Television in Mauritius

Metamorphosing from the typical white and black boxes, televisions these days can be seen to be in all sizes with screens providing more and more real life outputs. As a major form of entertainment, almost all Mauritians possess a TV set as do most businesses and public areas. Channels range from local to international ones, covering a whole variety of aspects like sports, music, news, movies, educational etc and in many languages too such as French, English, Creole, Indian and other associated languages of the particular channels. Previously known as the Mauritius Broadcasting Service, the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation became the national television broadcasting service in Mauritius in 1964 under the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation Ordinance no.7 (1964). Since then, many amendments have been made to the act for technological and social purposes. The main objective of the MBC is to provide the Mauritian society with a means of enrichment in the form of information dissemination, entertainment, cultural solidification as well as education of the mass. Money for the proper running of the MBC is obtained through the TV licence fee that is deduced directly from the electricity bill of all electricity users (if they have a TV set) and commercials that the channels host. The MBC provides free TV channels to all TV viewers namely MBC1, MBC2 and MBC3 on a daily basis. At specific times, international channels can also be obtained such as BBC, Deutsche Welle, Doordarshan and a few French channels. There has also been more channel innovation in the TNT which requires a top set box for viewing 16 additional numerical channels. Other companies also offer payable channels like Parabole Maurice, Canal Sat Maurice, Canal+ and DSTV. Their respective providers are located all over Mauritius, especially in big shopping malls like Trianon, Super U Grand Baie etc and prices vary from company to company, contract lengths, discounts being offered etc. Moreover, now with technological advance, TV channels can also be obtained over the internet. With My.T, more than 30 international TV channels can be obtained and this also requires the use of a top set box. The MCML (Multi Carrier Mauritius Ltd) is the responsible body owned by the government for the transmission of TV signals from the providers to the households of the viewers. Analogue transmission is provided for MBC1, MBC2 and MBC3 channels while digital transmission has been available since 2005 for 6 free channels. Live outside coverage is also captured by the studio of the MCML and broadcasted to the Mauritian viewers. There is a network of relay stations to allow for the proper diffusion of channels around the island and it is thus required of TV holders to have a properly installed antenna for good reception of the channels.