Most countries introduced television in black-and-white before eventually moving to color.
The National Science and Media Museum notes that the high cost of color television sets initially slowed their adoption, with countries making the switch years after black-and-white broadcasting began.
But Brunei didn't, Radio Television Brunei (RTB) says its television service began with “100% full colored television” in 1975, making it one of the few stations in the world to launch with color from the start.
Brunei Was Late to Television
Brunei was already familiar with television before it had a station of its own. Citizens had been tuning into Malaysian television since the late 1960s, while test transmissions from Sabah reached parts of Brunei in February 1971.
Some viewers initially thought the reports were a hoax, but shops soon began selling television sets under the counter. By 1973, Brunei had around 3,000 television sets, a substantial number for a country with fewer than half a million people, according to the Encyclopedia of Television: Second Edition.
By the time RTB began its own service in 1975, there were about 5,000 registered owners of black-and-white receivers, according to a 2010 study, Making Public Service Broadcasting Attractive in Brunei. Reception from Sabah, however, was poor.
The government had already explored television in the mid-1960s. The Straits Times reported in 1965 that Brunei could have television within two years, but the project was shelved in 1968 as the government sought to cut spending.
It was revived in the early 1970s, with one suggested reason being concern over the growing influence of Malaysian television. Brunei had no daily newspaper at the time and relied heavily on broadcasting for political communication.
Starting in Color
When Brunei finally moved ahead with its own television service, it was decided in October 1974 that the service would broadcast in color. According to Brian Collins, then chief news editor of Television Brunei, the government pushed for color partly to compete with Malaysian television, which surrounded Brunei with transmitters.
Brunei wanted its broadcasts to reach places such as Miri, Labuan and Kota Kinabalu, where Malaysian transmitters already surrounded the country. RTB says the service began with “100% full colored television”.
The network was built quickly with substantial outside help. RTB began test transmissions on 1 March 1975 and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah officially opened the service on 9 July that year, making Brunei one of the last countries in Southeast Asia to establish its own television service.
The Encyclopedia of Television: Second Edition says the project received large scale input from the BBC and was generously funded by Brunei's oil rich government.
Five RTB staff were sent for training at Radio Television Singapore in late January 1975, shortly before the launch. At first, RTB's signal only covered Bandar Seri Begawan, a second transmitter at Seria was added in 1976, extending coverage to western Brunei. By that year, the country had about 12,000 television sets for a population of roughly 150,000.
A 2010 study notes that British (BBC), Hong Kong and Singaporean broadcasters and technicians were recruited for the new service. Its then head of programmes, John Watkin, said in 1977 that the rush to launch left no way to produce local programmes or train local people.
Singaporean technical staff were still working with RTB in 1978.
Late to Television, Straight to Color
Brunei came to television later than Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, but Television Brunei was in color from the start. It adopted the PAL color system, with regular television service beginning on 1 March 1975.
Malaysia followed several years later. TV1 began color transmissions in Peninsular Malaysia on 28 December 1978, while TV1 and TV2 began color broadcasts in Sabah and Sarawak in 1980. Full time color broadcasting became operational nationwide on 1 January 1982.
The channel has changed names several times since. It became RTB1 in 2006, before merging with RTB5 and becoming RTB Perdana on 11 April 2017 as part of RTB's television rebranding. It is now the oldest free-to-air terrestrial television channel in Brunei.
