Channel 3 or Channel 3 HD (Thai: ช่อง 3 เอชดี, formerly known as สถานีวิทยุโทรทัศน์ไทยทีวีสีช่อง 3, lit. 'Thai Television Broadcasting Station Color TV Channel 3 (Channel 3 HDTV Channel 33)') is a Thailand and Bangkok's first commercialfree-to-air television network that was launched on 26 March 1970 as Thailand and Bangkok's first commercialtelevision station. Channel 3 is operated by BEC Multimedia Company Limited ("BECM"), a subsidiary of publicly traded company BEC World Public Company Limited. The network is headquartered in the Maleenont Tower of Bangkok.[3]
During its early years, Channel 3's airtime lasted 6-hours, broadcasting from 16:00 to 22:00, and later expanded to the daytime hours. For a short period of time, it started broadcasting 24 hours in March 1997 and closed the station again in August 1997, but was scuttled due to the 1997 Asian financial crisis. And the network resumed its 24-hour airtime on 1 January 2005.
On 1 January 2001, Channel 3 was the first station in Thailand to broadcast a 3D film. The movie, Jaws 3-D, required a pair of 3D glasses bought from certain stores partnered with the network for the event or attained from elsewhere.
On 16 September 2009, due to a wastewater treatment failure, the generator room was flooded, leading to all broadcasts to be suspended at approximately 4:04pm due to the lack of power. At 5:32pm, a test card was shown with the National Anthem, and at 5:37pm, programs returned.
In September 2018, Channel 3 (owned by BEC and MCOT) was the last broadcaster to broadcast analog television services in Thailand. The network made the move to digital television in late 2019 on VHF while analogue television ceased transmission on 26 March 2020 at 00:00 am (UTC+7), exactly 50 years after the channel's launch.