English

量贩式KTV in Wuhan, Hubei, China

Man Chhen KTV (ខារ៉ាអូខេ ម៉ានឈិន) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Noun

KTV ‎(countable and uncountable, plural KTVs)

1. (chiefly Asia) (uncountable) karaoke television, a form of interactive musical entertainment
   • Avron Boretz, Carousing and Masculinity: The Cultural Production of Gender in Taiwan in 2004, Catherine Farris, Anru Lee, Murray Rubinstein, Women in the New Taiwan: Gender Roles and Gender Consciousness in a Changing Society, East Gate, page 179:

     Most KTV clubs in Taiwan have since followed a single architectural formula: […]

   • Tsen Wang, DEMO Exegesis: Virtual Songs in 2006, Kevin K. W. Wong et al., Proceedings of Third Australasian Conference of Interactice Entertainment, Murdoch University, page 34:

     They are enshrined an worshiped on the table as ‘holy scripture’ for KTV devotees.

   • 2010, Marc L. Moskowitz, Cries of Joy, Songs of Sorrow: Chinese Pop Music and Its Cultural Connotations, University of Hawaiʻi Press, page 10:

     As opposed to karaoke’s open venues, such as bars, KTV is enclosed in a private room and features microphones and a large television screen which includes the lyrics and features the music videos or, in the case of most Western songs, a low-budget video filmed especially for KTV.

2. (chiefly Asia) (countable) karaoke box, a karaoke entertainment establishment
   • 2009, James Udden, No Man an Island: The Cinema of Hou Hsiao-hsien, Hong Kong University Press, page 139:

     The longest take of the film, where the underwold and political figures decide the case of Flatty and Kao in the shadowy interstices of a KTV, […]

   • 2012, Peter Martel, Gator Tango and the Higgs Boson, Strategic Book Publshing and Rights, page 67:

     “Anyway, in order to take my mind off of the problem, my wife suggested we go to a KTV,” Su said.

   • Brian Hu, Love in the Club: Karaoke Realism in Chinese and Hong Kong Cinema in 2014, David Laderman, Laurel Westrup, Sampling Media, Oxford University Press, page 135:

     The KTV is an apt place to begin an investigation into such phenomena, […]

Related terms

• MTV

Derived terms

• DTV
• RTV

Translations

Etymology 2

From Kondatam TV.

Proper noun

KTV

1. Kondatam Television (a popular Tamil TV channel)

References

1. Karaoke Around the World: Global Technology, Local Singing edited by Shuhei Hosokawa. 1998. Page 175
2. Consumption in Asia: Lifestyle and Identities edited by Beng-Huat Chua. 2000. Page 174