A technician adjusts an antenna in Mandalay where the sight of satellite dishes is common and there are many models to choose from. Pic: Aye Lei Tun

IN this 21st century the world has become a global village, thanks to modernisation of the telecommunications sector. One obvious manifestation of this global network is the abundance of television channels offered by satellite television operators the world over.

Events that occur in other parts of the world can be seen and heard in a matter of seconds anywhere and to keep abreast of the changing times, people look for information and facts on the internet or their televisions.

Satellite television offers an abundance of sports, entertainment and daily news.

In the sports section viewers choose football, cricket, golf and tennis as their favourite options. When it comes to movies, the most widely known channels among movie buffs are Star movies, HBO and MTV. Nature lovers can easily switch on to the Discovery and NGP channels, while children have a range of cartoon channels to satisfy their eager imaginations.

For hard-hitting news content it is hard to go past CNN, BBC and CNA channels, which bring the latest news from around the world.

U Myo Zaw Oo, managing director of Winlite Electronics (Mandalay branch), took some time to explain the satellite television market in Myanmar. "As these programs are beamed round-the-clock, it is not surprising to find owning and viewing satellite dishes is the “in” thing for many people," he said.

"With prices between K50,000 and K600,000, depending on their make and model, it is also quite affordable, especially for businesses."

U Myo Zaw Oo said the sight of satellite dishes is common and there were so many models to choose from. About twenty years age, when satellite dishes were first introduced audiences in Myanmar, free to air television was popular with viewers and provided at least 10 channels to the viewing public.

Later, when digital equipment entered the market, over 250 channels became available and the images and sound were perfect, while Innovia and Nextwave decoders became a hit with viewers, he said.

But the situation did not last long and some channels which offered free viewing switched over to the card system, which has become the normal method today.

The UBC satellite channel continues to operate today; it uses a card system and charges an annual fee of K600,000, which is not affordable to the general public.

“Lately, the subscription of UBC has declined because of its high cost, and in Yangon, there are many buyers of Family Entertainment packages (MRTV 5). As their foreign movies are subtitled in Myanmar language they are suitable to Myanmar viewers and it includes multiple sports channels. It has become popular with viewers and within two years, their sales have risen by about six or seven times,” he said.

U Myo Zaw Oo said another reason for the decline of UBC was the introduction of the TATA Sky channel about five months ago.

“This service can be viewed with the card system but is still in the introductory stage. Although there are 108 channels, most of them are Indian,” he said, adding that the annual cost was K130,000.

In Upper Myanmar, viewers can choose the Agila-2 service, which has 50 channels, including sports, news and entertainment.

Some services which use the card system can be viewed without cards if you have a decoder box and the correct software. This equipment is also fairly cheap.

Of these devices, the South Korean-made “silver box” distributed by Dynasat of Thailand was popular with viewers. The reason for its popularity was its adaptability to changing trends.

“This software-based equipment entered the market in 2001 and enjoyed a peak selling period over 2004 and 2005. The initial price was about K130,000 but it can be bought now for about K80,000,” said U Kyaw Win of Angel Electronics.

However, U Kyaw Win said the sale of Dynasat had declined considerably because the software needed to support the system was less easily available. But there are other options available on the market.

“In the early months of 2007, the sales of X-SAT and New Shine decoders have been brisk. At present, the software cards used for these decoders is convenient and has a reasonable price of K50,000,” U Kyaw Win explained.