Amid a wave of reform, Thai satellite and cable operator True Corp is looking to enter Myanmar’s cable and satellite market ahead of the ASEAN economic community (AEC) in 2015 with a US$32 million investment.
True Corp’s chief executive, Supachai Chearavanont, says the plan is to expand its telecom footprint as the region opens up. He tells local media the plans would be implemented once new licences for cable-TV broadcasting were issued. “We’ll produce local language programming in entertainment and international stations.”
Foreign entrants
Besides luring Thai satellite broadcaster TrueVisions, Singapore-based Channel NewsAsia (CNA) is also extending its distribution in the country with a recent signing with pay-TV operator Sky Net, a Direct-to-Home (DTH) and Multiplay Service (MPS) provider with over 40 local and international channels. Japan’s NHK WORLD TV also launched in Myanmar on August 8. The international English-language service is available on local satellite service provider SKYNET 24 hours a day.
Locally, there are up to seven TV stations in Myanmar along with state controlled satellite broadcasts. There are two statecontrolled TV stations along with one station under Armed forces control, according to the CIA Factbook. Two pay-TV stations are joint state-private ventures while access to satellite TV is limited.
The main local channels are MTV1 and MTV2 with a further channel, MRTV. The Ministry of Communications Posts and Telegraph offers a free international service through its MITV Channel. The coverage reaches 156 countries through ThaiCom 3 for Asia Pacific, TelStar 5, satellite for North America, and Hotbird Satellites covering Europe. The service, broadcast eight hours a day, replaced previous MRTV3 and MRTV4 services.
Myanmar’s population at present of 60 million people, is forecast to increase to 80 million by 2030, while numbers of households, currently at 11.54 million, are forecast to grow to 21 million over the same period.
In the past, the military, in power since 1962, imposed bans on permits for satellite dishes. From 1993 to 2001, the only satellite dishes “legally in use” were those by hotels and businesses. A new ban on licences came into force in 2005 but was lifted in 2011. In 2007, amid anti-government protests, the military hoped to restrict access to foreign news broadcasters such as Al Jazeera, CNN, BBC and international radio servers such as VOA. In 2009, the junta accused satellite TV of being a “decadent threat” undermining nationalism, warning people to avoid satellite TV programmes.
Media liberalisation
But appointment of reformist President Thein Sein in March 2011 has opened fresh possibilities for broadcasting. Late last year, Myanmar’s parliament began debate over reforms to free up access to satellite receivers as part of reshaping Myanmar’s communication law. In March, Khin Maung Thet, Director-General of Myanmar’s Post and Telecommunications Department, confirmed law reform was underway.
Liberalisation of satellite and cable TV is seen as a key test, says Debbie Stothard, a spokesperson for rights group, Alternative ASEAN Network. “Liberalisation on satellite TV, as well as permission by the authorities to allow locally based TV channels, such as state-based and ethnically based TV channels to broadcast, would be the ‘litmus test’ of liberalisation of electronic media in Burma,” said Stothard.
Cautious outlook
But challenges lie ahead for satellite TV, even amid hopes of economic growth taking hold over the next decade.
Aung Zaw, editor of the independent newspaper, The Irrawaddy, fears that for liberalisation of TV, there is still a “long way to go”. “The government may offer more concessions to cronies and family members of the military tycoons and military people who have access to the most lucrative and powerful – they will have control,” Aung Zaw told TV ASIA Plus. He also doubted foreign investors “would be allowed to run anything”.
Sean Turnell, an associate professor of economics from Australia’s Macquarie University, was also cautious over the outlook for broadcasting. While electronic media may be “ripe for change”, Myanmar faced chronic electricity problems. An Asian Development Bank (ADB) report says among rural residents, only about 34 % have access to electricity versus 89 % in urban areas. Myanmar is also one of Asia’s poorest nations with 25 % nationally below the poverty line. Turnell says the low income rates also mean satellite TV is a luxury for most. “In terms of the middle class, from the population of about 55 – 60 million (people) – well it’s not exactly large. The middle class wouldn’t number more than a few million,” he said.
But communal viewing of events on TV has long been popular. “At the moment satellite is how people hook up. So the audience would be quite large – but the effective audience from an advertiser’s viewpoint could be quite small,” he said.
One hope is potential growth in the tourism industry, with a drive to invest in new hotels and facilities as arrivals rise from 800,000 a year that will certainly drive demand for foreign television content.
