While Sri Lanka had no television services until 1979, proposals for their creation date to 1965. These early proposals were rejected by
Dudley Senanayake's government, whose media advisors, led by
Neville Jayaweera, called television "a gift of a
rhinoceros". The idea resurfaced by 1977, and, in early 1978, President
J. R. Jayewardene held talks with technicians of the Japanese
Nippon Electric Company, accepting proposals from
German and
French electronics companies to be their suppliers. According to Japanese law, the national television service was to be a public service television station and not a commercial service. President J. R. Jayewardene approved the creation of the national television service on 4 March 1980. Rūpavāhinī was created under a government act on 23 January 1982 and established on 14 February. Rupavahini began broadcasting the next day, opening with a speech from J. R. Jayewardene. Funding was donated by the Japanese government, and both transmitters were built and installed by Japanese technicians. By 1985, broadcasts started earlier at 5:30 pm, with news slots remaining unchanged. Educational programmes for classrooms were an initial focus, with free television sets offered to the 500 schools teaching "advanced level science and mathematics". Rupavahini's popularity led to the purchase of colour television sets in southern India before the rest of the country started regular services. Newspapers started publishing schedules for the station. Per a 1984 government order, Rupavahini reduced the power of its transmitters as the channel did not compensate its audience in India via overspill by attracting Indian advertisers. Viewer preference in India continued even after Doordarshan implemented its colour service. Its foreign programmes were also attractive. In 1986, Rupavahini expanded its facilities and, in 1998, rehabilitated most of the original equipment using digital technology under three grant aid projects from the
Government of Japan. Its studio complex is in
Colombo, the commercial capital of Sri Lanka. The complex comprises a master control room, four studios, two dubbing studios, a digital post-production unit, two analogue post-production units, several editing suites including non-linear editing, and four outside broadcast vehicles. In the 1980s and 1990s, Rupavahini aired a number of dubbed cartoons led by
Titus Thotawatte, the most notable being
Bugs Bunny (
Ha Ha Hari Hawa),
Doctor Dolittle (
Dosthara Honda Hitha), and
Top Cat (
Pissu Pusa). These continued to air on Rupavahini for years. Rupavahini reopened two relays in
Kokavil and Palavi in 1994. The channel limited its coverage of the
1998 FIFA World Cup to delays due to its priority on cricket matches, the national sport. 'Rupavahini 2' launched in April 1999 before it changed its name to the current '
Channel Eye' in August 2000. The corporation signed a historic agreement with
Canal France International on 28 July 2004. On 1 January 2008, Channel Eye became a time-shared channel, alternating with the newly created
Nethra TV. In 2009, series of Rupavahini productions became available in
DVD and
VCD formats under the title "RU Entertainments". Rupavahini is the first Sri Lankan channel to telecast foreign
teledramas. The most popular of them was
Oshin, a Japanese teledrama dubbed in Sinhala. The channel telecast the first Korean drama to air in the country,
Sujatha Diyani (also known as
Dae Jang Geum), in November 2012. In December 2014, the main channel was made available via satellite to Europe (via
Eutelsat 70B), prompting the channel to temporarily go 24/7 (still doing the formal start and end of transmission routines) to alleviate time zone differences. Due to unknown reasons, the channel was removed. The channel now starts up shortly before 04:00
SLST (
UTC+05:30) and closes down shortly after midnight. On 22 February 2022, Rupavahini changed its logo, altering the shape and removing the Tamil and English names of the network, leaving only the Sinhala version. The previous edition was restored in October of that year after pushback from activists. On 13 July 2022, after
protesters stormed the network's headquarters, operations temporarily ceased after playing the national anthem. On 14 February 2024, employees
walked out due to unpaid salaries and accumulated debt. == Channels ==