MUCH TV, also known as Times MUCH and in its native language, 年代MUCH台, was a Taiwanese satellite cable channel, which was responsible for airing Robot Wars to a Chinese-speaking audience from 2000 onwards.
History[]
Not to be confused with the Canadian channel Much which predates the Taiwanese channel of the same name, MUCH TV is owned by Era Television, but was launched in March 1994 prior to the network's establishment. It was briefly known as 歡樂無線台 (roughly translating to Happy Radio Station) in 1994 before becoming TVIS in May 1995. The channel underwent another identity shift as TVIS became ERA SPORTS from 1998 until early 2000, adopting the MUCH TV name it held while airing Robot Wars.
While known as MUCH TV, the channel primarily focused on broadcasting sports, notably airing the Chinese Professional Baseball League, Taiwan Major League Baseball and the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
From April 2003, the channel has been known as S MUCH, with its only major change occuring in 2006 with the loss of shareholder and host of the channel's Voice of Taiwan, Wang Ben-hu, who became cofounding chairman for the Hokkien station YAM TV until his passing in February 2017. S MUCH continued to regularly host major sporting events and is still present on Taiwanese television to this day.[1]
Robot Wars[]
Very little is known about MUCH TV’s coverage of Robot Wars, however it is known that the show’s written and spoken English had been entirely dubbed in Mandarin Chinese. It aired under the name 超暴力激鬥, which translates to Super Violent Fight.[2] Though it is unknown exactly which series aired on the channel due to a lack of television logos present in surviving footage of the Mandarin dubs of Robot Wars, it is known that The First Wars was dubbed for a Chinese-speaking audience - one of the few known instances where this series was aired in a non-English speaking country.
While unconfirmed, with the knowledge that broadcasts began in 2000, it is likely that early BBC series were the first shown on the Taiwanese channel. A September 2001 C21Media article confirms that a broadcasting deal with Mentorn had been established at that point.[3]
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