shep103

Can anyone give me any information on television in Malaysia? I've recently returned from a fantastic holiday in Borneo and my wife and I are very taken with Malaysia and the people. We stayed in hotels and lodges throughout our stay and the television channels were not very entertaining, which is ok while your on holiday but I would need a bit more stimulation if a full time resident. Is it possible to pick up more English speaking channels via satellite or from other countries, i.e. Australia, New Zealand. I understand that the media is, to a degree, controlled by the goverment and wonder if it would be legal to source television from a source outside Malaysia. Any help or advice would be very much appreciated.

Regards

Steve

the troubadour

Yes media including tv is state controlled. For a true international perspective cable tv is the way to go.{CNn,BBC.Deutsch Welle.France1.Australia International can all be obtained at cost)Saying this i have not actually seen cable in Malaysia come to think of it,but have done so in Laos and Cambodia both Communist as well as in all neighbouring countries Thailand,Brunei and Indonesia countries which also have certain limitations on what their populations can be exposed to.
Malaysia is a wonderful country for living and working.
(lived there for over one year in the 80s..and no cable then,Love Boat and Combat big shows on local Malaysian then}

shep103

Thanks for the reply troubadour

It would be good to hear from a current resident to get an idea on what ioptions are possible today, in particular over satellite.

Regards

Steve

galba

We had Astro (satellite) which had about 100 channels - BBC entertainment, Hallmark, discovery channel, disney, CNN etc - all the usual ones. Loads of British, American and Australian programmes and films. They also had the recording set-top box which was brilliant. Only cost RM120 a month too for the subscription!

www.astro.com.my

Galba

shep103

Thanks Galba

Looks like a very comprehensive package for English speakers, especially the sports packages. Another question if you have the time please. Are television programmes censored in Malaysia for both language and visual content?

Regards

Steve

xizzles

Hi Steve,

I can help you with that - "yes" (not only in Malaysia, but in most South East Asian countries, including 'first world' Singapore). It's a shocker, sometimes, and the snips often end up disrupting the entire storyline!

Englishmum

Ha ha....satellite TV is still banned in Singapore (they can't control the content).

True story; the dad of a boy in my son's class at school in Singapore was in senior management at an oil company with offshore refineries in international waters. He arranged for the guys working and living offshore on the rigs to have satellite TV and he had the dish delivered to the Singapore office (then out of curiosity took it home to try it out).

Within a few days, the police were at his door! The dish had been spotted by helicopter!

shep103

Thanks for all your replies.

I guess Malaysia is more open than other far east countries as I saw a lot of satellite dishes on all classes of buildings in all sorts of locations. Mind you, they were all "Astro" badged so I guess there is only one supplier of content. I wonder if it is illegal to get TV sourced from a supplier other than "Astro", or indeed technically possible. It's supposed to be illegal to receive "Sky" in Spain but most expats have it.

Steve