Forever Group is a Burmese private

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

, with headquarters in

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

. Forever Group is known for its close ties to the Burmese military.

History

Forever Group was founded in 1996 in Myanmar by Win Maw, a former sailor who established the company to import and distribute computer and computer components. In 2004, it launched a national free-to-air television channel,

MRTV-4 MRTV-4 (Myanmar Radio and Television- 4) is a Burmese television channel jointly operated by MRTV and the Forever Group. Launched in May 2004, the channel broadcasts between 7am and 11pm. Since that time, it is only available to viewers with ...

, as a joint venture with Myanmar's Ministry of Information and state-owned

Myanmar Radio and Television Myanmar Radio and Television ( my, မြန်မာ့အသံနှင့်ရုပ်မြင်သံကြား, abbreviated MRTV), formerly the Burma Broadcasting Service (BBS), is the parent of the state-run Myanmar Radio National ...

. The joint venture was intended to become a pro-military outlet to counter local and foreign independent media. In 2008, it launched

Mandalay FM Mandalay FM is a radio station that serves the Mandalay metropolitan area (90 miles around Mandalay), broadcasting on the FM band at a frequency of 87.9 MHz and on the Internet. Now the radio station is also serving around Taungoo and around Yan ...

, a radio station. In 2016, it partnered with

Thaicom Thaicom Public Company Limited is a Thai satellite operator and provider of satellite and telecommunication services since 1991. The company operates a fleet of currently four satellites covering Asia, Oceania, and Africa. Thaicom is a subsidiar ...

to boost HDTV coverage on a Thai satellite. In 2018, French-owned

CANAL+ Canal+ (Canal Plus, , meaning 'Channel Plus'; sometimes abbreviated C+ or Canal) is a French premium television channel launched in 1984. It is 100% owned by the Groupe Canal+, which in turn is owned by Vivendi. The channel broadcasts several ki ...

and Forever Group launched

Canal+ (Myanmar) Canal+ (current Forever Group in Myanmar and Canal+ Group in France. Originally launched by Forever Group alone, Canal+ Group joined in the business in 2017, and the service adopted the current name in April 2021. Canal+ delivers the service thr ...

in the Burmese market. In 2019, Forever Group produced '' Dancing with the Stars Myanmar'', which premiered in October 2019. In the aftermath of the

2021 Myanmar coup d'état A coup d'état in Myanmar began on the morning of 1 February 2021, when democratically elected members of the country's ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), were deposed by the Tatmadaw—Myanmar's military—which then veste ...

, Forever Group has organized a media propaganda campaign to counter anti-coup sentiment in the country.

Leadership

Forever Group is led by Win Maw, and his deputy Thein Tun Aung, a graduate of the 22nd intake of the

Defence Services Academy The Defence Services Academy ( my, စစ်‌တက္ကသိုလ်, ) located in Pyin Oo Lwin, is the premier military service academy of Myanmar, training future officers for all three branches of Myanmar military. The Ministry of Defence ...

Subsidiaries

Forever Group owns several national television channels, radio stations, and streaming services, including

, Channel 7, MMDC,

, and Pyone Play.

External links

* *

References

{{Authority control Conglomerate companies of Myanmar 1996 establishments in Myanmar Companies based in Yangon State media