Tuesday, August 29, 2006

MGM Networks wants viewer feedback

MGM Networks the operators of the soon to be launched tv station Max Tv and radio station Max Radio are requesting viewers to send in the feedback to them on (011) 5551001. At the moment the test transmissions are being carried out under the logo of MGM Networks but it will be later changed to Max at the launch.

Max Tv which operates on UHF Channel 30 and Max Radio which operates on FM 90.6 are now carrying out test transmissions.

According to reports the reception in some areas in colombo is not that good. We would like our readers to call MGM on the above phone number and tell them about the reception in your area and also to post the information here with your area.

It is however sad to note that we are continuing to start analog tv stations and are not urging the new ones to start off as digital tv stations. Sri Lanka needs to adopt a digital transmission plan soon.

We would like our readers and management of MGM to update us on what kind of programming will be available on Max Tv and Max Radio.

Good Luck to the management of MGM Networks in their endeavour to provide entertainment to the Sri Lankan public

"24" on Channel One MTV soon

The latest season of the Emmy Award winning series "24" will be telecast on Channel One MTV from September onwards. Although the date of the series commencement was not heard by us exactly, we believe it 21st or 24th September. This was mentioned on Channel One MTV News 1st news at 9:00PM yesterday.

"24" won the award for Best Drama Series, Best Direction and Best Actor at the 2006 Emmy Awards held recently.

Monday, August 28, 2006

ETV mixing up programme schedules

ETV is making blunders in their programming schedule again. ETV which had published in the newspapers that it will be showing the Big Screen Movie "Robin Hood : Men in tights" on Sunday 27th Aug @ 8:00PM and Sunday 3rd Sep @ 2:00PM had actually telecasted the movie the previous Sunday 13th Aug @ 8:00PM.

The people who switched over to ETV at about 3:30PM were in for a rude shock when they saw the movie that was to be telecast in the evening being telecast in the afternoon as a repeat.

Is this how irresponsibly a tv station runs itself. We wonder whether the advertisers know anything about the blunders these people are making and how ineffective advertising over a tv station like this will be. Hopefully the management will rectify the matter and make sure that this does not happen again.

Max TV, Max Radio, Siyatha Radio plus Others carrying out Test Transmissions

It is being reported that that there are test transmission of one tv station and more than two radio stations being carried out.

Max TV on UHF Channel 30 (broadcasting from Weliweriya, phone number 5551001).
Max Radio on FM 90.6
Siyatha FM on 98.6

There is also another radio channel coming on FM 107.6 but the name is not known yet. We would like our readers who have more information on these channels to update us about them. Please give us information on the types of programmes/music that will broadcast and on who the owners of these channels are.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Conspiracy Against CBNSat

Conspiracy is the only word to describe what is happening now. The CBNsat Supreme Court hearing is now postponed to September 18th. The postponement came after the Media Ministry says that they have submitted the CBNsat license applications to the Defense Ministry for further considerations. Accordingly till the clearance from the Defense Ministry (MoD) is given CBNsat will not be allowed to operate. We understand from the reports that when the CBNsat lawyers asked for the date in which they can commence operations the Chief Justice has said that due to this being a national security issue a date cannot be given. Therefore on the Sep 18th the Media Ministry has to hand over a document to the courts but this this is not a must and they can always say that the MoD has not given them the report.

The motive behind these moves is obviously to drive the company bankrupt. With the issuances of 3G licenses to mobile phones, etc. We wonder how the DTH technology can be the only threat to national security. Then the CDMA phones and 3G phones, etc and even companies like TV Lanka which is operated by a big time liar is also a threat to national security. It is a crime to victimise a company that has been cleared by the SLRC and put 20,000 plus customers who have spent their hard earned money into this type of a situation. This is indeed the work of people who have connections to the higher ups in the government and there is no doubt about this. Whether the Media Minister himself has an interest in shutting down CBNSat since they seem to be people who are dragging this case further is yet to be seen.

This is going to damage this country's image in terms of foreign investments, etc. These authorities have no consideration about the public who voted them into these positions and they think that they were born into these positions. We cannot let them go on destroying business at this rate.

The customers of CBNsat who are definitely demoralised by this decision must not give up their fight. They will have to take this fight to newer heights and see to it that these corrupt individuals are exposed alongside with their lapdog politicians.

CBNsat is however allowed to service their equipment and carry out test transmission under the supervision of the TRC. CBNsat is scheduled to have the Magistrates court hearing tomorrow and we cannot hope that anything useful will come out of that one because that too has been dragging for a long time.

We would like our readers to keep us updated on any new developments about CBNsat. For more information about CBNsat please visit the CBNsat Forum.


Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Extension of Deadline for Cable TV Licenses

We have got confirmed reports that the date of issuing the license to Cable TV networks has been extended to September 15th 2006. This would mean that this will give a chance for more companies to launch cable tv services. But we sincerely hope that they resolve the issue with CBNSat and LBN first before concentrating on the others.

Please refer the following link for further information Re-Extension of Deadline

Friday, August 11, 2006

CBNSat & LBN commence test transmissions

After two months the cable tv provider CBNSat commenced testing from today and the red light on the decoder has been replaced by the green light although no channels are visible upto now because they have scrambled all the channels. For further information please refer the CBNSat forum.

LBN carried out some testing in their network from yesterday and will continue to do so every thursday from 10AM to 4PM. Some viewers have received channels and some others have not. For more information on this please refer the LBN Cable TV forum.


Thursday, August 10, 2006

New Radio & TV Station

We see that there are several posters all over about a new Radio Station on FM 90.6 although the name of the station is not clear.

It is also reported that the frequency allocated to this station is owned by MGM Networks Ltd. We are also receiving a report from a fellow reader that a new station was found while he was tuning his tv. The tv station is said to be broadcasting horse races with no station id.

There is a tv station that was broadcasting for the several betting centres in Sri Lanka but this was a scrambled station but either they have descrambled it or there is another tv station also operating showing horse races.

Anyone who has more information on this is welcome to post further information as a comment. A big Thank You to Hasitha for providing us with the above information.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Srilakvahini : Broadcasting or not?

Many of you may remember that several weeks ago we had information about a Sri Lankan Satellite TV Channel that came into operation. We tried to get the parameters of Srilakvahini for anyone to view it but we are now getting unconfirmed reports that the they were asked to stop the commencement of transmission.

Please note that this information is not confirmed as yet and we would like anyone who has further details regarding this channel to post the information.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Urgent revisions required to Rupavahini Act

The recent row over the licensing issue of the Cable TV operators and Satellite broadcasters is a wake up call to all the policy makers in Sri Lanka who have not revised the Rupavahini Act of 1982. An official of the Media Ministry was quoted as saying that the Rupavahini Act does not facilitate Satellite communication.

In a world where all technologies are converging it is important to come up with a new policy that will cover all present technologies and future developments. In addition it is also important to formulate a policy to gradually phase out Analog Broadcasting methods and urge all state and private media to adopt Digital Broadcasting methods with deadlines set. This is vitally important for the countries development and will make the existing frequencies which can in turn be used for other purposes.

We urge all the authorities to take steps and revise all acts related to media and broadcasting so that the present fiasco will never again be repeated.

Star TV and Dish TV kiss and make up

After a long feud between Indian DTH operator Dish TV and Star TV it looks like it is all over now. Star which was refusing to give its channels to Dish TV faced the facts when Dish TV refused to give its group companies channels Zee to the soon to be launched T-Sky DTH service of Star TV.

This will enable Dish TV to broadcast the Star Channels to its customers. It is however unclear whether the Dish TV subscribers in Sri Lanka will also be able to view these Star Channels.