Digital TV Transformation in Myanmar

Television service in Myanmar was first introduced in 1979 as a test trial in Yangon. On 3 June 1980 Myanmar Radio & Television (MRTV) was launched and regular television service formally began in 1981. Today there are four TV Broadcasters in Myanmar.

• Myanmar Radio & Television (MRTV)
• Myawaddy (MWD)
• MRTV-4
• Sky Net TV

Myanmar Radio & Television (MRTV) is National Broadcaster under the Ministry of Information (MOI), broadcasting TV nationwide, with the 233-retransmitting stations, which can cover 92.3% of the population. The existing analog system is NTSC-M (3.58 MHz color system). Most of the remote station are using VHF band and only a few are UHF band.

Myawaddy Television (MWD) is under the Ministry of Defense. Broadcasting via DVB-T system since Nov 2011. MWD are transmitting at 13 high power station and can cover up to 60% of the population. They broadcast six Free to Air channels. MWD controls their set-top Boxes, which means not every set-top Box sold in Myanmar can receive their FTA signal.

MRTV-4 is jointly operated by MRTV and Forever Group Co., Ltd. MRTV-4 and associated channels started DVB-T in 2005. They are running a subscription based system (Pay TV). About 50 channels are broadcasting in Yangon and 10 channels in 28 remote stations. Forever Group has launched 8 HD and 16 SD programs in Yangon using two DVB-T2 transmitters.

Sky Net TV is jointly operated by MRTV & Shwe Than Lwin Co., Ltd. This is a Direct To Home (DTH) Multiplay service system, transmitting over 60 channels. DTH was started at 2011.

Digital Broadcasting Transition

MRTV as a National Broadcaster, is following the digital transformation according to ITU’s guidelines and Myanmar’s National Digital Broadcasting Committee (MNDBC).

In 2006, MNDBC recommended DVB-T as the national digital terrestrial broadcasting standard, which was subsequently approved by the government on October 2, 2008. In 2012, the MNDBC finalized to recommend DVB-T2 to replace DVB-T as the national digital terrestrial broadcasting standard in lieu with the ASEAN Digital Switch-Over.

In the initial state, the On Air transmission standard was MPEG-4 SD.

Date for nationwide analogue switch off (ASO) is 31 Dec 2020 (tentative) and the Ministry of Information is responsible for the ASO.

Digital Switch Over Plan

• Phase 1: As a pilot project (3 KW) TX starting in: Yangon, Naypyitaw and Sagaing Dec 2013.
• Phase 2: Year 2013-2014: 20 Stations
• Phase 3: Year 2014-2015: 110 Stations
• Phase 4: Year 2015-2016: 117 Stations

In total 250 Stations. Out of those, 25 are high power stations, the rest are low power.