The Sanlih media group was founded by
Lin Kun-hai, his wife Lin Chang-Hsiu, and her brother Chang Rong-hua in 1983, producing videos of
Taiwanese Hokkien music and variety programs with entertainers such as
Chu Ke-liang. The network's name, literally meaning "three establishments", refers to the three cofounders of the company. Sanlih quickly became successful as broadcasting restrictions during the
martial law period limited the usage of non-Mandarin languages on television. However, the introduction of cable television led to a proliferation of unlicensed operators that would broadcast Sanlih videos on their own channels without permission, leading to the group setting up its own channel in 1993. To appeal to a broader, national base, Sanlih launched the Mandarin-language City Channel in 1996 and rebranded to SET-N (standing for "national" and "news") in 1997, helping it secure funding from political advertisements during the elections held in both years as multiparty democracy became a reality in Taiwan. ==SET channels==