Burmese international television channel
Television channel
Myanmar International Television (Burmese: မြန်မာအင်တာနေရှင်နယ်ရုပ်သံလိုင်း, abbreviated MITV) is a Burmese state-owned national and international English-language television channel based in Yangon, Myanmar. The channel was first launched in August 2001 as MRTV-3, the third ever television channel in Myanmar.[1] It was rebranded as Myanmar International Television in April 2010.[2]
Overview
The channel was first launched on 1 August 2001[3] was financed with a $1 million grant from Japan and is broadcast on the Shin Corp Thaicom 3 satellite.[4] It is the third channel to be launched in Myanmar, after the main MRTV channel (1980) and Myawaddy TV (1995).[1] The state-owned channel was viewable in 156 countries, broadcasting 17 hours a day in Myanmar and 8 hours a day in Europe and America,[3] with coverage increasing to 24 hours a day worldwide on the occasion of the rebranding to Myanmar International.[5]
The service is one of several television channels freely available in Myanmar.[6]
According to Ye Tun, assistant manager of Myanmar International, the purposes of the channel are threefold: "to inform, to educate and to entertain the public and broadcast healthy programs".[6] However, the channel has been criticised for broadcasting propaganda for the junta.[7][8] A government official said the channel was launched to provide an "objective response" to international media reports about Burma.[9]
A web-based video streaming system was launched in November 2002, and an online newspaper in March 2003. The channel has news exchange agreements with CCTV, NHK, Arirang TV and CFI.[3]
Programming
News programmes regularly feature army and political leaders, while entertainment programmes feature ethnic groups singing songs of national unity.[4] Myanmar Mosaic features cookery, cultural and tourism programmes about Burma.
During the 2007 Burmese anti-government protests, the channel criticised Western media outlets for "fabricating stories" about the incident, describing them as "not happy with peace, stability and development of the [Burmese] nation." A news programme broadcast slides reading "VOA and BBC, sky full of liars. Beware of destructionists, BBC and VOA."[10][11] The channel reported on the protests after several days.
