Astro barred from increasing channels until services improve

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tue...icle/index_html

Astro is barred from increasing the number of channels until it improves its services to the satisfaction of the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). It has also been given a December deadline to comply with the Multimedia Communications Act 1998.

Astro's license was issued in 1997 under Telecoms Act and Broadcasting Act which were abolished and replaced by the newer Act. MCMC, under the Energy, Water and Communications Ministry, has decided to rap Astro on the knuckles following numerous public complaints on its services.

Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor said the number of complaints had increased in recent years along with the growing number of Astro subscribers, now over two million.

"When Astro migrates to the newer Act, MCMC will be able to conduct better enforcement. It is also better to have all broadcasting stations under the same Act," he said. Other TV stations are governed by the 1998 legislation.

Among the complaints MCMC has noted are the late payment fee of RM10, disconnection upon a month's delayed payment, reconnection fees, technical support fees, disrupted services during bad weather, billing disputes, lack of choice in packages offered, and content of certain programmes.

Shaziman also said it was unclear if certain packages were priced correctly as they included channels which showed programmes that were not related to the package theme.

"We have decided not to allow Astro to add more channels until MCMC is satisfied that they have improved their services. We also hope they will migrate to the newer Act by the end of the year. More importantly, they should focus on improving services," Shaziman told reporters after a meeting with MCMC members.

He assured Astro that coming under the new Act would not mean the loss of its exclusive rights until 2017 to be the sole operator of direct-to-home broadcasting via satellite.

"We will maintain their exclusivity," he said, adding that Astro's operating license until 2022 under the two abolished Acts would be replaced with a new license.

He said in 1999, Astro had then indicated it was willing to migrate to the new Act but till now, had not done so.

Shaziman also urged Astro to provide more package options with cheaper pricing as this would benefit lower-income households, many of whom are subscribers.

He also said the company should sponsor services to about 140,000 households in rural and remote areas which did not receive terrestrial television as part of their social responsibility.

"We had made an earlier proposal to them on this but they declined and wanted the government to pay for it."

He urged Astro to dialogue with the MCMC.
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the tv contents that we are currently having are all in standard definition. just check the resolution. yellow and read color = standard dvd. the rest are high def resolutions

read more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television

This post has been edited by g5sim: Apr 14 2008, 12:05 PM


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wah lidat my TV tuner card oso ken receive lah. will try whoohooooo!

from wiki


RTMi is a digital television channel owned fully by Radio Televisyen Malaysia. It is also known as Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (DTTB). Its test broadcast began in 2000 chosen residential homes surrounding Klang Valley for 6 months starting in September 2006, using the DVB-T standard. The test ended in March 2007, involving the installation and the interpretation of the "Set Top Boxes" in the respective homes. During the period, DTTB will be broadcast daily from 7PM until 12 midnight (for 5 hours), previewing programmes that are shown on RTM1, RTM2, RTMi and Muzik Aktif. This digitalization test is estimated to cost over RM76 million. The transmitters used were provided by Harmonic Inc.

In April 2007, RTM has announced that digital transmission will persist despite the test period being over due to the positive response received during the period and plans for further testing involving different video/audio codecs.

As of February 2008, the channel is available in the Klang Valley to the appropriate receivers at 674MHz and 658MHz. The 674MHz channel carries RTMi as TV 6 and Muzik Aktif as TV7, while the 658MHz channel carries a simulcast of RTM1 and RTM2 as well as RTMi (with it's broadcasting hours extended, starting transmission at 3PM daily and ending sometime between midnight and 2AM), Muzik Aktif (which now broadcasts 24 hours), Arena (which Broadcasts for two hours between 3PM to 5PM), a demo channel called EPG, and Radio Aktif, a simulcast of the 7 RTM-owned radio stations in the Klang Valley.

Datacasting services in this project is the Superteks channel that include Berita Aktif airing 24/7.

During the test period, a research to collect feedback and to access the number of viewers will take place.

During the digital transmission off periods, RTM no longer uses the Philips test card, instead opting for a color bar test card.


This post has been edited by g5sim: Apr 14 2008, 02:38 PM

haha thankies - i thought wiki embedded there spies everywhere in the world. they know things that even people from their own countries do not know



if your tv has a built in DVB-T tunner, then sure you can tune in to the channels. HDTVs with built in HD Tuners should also have built in digital tuner. so no harm trying

hehe - a slight good news - a former 'competitor' might be relaunching. I saw job ads for U Television. Most probably will have HD channels at launch

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/607279/+20