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NOVember 2009

Oriental satellite banquet Tune in to TV from the Far East

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The Far East This month Wotsat looks at free TV from Malaysia to Japan, and how to get it

Arirang: is this what the future will look like?

Toolkit What you need to receive Far Eastern free TV n Free-to-air DVB digital satellite receiver n 60cm dish with universal LNB aimed at Hot Bird (13°E). See Channel Check for dish sizes required on other satellites

There’s a great deal of free TV aimed at viewers in China and South-east Asia. The bad news is that most of it is aimed at their home countries and it can’t be picked up in Europe. The good news is that more channels than you’d expect are beamed around the globe to satellites we can see on these shores.

The choice is dominated by dedicated ‘international’ channels, heavy on news and current affairs, and some – like China’s CCTV-4 or CCTV-9, and Myanmar’s MRTV3 – have a specific purpose to ‘balance’ what their governments consider to be Western propaganda. But they do pull out all the stops when something good happens at home, like the Shenzhou manned space missions or 2008’s Beijing Summer Olympics. Others, like Cambodia’s TVK (TV Kampuchea, using the nation’s official name) and Vietnam’s VTV4, are less obviously partisan but you don’t have to look far to find accusations that they’re following the official line.

You’ll find rich coverage of history and traditional arts, particularly music and dance and these channels are all available all or partly in English, except CCTV-4 in Mandarin, and the Russian, Arabic, French

Dhamma Media is a window on Buddhism 2 What Satellite & Digital TV November 2009

Televangelism, Filipino-style

and Spanish versions of CCTV-9.

Some of the other international channels are more liberated, like South Korea’s Arirang World (run by a charitable foundation at arm’s length from the government) and the Thai TV Global Network (funded by the Thai Royal Army – a force notoriously independent of anyone except the king himself). Thai TV Global Network schedule offers many ‘lakorn’, long-running soap operas similar to the Hispanic telenovelas. South Korea also has a strong culture of TV drama, from historical tales to soaps and sitcoms, which you can find alongside news, arts and tourist promotion on Arirang World.

The most independent channel available to us is NHK World TV, as NHK is funded from a BBC-style TV licence rather than state subsidy. It’s mostly a news and information channel, but there’s a pay-TV channel – NHK World Premium – for NHK’s excellent drama and natural history programmes – and the odd world of Japanese light entertainment.

You can also learn about the region’s most popular religion – Buddhism. There are both Buddhist entertainment channels and those teaching Buddhist philosophy.

South-east Asian languages are notoriously difficult for Westerners to learn but if you want to have a go, most of the national channels feature daily programmes designed to help you get by.

Next on Spotlight

Watch Chinese drama on CCTV-4

Five of the best Five of Far East TV’s most popular shows

A Delightful Dish Of The Day CCTV-4/9 (China) Chinese cookery show available in Mandarin on CCTV-4 and in English, Spanish and French.

Travel in Chinese

CCTV-9 (China) Daily Chinese language lesson hosted by ‘China’s most famous foreigner’, Canadian Mark Rowswell, aka ‘Dashan’.

Tokyo Marble Chocolate Aminax Iberia (Japan) Just one of dozens of Japanese animations, from children’s cartoons to classic Manga series on this Spanish channel, albeit dubbed into Spanish.

Happy Together

Arirang World (South Korea) State-funded documentary series following migrant workers and their families, mostly from South-East Asia, as they learn to live in South Korean society.

Dao Pra Sook

Thai Global TV Network (Thailand) Venus is a classic rags-to-riches Thai soap opera about an orphaned girl who falls in love with a rich man.

n Free TV from the rest of the world

Does Myanmar TV show truth or state fiction?

CCTV-9 tells China’s side of the story, in many languages

world spotlight See Channel Check page 56 for frequencies.

Note: There are no free TV channels from the Bhutan, Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Macau, The Maldives, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea or Singapore available in the UK

Footprint

Free Far East TV Free Cambodian TV Channel

Satellite

Genre

TVK

13°E

General entertainment

Channel

Satellite

Genre

CCTV-4 Europe CCTV-9 Europe CCTV-9 Arabic CCTV-9 Español CCTV-9 Française CCTV-9 Russkij Phoenix CNE

13°E, 9°E, 12.5°W, 45°W 28.5°E, 19.2°E, 13°E, 1°W 9°E 9°E 9°E 9°E 28.5°E

News in Mandarin Chinese News in English News in Arabic News in Spanish News in French News in Russian Mandarin entertainment

Channel

Satellite

Genre

Animax Iberia NHK World TV

12.5°W 28.5°E, 19.2°E, 13°E

Japanimation (DVB-S2) News & entertainment

Free Chinese TV

Free Japanese TV

Free Burmese TV (Myanmar) Channel

Satellite

Genre

MRTV 3

13°E

General entertainment

Channel

Satellite

Genre

ACQ-KBN

13°E

Religion – Christian

Channel

Satellite

Genre

Arirang World CGN TV

19.2°E, 13°E 13°E

General entertainment in English Religion – Christian

Channel

Satellite

Genre

Da Ai 2 Hwazan Satellite TV

15°W 15°W

Buddhist entertainment Buddhist education

Channel

Satellite

Genre

Dhamma Media Channel Thai TV Global Network

13°E 13°E

Buddhist education General entertainment

Channel

Swatellite

Genre

VTV4

13°E

General entertainment

Free Philippino TV Free South Korean TV

Free Taiwanese TV

Free Thai TV

Free Vietnamese TV

10°E The 10°E slot has become a favourite for satellite feedhunters since it was inaugurated in 1987 and is also home to one of the most exciting communications sats in orbit today, following the launch of W2A in April and the semi-retirement of W1 to 4°E, where it’s been renamed Eurobird 4A. W2A carries a huge transponder load, although it’s mostly occupied by occasional use feeds for news, sports and programme distribution and for feeds into cable head-ends. It’s also home to the British Forces Broadcasting Service signals for Europe and the Middle East (reaching as far as Afghanistan) – the TV channels are encrypted but you can listen in to BFBS radio.

More interesting for the future is W2A’s 12-metre S-band antenna, which was intended to deliver mobile radio, broadband and TV services in the 2.2GHz region to consumers around Europe as part of a joint Eutelsat-Astra project to promote new uses of satellite technology. It would have created multiple spotbeams, allowing thousands of users to connect from pocket-sized and vehicle-mounted terminals.

Unfortunately, the antenna had to be unfurled in orbit and has displayed an anomaly that appears to have made it useless for its intended purpose. The partners are now expected to purchase alternative S-band capacity from another operator. n Operator: Eutelsat

Satellites n Eutelsat W2A

Launched: Proton-M, Baikonour, April 3, 2009 Launch mass: 5,900kg Manufacturer: Thales Alenia Space Spacebus 4000C4 Transponders: 46 Ku-band, 10 C-band, S-band EIRP: 48dBW (Widebeam Ku-band) Beams: Widebeam (Ku), Southern Africa (Ku), Pan-Africa (C), Europe (S)

Thailand’s international TV channel

Japan is no longer half a world away

China’s space shots get full coverage on CCTV

South Korea’s other TV export is Christianity

W2A widebeam. More footprints at www.eutelsat.com

November 2009 What Satellite & Digital TV 3