Host, Asian Magazine; 2013 Super10 Finalist
  • Gerald Yang - Host, Asian Magazine; 2010 Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant Master of Ceremonies
  • Vera Wang - Host, Asian Magazine; 2011 Super10 Finalist; now Fairchild Radio DJ
  • Isabelle Chu - Host, Asian Magazine
  • Jinting Zhu - Host, Asian Magazine; 2009 Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant's Best Posture Award

    Toronto (Richmond Hill, Ontario)

  • Rebecca Liu - Host, Mandarin Profile; Reporter, City View; now Fairchild Radio DJ
  • Grace Xiao - Host, Mandarin Profile; Reporter, City View; 2008, 2010-2011 Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant's Master of Ceremonies
  • Joanna Zheng - Host, City Express & City View
  • Elva Ni - Host, City View; 2005 Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant Winner; later host of Fairchild TV's What's On
  • Belinda Yan - Host, City View; 2006 Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant's First Runner-Up; later host of Fairchild TV's What's On
  • Cleone Ye - Host, City View; 2006 Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant's Second Runner-Up; later host of Fairchild TV's What's On
  • Kenneth Wu - Host, City View; 2007 New Talent Singing Awards Toronto Audition Winner
  • Ivy Hou - Host, City View; 2007 Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant's First Runner-Up; also hosted Fairchild TV's What's On
  • Greta Zhao - Host, City View; 2009 Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant's First Runner-Up
  • Bess Yu - Host, City View; 2010 Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant's Second Runner-Up
  • Candy Wu - Host, City View; 2011 Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant Finalist
  • Yi Qin - Host, City View; 2013-2019 Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant's Master of Ceremonies; 2015-2017 Mandarin Profile Awards Master of Ceremonies
  • Denise Liang - Host, City View; also hosted Fairchild TV's Leisure Talk & later host of Entertainment Circle; now Fairchild Radio DJ
  • Summer Yang - Host, City View; 2018 Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant Winner
  • Mia Yang - Host, Urban Life; 2020 Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant's Miss Photogenic Award
  • Athena Chen - Host, Urban Life; 2021 Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant's Second Runner-Up; now host of Fairchild TV's What's On
  • William Sun - Host, Mandarin Profile; now Fairchild Radio DJ