Watch Your Native(foreign language) TV programs in China?
Believe it or not, China has
thousands of TV stations, national / provincial and local. While
Beijing local cable TV network offers around 60 channels, with over
10 CCTV channels, one “Satellite TV Station” from each province and
some Beijing local channels like BTV-Beijing TV Stations. Nationally
only two channels are broadcasted in English: CCTV-4 and CCTV-9.
There are no international channels in this cable TV package ( in
fact it’s the only package available). Subscription to all these
channels costs RMB216 a year. Some good hotels and apartment
buildings offer their residences int’l channels via independent dish
systems, most likely the channels are HBO Asia, Star Movies, CNN,
BBC World, DW-TV, NHK, TV5, Star Sports, ESPN, maybe more channels
like AXN and NGC. It’s different from place to place. You can ask
the property owner or your agent what channels are you going to have
and how much you should pay before you move in. While some serials
and latest Hollywood movies DVD are available everywhere in the
city. I do find some latest serials from NBC or CBS like Sex and the
City, CSI, 24, Everybody Loves Raymond…It requires some experiences
and luck to find good quality ones, though. If you still prefer to
watch some “real/live” int’l TV stuff, personal dish seems to be a
practical option. Satellite TV has exploded in popularity in the
last few years. Gone are the days when satellite TV meant installing
a huge expensive dish on the rooftop. Instead, drive through any
neighborhood and you're likely to see small gray dishes clinging to
rooftops or balconies pointed to the sky, ranging from 0.45m in
diameter to 1.5m in diameter. While most of the dishes are around
0.55m in diameter, depending on which way it’s facing. To install a
personal satellite dish seems to be a good idea if:1. You are not living in a building with some existing int’l TV channels while you still prefer them.
2. You want more int’l TV channels/options.
3. You want better picture and sound quality over cable.
So which system?
There are several commercial
satellite TV broadcasting companies who have signal coverage in
Beijing. While the most popular one at the moment seems likely to be Dream Satellite Package from the Philippines. This system requires a 0.45m / 0.55m in diameter dish to get a strong signal reception. Channels offered: HBO Asia, CNN, ESPN, CNBC Asia, BBC World, Ben sports, Australia Network, Bloomberg, NGC, Animal planet, Cinemax, Star Movies, Star Chinese Movies, Hallmark, Star World, AXN, NGC, ETC, 2nd Avenue, MTV, Entertainment Central, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Animax, Star Sports, DW, TBN, JCTV, Living Asia ,A well-mixed channel list of news, movies, sports and entertainments channels, as well as channels for children. While, recently launched HBOCN Family Package from China seems to be another good option. Channel list: HBO, CNN, ESPN,Discovery, Cinemax, AXN, Animal Planet, Phoenix Movie, TV5, NHK, TVB Jade, Star Movie, Star Sports TVB xinghe, Hallmark Channel, BBC World, Bloomberg,CCTV-Olympics, CNBC, CCTV4, CCTV9, Cartoon Network, Channel Newsasia, MTV China, NOW,EuroSportNews, Phoenix News, Shenzhen TV Station, Celestial Movies, Macau TV, KBS World, Fashion TV, MTV China, Guangdong TV Station, Phoenix Chinese,HBOCN requires a 0.45m in diameter dish. A good option to people who prefer a well-mixed list of channels from Chinese Mainland, HK, Taiwan Region and overseas. HBOCN currently costs more than Dream, but the price is expected to drop soon. At present it is used widely by network share method in Beijing. Another option is DSTV Package from South Africa. MultiChoice distinguishes itself as a premium sports programs re-broadcaster. It requires a 1.8-2.4m in diameter dish to pick up MultiChoice signal in Beijing. Channel List: Supersport1,Supersport2, Supersport3, Supersport5, Supersport6, Supersport7, Supersport8, supersport update , DD Sports, Zee Sports, HBO, Cinemax, StarMovies, Hallmark, FilmAsia, ESPN, StarSports, CNN, Skynews, CNBCAsia, BBCWorld, Discovery, NGC, History, AnimalPlanet, FashionTV, AXN, TV5, NHK, MTV, Channel[v], CartoonNetwork, China government-owned satellite TV system Sinosat1 offers int’l TV channels, too. Most of the int’l channels you see at hotels are from this system, but it’s not available to individual subscribers at the moment. Before October 2002, pirate access card for this system was available on the black market. Later on the system changed the coding system and nobody breaks the code so far.
Go pirate or not?
Satellite providers continue to
be plagued by the unquestionably black-market devices, which
"pirate" or "steal" their signals. There are legit subscription
package and pirate/copy system on the market now. When you find a
dish installation service flyer you may see different pirate system
offers. Whether to go pirate or not has never been an easy choice to
most customers. It’s easy to understand that when the majority
customers go pirate then the satellite company will face a
bankruptcy, nobody has any programs at all by that point. To block
away pirate receptions from the broadcasting is a major task to any
commercial satellite broadcasting companies. However, it requires
better technologies and stronger financial supports. In terms of
DREAM, there had been many insignificant upgrades over the year
passed. One upgrade worked well on July 2004. Code crackers worked
out a new pirate access card weeks later. In terms of CBTV, there’s
no pirate card yet because it’s a newly launched system. Nobody’s
sure about pirate system’s future of cause. If you are seeking a one
shot installation, no annual fees, or you are living in China only
for a relatively short period and you don’t watch TV too much, you
probably can try a pirate (copy) system. Most residences can get
satellite TV. There are basically two criteria you must meet: 1. An
unobstructed view of the southern sky, 2. A place to install your
dish that meets criteria #1. Dish can be mounted on house roof,
balcony, patio or garden, or any other open spaces, most commonly on
balcony. Just make sure there are no high buildings in the
direction, they might block the signal. The bigger the dish is the
better the reception is when weather is bad, like heaven rain. This
is why TV stations always use big dishes. Each system has a minimum
dish requirement, however. Beside weather, the building complexity
also influences the reception in some cases. Digital satellite
broadcasting works with any existing type of TVs. You do not need to
give up cable to receive satellite programs. Satellite receiver
works the same way like a DVD player. (sorry there were customers
asking this question)
Be careful of
dealers’tricks
Some not-so-honest dealers may
play tricks on your access card and/or receiver. Most common ones
are like: 1. Subscription time shortage (legit subscription) 2.
Giving you a one shot receiver/card then disappear. Some even took
away the receiver from customer’s home by telling them that they
need to rewrite the card or something like that before they
disappear. 3. No satisfactory after-sales services or charge
customers each time even though they promised free services before.
So make sure you are dealing with an honest person.
How do we get high
definition digital TV in Beijing?
At present HDTV programs are very
few in China, like CHC-HD, CCTV-HD, you are difficult to get it in
your local, you must be offered HDTV Receiver to watch it. Though
some HDTV programs are offered in Europe and Amercia, it doesn't
cover southeast asia area. We can't watch these perfect programs in
here,We will get more excellent High definition programs before
long.Tel: (+86)010-8962 4777 Mobile: (+86)13371600100 Mail to: HBOCN@HBOCN.COM WWW.HBOCN.COM