Singapore – Asia Pacific multichannel TV association CASBAA released its exclusive, members only “Myanmar in View” report on the fast-evolving multichannel market in Myanmar, one of the world’s most dynamic media and telecoms economies.

The “Myanmar in View 2017” report was released at the opening of CASBAA’s “Essential Building Blocks for Multichannel TV in Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos” spotlight conference in Singapore.Just 12 months ago TV household penetration touched 5.8 million homes, or 55%. Nationally pay-TV connections amounted to 12% of total households. Within the traditional TV market there are signs of rapid expansion. In
the free-to-air sector, the number of channels increased fivefold from four networks in 2009 to 20 channels at the end of 2015.

Meanwhile, multichannel-TV investment continues apace, including plans by several pay-TV providers to localize and improve and programming, expanding their reach through more extensive distribution investment supporting less complexity during the subscription and renewal processes.

According to CASBAA, competition in the pay-TV sector will intensify as existing operators improve their service propositions and new players enter the market. However, while TV adspend has grown rapidly (US$120 million in 2015, up 31% since 2009) widespread piracy from “overspill” satellite dishes may dampen growth in the pay-TV industry. Through unregistered satellite services, viewers are able access more channels at significantly lower prices than that charged by Myanmar pay-TV players. Pirated DVDs of international movies and drama, which are widely available in urban areas, also dampen growth of the pay-TV market. “Unfortunately, there is a lack of concerted effort to tackle piracy issues in the country,” said Slaughter