New tv channels as a sign for a MBC fee increase?

A few days back, MBC came up with some “new” tv channels on its TNT frequencies and a new radio channel :

  • MardarinMandarin (CCTV)
  • Marathi (Doordarshan)
  • Tamil (Doordarshan)
  • Telegu (Doordarshan)
  • Urdu (Pakistan)
  • Tourism and Culture
  • Best FM (Radio)

Rs100. This is the monthly MBC subscription fee that Mauritians have been paying monthly in their electricity bills for years now. Meanwhile, the following have been introduced on the island :

  1. TNT [ Read blog article some time after I got it]
  2. Improved web site with video streams [Read blog article]
  3. 4 additional tv channels for myT in November 2008 [ More here]
  4. And and and, their brand new studios (Anyone got a status?)

Express yourself!

I understand that many among you are fed up with the MBC, especially for broadcasting outdated content among others, but still, I would like you to share your views here.

  1. Did anyone took take the initiative to configure and have a look at the new channels yet?
  2. There has been a lot of talking done about the introduction of creole in schools etc.
    Why did not MBC set up a local entertainment channel in creole instead? I guess that this would have been too difficult for them since they have rarely been creative and innovative. What do you think?

Concept for the image found in this post was found on a newspaper this week.

24 thoughts on “New tv channels as a sign for a MBC fee increase?”

Add yours

  1. Since i’m ‘abonated’ to canal sat, i didnt switch on my TNT decoder.. :/ My parents watch the news(on mbc). And thats about it. I’d be glad to know if there’s something interesting in those channels(through your blog’s comments)

    😀

    Canal+ FTW! (zee also 😛 )

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  6. I configured my decoder and after scanning through the channels once, these words came to mind: “duhh mo ti croir ki bel zafr!?!”. Fortunately we’ve got canalsat for the family entertainment.

    Concerning MBC, I believe there are people who hav got ideas to deliver a better service to the audience. However it’s all down to the politicians! Because it is a so called ‘controlled environment’, the ‘genuine’ employees there are just victims of political decisions!

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  8. Well I configured it on the myT TNT. (Currently having some problems when the livebox and the TNT is connected, so I have to disconnect the LAN cable connecting them.) Did not get the chance to check out the channels though 😛

    As far as creole entertainment channel is concerned. It does not only involve the MBC. They also lack the resources for it. I think the people are hesitant to take the initiative even if they have new ideas to start a program in creole. What can be done for the a channel just in Creole Language, they can transfer all the programs that are transmitted in creole in a separate channel. But there are not many creole programs.

    Here are some ideas:
    There are many shows in creole than can be broadcasted like “Kel Famille” and others.
    Why not have a discovery program in creole just like there is “C’est pas sorcier”, we can have a program which help Mauritians discover many things and Creole Medium is a great way to transfer the message.
    Creole dancing competition, singing competitions.

    However you will have to invest quite a lot of time and money for that. 🙂

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  9. @Bhooks: Yeah, I saw that too that CCTV is an english-medium ‘Chinese’ broadcasting company. Need to confirm this with someone who has done the scanning process for the new channels.

    Thanks for pointing out that.

    @Pramod: I dont know if our problems might be the same, but when I press the “menu” button on my myT remote, it automatically swaps to the myT preview channel instead of diplaying the menu 😦

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  10. hey yashvin…

    its not new tv, but NEW COPIED TV frm Doordarshan !!! Bom net, hier emm p chek sa… enfin MBC pu ress MBC= Maurice Broadcasting Creverr !

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  11. @Yashvin: I guess even I get the preview channel, however the menu is located on top of that screen if i am not mistaken. That is not really a problem i guess :/
    My problem is that whenever my Livebox and TNT is connected via the LAN cable, I cannot get good images of the normal channels (MBC 1,2,3 and the other TNT channels broadcasted by MBC). The only channels I get the clear images are those which come from the Livebox. When I disconnect the LAN cable from the Livebox to the TNT, then I get clear images from the MBC channels. :s

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  12. I have the new channels on TNT. Well, what can I say, not much use to me except for the culture/tourism channel. However, it seems that programs are being looped so you get to see the same thing over and over again. They did not make much effort about the Chinese channel cos it used to be tuned to the English CCTV channel and they just switched it to the Mandarin one. So anyone interested in Mandarin is only getting a news channel and not a cultural one like the others. The problem with the MBC is that they have fantastic new technology but the programming sucks. Entertainment in English or French has gone right down and I don’t see much in Creole either. The probable reasons are lack of resources and budgets to buy international films or series. I guess they spend all the money on football events…… There is always talk about allowing commercial TV in Mauritius but so far nothing concrete happens.

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  14. First of all, those who haven’t configured their decoder for the new channels yet, DONT WASTE YOUR TIME.
    Its really not worth it unless your grandparents who speak those languages live at your place and you want to make them happy.

    But why give so much importance to that when you can watch videos on youtube for free, “borrow” movies, music and TV shows for free on the internet, at anytime? You can also have your daily local news on lexpress.mu, lematinal.com, defimedia and the mauritian blogosphere. And the best of all: they are uncensored.

    I think its time to evolve. Buy the Boxee box or Google TV set top box which will be out soon.

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  15. Btw about the CCTV thing, whats so hard to underdtand? The new Mandarin channel is CCTV4 and the CCTV9 has always been in English. What they did is that they sometimes swap them both. So sometimes its CCTV4 (Mandarin) sometimes its CCTV9 (English) on one same channel. Its like MBC3: sometimes its BBC World that you get on a seperate channel (in better quality), and sometimes you get local productions or the Prison Break, NCIS, tv shows etc… I dont think you need to scan for that. Just zap to channel 7 or whatever channel CCTV9 has always been on your tv to check it out yourself. The only new local channel is Tourism and Culture and it is a creole, sometimes bhojpuri channel. That means it is a new addition to the MBC1,2,3, Movie Channel. And IMO, it sucks balls pretty hard. The other asian channels are all Doordarshan (DD Urdu, DD Live, DD Tamil, etc). Its dumbass because sometimes three or FOUR of them, including MBC3, will broadcast the same commonwealth games shit, same game, same camera angle.

    Reminds me of the time when the director (or president or something) of MBC said live on TV, on the 50th anniversary of MBC: “fer moi koar ki pou zot Rs100 zot pa p gagne asser??”

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  18. Haha..The MBC crew is funny, especially the Managing Director, CEO or whatever they call it.
    They give us Sh¡††¥ channels and then brag about it!!!
    @ Yashvin: Sorry for using that word!

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  19. boring boring and boring… thats all i can say abt these channels.

    i knw ki mbc pou dir dan zot defense : ” p dne zot enkor channel,lor la si p plaigner em” XD

    well actually makes me no difference si ena ban channels en plus la or not! bcoz zot pa nice….

    i think it was a plan to satisfy mauritians,being a multicultural country… anyway,it was a weak attempt! i agree wid yashvin,met 1 channel en creol!

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  20. ok, its off topic but i want to know about Orange VOD aka Video On Demand.

    How can they resell so much loads of movies…
    Did they get the resell rights??I find it impossible to get all the rights to sell all these loads of movies…

    How does this actually work????

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  21. bez sa pena ene chaine lor la culture kreol ene chaine en kreol meme avec bne ti clip bien de chez nous ene bne program culinaire en kreole info ek sa bne ti sketch ki bne artistes/comediens mauriciens p fer tel que komiko, trioco, freeman etc! o moins sa c ene chaine ki tout maurisien ti pou kpren ek en plus ti pou promouvoir nou bne artiste local. DOMMAGE la mbc pane trouver ti cave fer sa (aussi).
    Ene sanse mo ena canal sat koz lor la ena ene chaine kot ena bne clip ek bne emission de l’ocean indien mone ressi trouve bne bon ti clip mo pays maurice! sinon bizin fier zis bonto clip ek youtube!
    pff

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  22. Divide and rule.

    C’est simple comme tout: toi to guette pou toi, mo guette pou moi, sakenn séparé, zamé pas pou decouvert lot-la so attrait, lot-la pou ress viré-tourné ar so-bann mem, etc… Bravo!

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  23. MBC only offer programs that are an insult to man’s intelligence. MBC should start improving their service not only in terms of digital programming (TNT) but also the programs being provided. Is it fair to say that most Mauritians only watch the MBC channels for its information. However, nowadays people don’t even watch the news on tv but read them online. So the real question is how many viewers is the MBC getting? I think it is fair to say that there is less than 20% of the total Mauritian population. My point is we are being imposed on to consume a product which is out of date. The World Health Organisation will agree that consuming expired products is very very very bad for health. Should not the Consumer Protection Act protect us against such unfairness?

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