Free-to-air television channel okto, which many millenial Singaporeans have known since their childhood, will cease to exist soon.

On Feb. 20, Mediacorp issued a press release about okto being merged with Channel 5 from May 1, 2019 onwards, with the new Channel 5 set to cater to all members of the family.

Focus on kids' content to continue

Mediacorp added that it would continue to focus on children's content for the new generation.

It stated that okto's children content would continue to live on in the new Channel 5, with a larger audience reach.

Mediacorp also added that the okto brand would continue within Mediacorp's digital entertainment service, Toggle, with its kid-friendly environment.

Sapna Angural, the Head of English Audience said:

"Mediacorp is home to content that brings Singaporean families together. Our audiences straddle between the online and offline worlds and for us, this means consistently delivering high-quality content for the whole family, on television and digitally.”

Toggle to also offer sports content

The press release added that Toggle would also offer content for sports, such as major sporting events such as the Olympics, the World Cup and the SEA Games.

Additionally, the finals of national school games such as football, rugby, floorball, badminton and basketball will also continue to be streamed on Toggle.

Irene Lim, the Chief Customer Officer for Mediacorp said:

“We offer the most trusted environments for kids’ content and defining moments in sports. Audiences are at the heart of everything we do in Mediacorp. These changes are reflective of our continuous commitment to understand the needs of our audiences and serve them better."

Predecessor

Prior to okto, the channel existed as MediaCorp Central with a mix of constituent offerings.

MediaCorp Central was closed down on Oct. 20, 2008 when Vasantham Central relaunched as the standalone channel Vasantham.

Arts Central and Kids Central were merged into a single channel named okto, with kids, arts and sports programming.

Top image collage from Mediacorp

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