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Malaysian television broadcasting was introduced on 28 December 1963. Colour television was introduced on 28 December 1978. Full-time colour transmissions were officially inaugurated on New Year's Day 1982. There are currently 16 national free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Malaysia and 3 national pay subscription television operators in Malaysia.
Transmissions in Malaysia were black-and-white until 28 December 1978, when colour transmissions were introduced. First stereo audio broadcasting was introduced in 1985 by TV3. Five out of eight channels do not have 24-hour schedule. 24-hour television was introduced in Malaysia between 13 and 16 May 1989 on TV1. The first 24-hour broadcasting in Malaysia was introduced in 1997 by TV3, but was discontinued later due to energy-saving plan (see below). Since April 2006, TV2 broadcast round-the-clock followed by TV1, which began broadcasting 24 hours in August 2012 after having short-lived round-the-clock broadcast previously.
Subscription providers are available, with differences in the number of channels, capabilities such as the programme guide (EPG), video on demand (VOD), high-definition (HD), interactive television via the red button, and coverage across Malaysia. Set-top boxes are generally used to receive these services. Households viewing TV from the internet also tracked by the Malaysian government.
| Provider | Free or pay | No. broadcast channels | VOD | HD | Red button | Transmission | Streaming Apps | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| myFreeview | Free-to-air | 27 (TV and Radio) [1] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Digital terrestrial television and Digital satellite | MYTV ManaMana | MYTV Broadcasting Sdn Bhd |
| Astro | Free and Pay TV (Bill) | 175 (TV and Radio) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Digital satellite and IPTV (Both Multicast and Unicast) | Astro GO | Measat Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd (Astro) |
| NJOI | Free and Pay TV (Prepaid) | 164 (TV and Radio) | No | Yes | Yes | Digital satellite | NJOI Now (Discontinued) | |
| Unifi TV | Free and Pay TV | 74 (TV and Radio) | Yes | Yes | Yes | IPTV | playtv@unifi | Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) |
| Sirius TV | Pay TV | 13 (TV) | No | No | Yes | Digital satellite | - | Smart Digital International Sdn Bhd |
This was the traditional way of receiving television in Malaysia, however it is being supplanted by digital providers. There are eight channels; three of them are government public-owned by Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM). The three television channels are terrestrial free-to-air TV1, TV2 and Okey (formerly TVi). TV Alhijrah is owned by Alhijrah Media Corporation while TV3, NTV7, 8TV and TV9 are private and commercially owned by Media Prima. Worldview Broadcasting Channel was commercial-owned by Worldview Broadcasting Channel (M) Sdn Bhd. It has since closed down in October 2012 after they were unable to operate the channel due to financial difficulties. [2] Analogue terrestrial transmissions were scheduled to be switched off in phases as part of the digital switchover, expected to be completed in 2020 as a recommendation from Southeast Asia. On 31 December 2018, digital television consortium MYTV Broadcasting scheduled the switchoff on third quarter 2019, to allow a period of digital set-top box distribution to eligible viewers with low income. [3] The frequency has been moved to avoid signal jamming with television in Thailand and preventing Singaporeans from watching foreign-copyrighted programming, especially that contains Chinese dialects (mainly in Cantonese and Hokkien) on free-to-air, due to tight censorship currently in place in Singapore. The analogue were indefinitely switched off nationwide on 31 October 2019. [4] [5] [6] [7]
In 2005, the Ministry of Information announced their plan to digitalise nationwide free-to-air TV broadcasts led by Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM). [8] Trial broadcasts were undertaken, involving one thousand households in the Klang Valley from September 2006 till February 2007. According to the then-Deputy Minister of Information, Chia Kwang Chye, the trial received "very positive" feedback, i.e. "more than 60 percent said the quality of the signal ranged from good to very good. Over 88 percent said the picture quality improved, while 70 percent said the sound quality was better". [9]
On 1 January 2008, TV3 announced that they were carrying out their own tests using a completely different system, T-DMB. However their test transmission is available only to areas surrounding their main headquarters at Sri Pentas, Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya. The test signals consists of a single DAB stream, Fly FM, and two T-DMB streams, TV3 and a Hot Visual, which carries a slide show with audio signal streamed from the radio station Hot FM.
Despite a success of RTM's pilot trials, the digital terrestrial television transition faced many problems. These problems stemmed from the lesser enthusiasm of content providers toward the digitisation, with the exception of Les Copaque, and the need to improve the nation's Internet broadband infrastructure. With the resignation of then Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and the succession of Najib Tun Razak, the project by RTM was deferred indefinitely.
Malaysia's sole satellite television operator, MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems (a subsidiary of Astro Malaysia Holdings) launched the Astro service in launch of the MEASAT-1 satellite as part of Malaysia's commercialisation of space, Astro commenced broadcasting on 1 June 1996 with an initial offering of 3 radio stations and 22 television channels. Today, Astro has over 160 TV channels and Radio Stations, as well as 25 HD channels. They have also started their IPTV service in 2013.
| Channel | Name | Language | Owner | Group | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TV1 | Malay | RTM | Free-to-air | Terrestrial |
| 2 | TV2 | ||||
| 3 | TV3 | STMB | |||
| 4 | Astro Ria | Astro | Astro channels | Satellite | |
| 5 | Astro SuperSport | English | |||
| 6 | Astro Asian Entertainment Channel | Chinese | |||
| 7 | Astro Wah Lai Toi | Cantonese | |||
| 8 | Astro Vaanavil | Tamil | |||
| 9 | CNN International News | English | CNN | News | |
| 10 | Discovery Channel | English (Malay subtitles) | Discovery Communications | Education | |
| 11 | NBC Asia | National Geographic Society | |||
| 12 | ESPN International Sports | English | ESPN | Sports | |
| 13 | STAR Sports | STAR TV | |||
| 14 | HBO International Movies | English (Malay subtitles) | HBO | Movies | |
| 15 | STAR Movies | STAR TV | |||
| 16 | MGM Gold | Metro Goldwyn Mayer | |||
| 17 | Cartoon Network | Cartoon Network | Animated | ||
| 18 | Disney Channel Asia | English (Malay subtitles) | The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia | ||
| 19 | STAR World | English | STAR TV | Entertainment | |
| 20 | Channel [V] International | ||||
| 21 | MTV | MTV Networks | |||
| 22 | Phoenix Chinese Channel | Chinese | Phoenix Satellite Television | Jade | |
| 23 | STAR Chinese Movies | Cantonese (Malay subtitles) | STAR TV | ||
| 24 | CCTV4 | Chinese | China Central Television (CCTV) |
It currently holds exclusive rights from the Malaysian government to offer satellite television broadcasting services in the country through the year 2017. The rights was extended to 2022 recently.[ citation needed ] However, today Astro contains more than 100 channels including local and international channels and radio channels.
There are also laws preventing too many advertisements from being aired on both radio and television, similar to the United Kingdom.[ citation needed ]
In December 2011, former prime minister Najib Tun Razak announced that the free-to-view satellite television service by Astro, NJOI, will be made available from February 2012 onwards. [10]
Mega TV was launched in 1995 by TV3 as the only cable television service. However, it faced stiff competition from the satellite television network Astro, and failed to expand its content. Because of this, it closed down in 2001, and was replaced by its competitor since then. [ citation needed ] In 2013, ABN Networks launched their Cable TV service together with Fiber Optic Internet as ABNXcess yet the network also failed to compete with Astro.
In contrast to Internet TV, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) refers to services operated and controlled by a single company, who may also control the 'Final Mile' to the consumers' premises.
DETV, a new paid television provider owned by REDtone, provides television and video-on-demand services on the IPTV platform, targeting the Chinese audiences in Malaysia.
However, Astro is the first broadcast company in Malaysia that introduce the IPTV services, branded as Astro IPTV in collaboration with Maxis Communications and TIME dotCom.
After that, Telekom Malaysia (TM) launched its IPTV services, currently branded as HyppTV in the second quarter of 2009, and now conducts trials with 1,000 selected households in Klang Valley, Penang and Kulim, Kedah. [11]
TM then successfully released their IPTV based on their HSBB Unifi service which only available to Unifi subscriber through nationwide. Collaboration with Astro stopped on 1 August 2016 with termination of both Astro Supersports HD and Astro Supersports 2 HD. [12] HyppTV is rebranded as Unifi TV starting from 12 January 2018. [13]
Maxis, DiGi and U Mobile provide mobile television services for reception on third generation mobile phones. They consist of a mixture of regular channels as well as made for mobile channels with looped content. Maxis TV now offers more than 20 channels to Maxis 3G subscribers who own compatible mobile phones. [14] Yet, Maxis is expected to roll out broadcast mobile TV services based on DVB-H in the near future. [15]
U Mobile also provides broadcast mobile TV to users of selected 3G phones, also based on DVB-H. [16]
In October 2008, Astro launched Astro Mobile TV which currently provides 18 channels, all of which are mobile versions of its existing channels, seven of them are under its own brand. This service is only available to Maxis subscribers with compatible 2.5G or 3G handsets, and does not reprise its role from Maxis TV.
Television received via the Internet may be free, subscription or pay-per-view, multicast, unicast, or peer-to-peer, streamed or downloaded, and use a variety of distribution technologies. Playback is normally via a computer and broadband Internet connection, although digital media receivers or media centre computers can be used for playback on televisions, such as a computer equipped with Windows Media Center.
Viewing shares, as of October 2021.
| Position | Channel | Group | Share of total viewing (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TV3 | Media Prima | 17% |
| 2 | NTV7 | 15% | |
| 3 | TV9 | 15% | |
| 4 | 8TV | 14% | |
| 5 | TV1 | Radio Televisyen Malaysia | 10% |
| 6 | TV2 | 9% | |
| 7 | Okey | 8% | |
| 8 | Astro Ria | Astro Holdings Sdn Bhd | 5% |
| 9 | Astro Prima | 4% | |
| 10 | Astro Ceria | 3% |
The primary regulator of telecommunications in Malaysia is the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). It issues licenses under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, the Postal Services Act 2012 and the Digital Signature Act 1997.
Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Television in New Zealand was introduced in 1960 as a state-run service. The broadcasting sector was deregulated in 1989, when the Government allowed competition to the state-owned Television New Zealand (TVNZ). There are currently three forms of broadcast television: a terrestrial (DVB-T) service provided by Freeview; as well as satellite (DVB-S) and internet streaming (IPTV) services provided nationwide by both Freeview and Sky.
Digital terrestrial television is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' residences in a digital format. DTTV is a major technological advance over the previous analog television, and has largely replaced analog which had been in common use since the middle of the 20th century. Test broadcasts began in 1998 with the changeover to DTTV beginning in 2006 and is now complete in many countries. The advantages of digital terrestrial television are similar to those obtained by digitising platforms such as cable TV, satellite, and telecommunications: more efficient use of limited radio spectrum bandwidth, provision of more television channels than analog, better quality images, and potentially lower operating costs for broadcasters.
Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded media, IPTV offers the ability to stream the source media continuously. As a result, a client media player can begin playing the content almost immediately. This is known as streaming media.
Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) is a Malaysian telecommunications company founded in 1984. Beginning as the national telecommunications company for fixed line, radio, and television broadcasting services, it has evolved to become the country's largest provider of broadband services, data, fixed line, pay television, and network services. TM ventured into the LTE space with the launch of TMgo, its 4G offering. TM's 850 MHz service was rebranded as unifi Mobile in January 2018.
The mass media in Malaysia includes television, radio, newspapers, and web-based media such as bloggers. Many media outlets are either owned directly by the government of Malaysia or owned by component parties of the Barisan Nasional coalition which formed the government until May 2018. Opposition parties PAS and PKR, now the main parties of the ruling "Pakatan Harapan" coalition, publish their own newspapers, Harakah and Suara Keadilan, respectively, which are openly sold alongside regular publications.
Television in Iceland is currently composed of the public broadcasting service of RÚV, five free-to-view channels and a number of subscription channels provided by private broadcasters. Broadcasts began in 1955 when the American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) started an English-language television service broadcasting from Naval Air Station Keflavik, which operated until 2006. The first Icelandic-language television broadcasts started in September 1966 with the launch of RÚV, originally called Sjónvarpið. In 1986 the first privately owned TV station, Stöð 2, began broadcasts. In recent years the emergence of foreign internet streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+ has seen shift from domestic providers provide similar on demand streaming services such as Síminn Premium and Stöð 2+.
The Netherlands now has three major forms of broadcast digital television. Terrestrial (DVB-T), Cable (DVB-C), and Satellite (DVB-S). In addition IPTV services are available. At the end of the first quarter of 2013 almost 84% of the households in the Netherlands had some form of digital television.
In Malaysia, digital television broadcasts, DTV or DHD, can be received via cable, internet, satellite, or via free over-the-air (OTA) digital terrestrial television - much like analogue television broadcasts have been. It began in the mid-1990s with the introduction of the Astro satellite television service, now followed by new paid television services in the 2000s, as well as the digitalisation of over-the-air TV which was expected to be complete by the mid-2010s before being shelved. This article discusses various platforms where DTV is applied in Malaysia, including Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). Following its successful nationwide digital transition on 31 October 2019, the country became the third in Southeast Asia with digital broadcasts after neighbouring Brunei and Singapore.
Television in Belgium was introduced in 1953 and began with one channel each in Dutch and French. The country is heavily cabled, with 93% of households watching television through cable as of 2003.
The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is converted to and replaced by digital television. Conducted by individual nations on different schedules, this primarily involves the conversion of analogue terrestrial television broadcasting infrastructure to digital terrestrial (DTT), a major benefit being extra frequencies on the radio spectrum and lower broadcasting costs, as well as improved viewing qualities for consumers.
In Thailand, television broadcasting started on 24 June, 1955. Color telecasts were started in 1967, and full-time color transmissions were launched in 1975. As of November 2020, there are currently 21 digital (DVB-T2) TV channels in Thailand.
All-Asian Satellite Television and Radio Operator, doing business as Astro, is a Malaysian satellite television and IPTV provider. It operates in Malaysia and Brunei and operates from the All Asia Broadcast Centre (AABC) in Kuala Lumpur and MEASAT in Cyberjaya. In 2016, the company was recorded as achieving 71% household penetration in Malaysia. It was granted an exclusive license as the sole pay-television provider by the Malaysian federal government until 2017. Astro is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad and is operated by MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems Sdn. Bhd.
Unifi TV is an IPTV service operated by Telekom Malaysia (TM). It was launched in 2010 as part of TM's bundled Triple-play service offering of VoIP Telephone, Internet and IPTV called unifi.
The distribution of cable television around the world:
Astro IPTV is an Internet Protocol Television service by the Malaysian satellite television provider, Astro. Launched on 20 April 2011 as Astro B.yond IPTV, its subscribers were entitled to high definition Astro channels, personal video recording, video-on-demand, high-speed internet, and voice services. Astro's initial target audiences were residences of high-rise buildings who previously had difficulty accessing HDTV services. By offering HDTV services with its IPTV, Astro was able to bring HDTV to these high-rise residences. This was made possible by partnering with Maxis Berhad. Astro B.yond IPTV was rebranded to Astro IPTV in February 2014.
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