Myanmar Radio and Television (, abbreviated MRTV), formerly the Burma Broadcasting Service (BBS), is the parent of the state-run Myanmar Radio National Service and the MRTV television channel. The television channels are broadcasting from its broadcast center in Kamayut,

Yangon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

while the radio service is now broadcasting primarily from

Naypyidaw Naypyidaw (), officially Romanization of Burmese, romanized as Nay Pyi Taw (NPT), is the capital city, capital and third-largest city of Myanmar. The city is located at the centre of the Naypyidaw Union Territory. It is unusual among Myanmar's ...

. MRTV's television signals reaches 92.7% of the Myanmar population, while its radio coverage reaches 100% of the country.

History

Radio

Radio service in Myanmar first came on air in 1936 during the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

colonial era. Regular programming by Bama Athan (; "Voice of Burma") began in February 1946 when the British established Burma Broadcasting Service (BBS), carrying Burmese language national and foreign news and musical entertainment, knowledge reply and school lessons and English language news and music programming. After independence in 1948, it was named Myanma Athan (; also meaning Voice of Burma, but with the more formal term "Myanmar"). The service was renamed Myanmar Radio by the

military government A military government is any government that is administered by a military, whether or not this government is legal under the laws of the jurisdiction at issue or by an occupying power. It is usually administered by military personnel. Types of m ...

which came to power in 1988. The junta has also renamed the radio service's parent, BBS as Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) in 1997. Until the launch of Yangon City FM in 2001, BBS/Myanmar Radio was the only radio station in the country. For years, its main broadcast centre is at 426 Pyay Road in Kamayut in

. Since late 2007, the main broadcast station has moved to Naypyidaw. Yangon Station now mostly relays Naypyidaw Station's programming.

Television

Television service in Myanmar was first introduced in June 1979 as a test trial in Yangon. MRTV was first launched on 3 June 1980, and regular television service was formally launched in 1981 using the

NTSC NTSC (from National Television System Committee) is the first American standard for analog television, published and adopted in 1941. In 1961, it was assigned the designation System M. It is also known as EIA standard 170. In 1953, a second ...

standard. In 2005, MRTV had 195 television relay stations throughout the country.

Expansion

In October 2013, MRTV started broadcasting on

digital terrestrial Digital terrestrial television (DTTV, DTT, or DTTB) is a technology for terrestrial television, in which television stations broadcast television content in a digital signal, digital format. Digital terrestrial television is a major technologica ...

with

DVB-T2 DVB-T2 is an abbreviation for "Digital Video Broadcasting – Second Generation Terrestrial"; it is the extension of the television standard DVB-T, issued by the consortium DVB, devised for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial telev ...

System, same as most Asian Countries. 18 TV channels and 3 Myanmar Radio channels are on MRTV multiplex system. MRTV plans the news interface, to the modern style of starting sequences and will have well-decorated news room. The broadcasting hours also increased to 18 hours (previously 10 hours). On 15 February 2015, MRTV adding 5 new TV channels to their Multplex Play Out system, such as MRTV-4, Channel 7, 5 Plus, MNTV and Channel 9. On 24 March 2018, MRTV adding 5 new TV channels to their Multiplex Play out System, such as Mizzima TV, DVB TV, Channel K, YTV and Fortune TV.
Since 2014, Myanmar Radio has broadcast on

FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...

from dozens of relay stations nationwide. It broadcasts 18 hours a day from 5:30 am to 11:30 pm ( MMT).

References

External links