Sally Furniss
Well-known member
Myanmar junta increases satellite TV levy by 16,600 percent
YANGON, Myanmar: Without warning, Myanmar's military junta has ordered a 166-fold increase in the annual satellite TV levy in an apparent attempt to stop people from watching dissident and international news broadcasts.
With no word in the state-controlled media of any license fee increases, the first that satellite dish owners knew of the change was when they went to pay the levy of 6,000 kyat, only to be told it was now 1 million kyat, or $780, three times the average citizen's yearly income.
An official at Myanma Post and Telecom confirmed the increase Wednesday but was at a loss to explain it. "It's not our decision," said the official, who asked not to be named. "We were just ordered by the higher authorities. Even I was shocked when I heard about it."
The fee is now far beyond the means of virtually all of the 56 million people in the former Burma. Without satellite, the only television news broadcasts in the country are on the rigidly state-controlled MRTV. The few private television stations in Myanmar avoid all coverage of current affairs in favor of a diet of soap operas and pop music.
Foreign media played a major role in the protests in August and September that mushroomed from a handful of sporadic demonstrations against fuel price increases into major protests against 45 years of military rule.
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<!-- /sidebar --> Since suppressing the protests - and killing at least 31 people, according to the United Nations - the ruling junta has sustained a relentless assault on the BBC, the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma, Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, accusing them of broadcasting a "skyful of lies."
Some Yangon residents saw the license fee increase as an extension of that campaign. "I just can't help thinking that they want to close the eyes and ears of the people," said Ba Myint, a retired government official.
According to official data, there were 60,000 registered satellite receivers in 2002, although a glance at the dishes on the roofs of Yangon apartment blocks suggests the real figure is much higher. Many people have satellite dishes for watching European soccer or Chinese soap operas as well as outside news.
Rumors have also been sweeping Yangon of an imminent cut in the daily ration of subsidized fuel in response to the increase in world oil prices. State media denied that any reductions were in the offing.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/02/asia/myanmar.php
YANGON, Myanmar: Without warning, Myanmar's military junta has ordered a 166-fold increase in the annual satellite TV levy in an apparent attempt to stop people from watching dissident and international news broadcasts.
With no word in the state-controlled media of any license fee increases, the first that satellite dish owners knew of the change was when they went to pay the levy of 6,000 kyat, only to be told it was now 1 million kyat, or $780, three times the average citizen's yearly income.
An official at Myanma Post and Telecom confirmed the increase Wednesday but was at a loss to explain it. "It's not our decision," said the official, who asked not to be named. "We were just ordered by the higher authorities. Even I was shocked when I heard about it."
The fee is now far beyond the means of virtually all of the 56 million people in the former Burma. Without satellite, the only television news broadcasts in the country are on the rigidly state-controlled MRTV. The few private television stations in Myanmar avoid all coverage of current affairs in favor of a diet of soap operas and pop music.
Foreign media played a major role in the protests in August and September that mushroomed from a handful of sporadic demonstrations against fuel price increases into major protests against 45 years of military rule.
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<!-- /170 x 60 ad --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"> if ((!document.images && navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Mozilla/2.') >= 0)|| navigator.userAgent.indexOf("WebTV") >= 0){ document.write('<!-- /sidebar --> Since suppressing the protests - and killing at least 31 people, according to the United Nations - the ruling junta has sustained a relentless assault on the BBC, the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma, Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, accusing them of broadcasting a "skyful of lies."
Some Yangon residents saw the license fee increase as an extension of that campaign. "I just can't help thinking that they want to close the eyes and ears of the people," said Ba Myint, a retired government official.
According to official data, there were 60,000 registered satellite receivers in 2002, although a glance at the dishes on the roofs of Yangon apartment blocks suggests the real figure is much higher. Many people have satellite dishes for watching European soccer or Chinese soap operas as well as outside news.
Rumors have also been sweeping Yangon of an imminent cut in the daily ration of subsidized fuel in response to the increase in world oil prices. State media denied that any reductions were in the offing.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/02/asia/myanmar.php