[Philippines] A professor demonstrated the first successful home-receiving TV set in February 1950 at the University of Santo Tomas.

[Philippines] Feati University opened the first experimental station in the Philippines.

[Philippines] Commercial TV arrived in the Philippines when the first station, DZAQ-TV Channel 3, was opened by Alto Broadcasting System in Manila. High import duties made television sets prohibitively expensive, limiting access in the early years.

[Philippines] Foreign television programmes were expensive to purchase in the Philippines but cheaper to air than producing local programmes. In 1959, airing a half-hour imported programme cost US $125 to US $150 (approx. US $1,300–US $1,600 today) while producing a half-hour local programme cost PHP 2,000, equivalent to US $1,000 based on the exchange rate at that time.

[Singapore] After years of planning, debate and discussion, the Singapore Government confirmed in May 1960 that television will be introduced to the country. The following year, they announced a SG $5.9 million budget for a single-channel television station with a film unit. The government saw television’s potential to educate and to cultivate Malayan culture.

[Malaysia] On 16 March 1960, a committee in the cabinet of Malaysia was formed to study the introduction of TV and related issues arising from the initiation of TV service.

[Indonesia] Indonesia’s first TV station, Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI), was founded. It televised the Fourth Asian Games held in Jakarta in 1962. TVRI would hold monopoly on TV in Indonesia as its only TV channel until the introduction of private TV in 1987.

[Singapore] Television services debuted on 15 February 1963 in Singapore, featuring black-and-white transmission by Radio Singapore (later Radio Television Singapore) with the aid of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The first TV service had two free-to-air channels: Channel 5, which televised English and Malay programmes, and Channel 8, which featured Mandarin and Tamil programmes.

[Malaysia] Talivishen Malaysia (Television Malaysia) was launched on 28 December 1963 with one network operating from a temporary studio at the Dewan Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Kuala Lumpur. For the first few years, it broadcasted only black-and-white programmes.

[Malaysia] More than 28,000 TV sets were licensed. The number of sets registered climbed by about 26,000 yearly, reaching a total of 150,000 by 1969.

[Philippines] TV continued to grow in the Philippines despite high prices during the 1960s and early 1970s. By 1966, there were 18 privately owned TV channels in the country with a viewership of more than one million during peak viewing hours.

[Philippines] Radiowealth Inc pioneered in the production of 19-, 21- and 25-inch models of colour TVs.

[Thailand] Bangkok Broadcasting Channel 7 began to broadcast in colour.

[Malaysia] Malaysia’s first satellite earth station in Kuantan was built, enabling the country to receive and send direct broadcast programmes via satellite.

[Thailand] Thai television Channel 3 officially began operating on 15 March 1970.

[Indonesia] Statistics indicate that 212,590 television sets were registered in Indonesia, with 95% located within Java.

[Indonesia] Video was introduced in Indonesia and became a popular luxury item for the Indonesian urban middle class in the mid-1980s until the early 1990s.

[Singapore] Singapore had its first live colour TV transmission during the World Cup soccer finals on 7 July 1974. Four years later, colour programmes constituted 85% of all programmes.

[Thailand] The Thai government established the National Broadcasting and Executive Board to license and monitor transmission and programming. It became the main censorship body for broadcast content.

[Indonesia] The Indonesian domestic broadcast satellite Palapa was launched to bring TV to all Indonesian islands. Palapa made television programming accessible outside of metropolitan Jakarta, extending its outreach to rural Indonesians.

[Malaysia] Television Malaysia began broadcasting colour programmes on 28 December 1978.

[Malaysia] 720,000 households owned TV sets in 1979, increasing from 28,000 households in 1964.

[Singapore] In the late 1970s, demand for video supported a rental industry in Singapore, leading to the establishment of video clubs where the public can borrow cassettes.

[Thailand] By the late 1970s, black-and-white televisions became increasingly common in Thai households, following a national development initiative that extended the availability of electricity throughout the country.

[Indonesia] The number of TV sets grew sixfold in Indonesia in the 1980s. During the same period, more Indonesians were watching television regularly than reading newspapers or magazines or listening to the radio.

[Thailand] Television became the dominant news medium in Thailand.

[Indonesia] On 5 January, President Suharto decreed the abolishment of all television commercials in Indonesia, effective 1 April that year. This was largely due to concerns about advertisements for foreign goods changing the consumption habits of rural Indonesians.

[Malaysia] An estimated 165,000 VCR units were present in Malaysian households, about 15% of all households with TVs.

[Singapore] VCRs were popular in Singapore, where they were available at attractive duty-free prices.

[Indonesia] In a survey, a little less than 30% in Indonesia had installed television sets, even in areas where television is not expected to reach and where high antennae are required. The majority of television set owners belonged to higher economic and educational levels. By 1982, there were as many as 21,543 community public television sets for use in villages. Those of lower income and educational levels could access television either by watching public sets or visiting the home of a neighbour who owns a unit.

[Indonesia] In Indonesia, almost 3 million television sets were recorded, reaching an estimated 95.5 million people or 64% of the population.

Palapa’s successor, the more powerful Generation B Palapa, was launched. The Jakarta headquarters of TVRI annually determines programming for all its regional stations.

[Singapore] In Singapore, 62.7% of homes with televisions also owned VCRs, one of the highest penetration rates in the world.

[Malaysia] According to the Asian Wall Street Journal, Malaysian surveys found that the ratio of VCRs to TV receivers near the capital city of Kuala Lumpur was the "highest in the world."

[Thailand] Nine out of ten households in Thailand had at least one television set. Ownership of colour televisions was prevalent amongst urban Thai populations in Southern Thailand (58%), Bangkok (54%), Northeast (49%), central plain (47%), and the North (43%).

[Philippines] A study by the Philippine Information Agency found that television ownership in the country in 1985 was at just 30% but the number jumped to 78% penetration rate in Metro Manila. Rural households were also acquiring televisions at a faster rate than their city counterparts.

[Thailand] The videocassette recorder became a status good in Thailand and began to compete with broadcast television.

[Thailand] By the mid-1980s, there were nine television stations broadcasting in colour in Thailand and the number of television sets exceeded more than three million.

[Indonesia] The Indonesian Ministry of Information granted permission for the first public station, Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia (RCTI), to begin broadcasting, ending the state-controlled TVRI’s monopoly over Indonesian television.

[Singapore] According to Survey Research Singapore, Singapore maintained world leadership in VCR ownership (excluding Arab countries in the Middle East), with 75% of all homes having a registered VCR.

[Thailand] Pay-TV was introduced in Thailand by the International Broadcasting Corporation of Shinawatra Group.

[Indonesia] By 1990, the VCR ceased to be a luxury item in Indonesia. Units could be purchased in Jakarta at a cost comparable to that of discount centres in Singapore and Malaysia.

[Thailand] Proponents of the democracy movement in Thailand made handheld video camcorder recordings of brutal military and police action against protestors in Bangkok in May 1992. This footage was edited together with British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that was captured off Star satellite, and sold on video cassettes, subverting blanket media bans imposed by the government.

[Indonesia] Digital video (DV) cameras were available in the Indonesian market at relatively low prices by manufacturers such as Sony, JVC and Panasonic, among others.

[Thailand] Thailand’s first privately owned television station, Independent Television (iTV), was set up in response to the outcry over excessive state media control during the Bloody May protests of 1992.

[Malaysia] From 720,000 households in 1979, the number of households owning TV sets increased to just under two million in 1996.

[Philippines] VCDs were exhibited at an appliance fair in the Philippines and pirated VCDs become available in the local market.

[Indonesia] Video consumption shifted to VCD in Indonesia around this time. DVDs were launched in the country the same year.

[Philippines] Equipment for digital filmmaking like the DV-8 and the Mini-DVs became cheaper in the Philippines in the late 1990s, making filmmaking more accessible to people who wanted to make their own films.

[Indonesia] Video consumption and distribution in Indonesia shifted from VCD to DVD.