Burmese police raid sat-shops

[SAT-WORLD]

Burma’s police are reported to be clamping down on satellite TV reception. Burmese authorities are now saying it is forbidden to sell satellite dishes, receiving equipment or related spare parts.

The report, from BBC Monitoring on June 10, says satellite dishes are being confiscated in raids on shops, and retailers warned that if they re-stock they face prosecution. One installer said raids began last Friday in Rangoon.

A Rangoon journalist said some shops were circumventing the ban by selling satellite dishes and equipment to trusted mechanics, who then dealt directly with private households. The ban was also not being universally applied in rural areas, where people were still able to buy satellite spare parts from electronics shops.

Rangoon residents see the ban as a new attempt by the regime to prevent TV viewers watching the news programmes of such foreign stations as Al Jazeera, CNN and the BBC and, in particular, the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), which are only available via satellite.

In January this year, the regime ordered a massive hike in the annual satellite television licence fee in an attempt to deter people from watching foreign news broadcasts.

Source:Rapid Tv News