MYANMAR GOVERNMENT INCREASES SATELLITE TV LICENCE FEES 166-FOLD
January 2nd 2008 23:47
The Myanmar government has ordered a massive hike in the annual satellite television license fee without any warning, according to the Irrawaddy Journal and news agency reports.
Authorities recently increased the license fee from 6,000 kyat (US $5) to 1 million kyat ($780), a 166-fold increase. The deadline to apply for a satellite license is January 30.
The average annual income in Burma is $300.
The huge increase in the satellite license fee will in effect prevent the majority of Myanmar from accessing international news and other information via satellite broadcasts. Two satellite broadcasts, the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma and Doha-based Al Jazeera broadcast, are popular sources of information.
According to official data, there were 60,000 registered satellite receivers in 2002, although a glance at the dish-festooned roofs of Yangon apartment buildings suggests the actual figure is much higher.
- From MediaBlab
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