300,000 more free digital TV decoders allocated
Published on: Friday, February 21, 2020
By: Ricardo Unto
KOTA KINABALU: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has allocated an additional 300,000 free myFreeview digital television decoders for registered B40 households and people with disabilities nationwide.
Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo (pic) said MCMC spent RM30 million for the additional decoders.
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“We realised that there are still many requests for the free decoders from the people,” he said during the myFreeview decoder distribution ceremony for B40 households and people with disabilities at the Communications and Multimedia Ministry Integrated Complex, here, Thursday.
“As a government that is concerned and sensitive towards the people’s needs, we had given due consideration for the requests. As such, the Government through MCMC has added 300,000 free decoders to be distributed to B40 households and people with disabilities. These are on top of the two million decoders allocated by MyTV previously. The RM30 million cost for this purpose will be borne fully by the Government.”
Of the two million decoders previously allocated nationwide, some 1.81 million had been distributed.
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For Sabah, some 228,767 had been allocated while more than 170,000 had been distributed.
Currently, myFreeview offers 14 free TV channels and six radio channels.
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TV Okey, in particular, will emphasise on Sabah and Sarawak, hence providing opportunities for local content producers in the two states to collaborate with the broadcasters in producing more informative and exciting programmes focusing on local cultures as well as promoting tourism.
Sabah and Sarawak were the last states to fully switch over to myFreeview digital broadcast on Oct 31, 2019. It was a historical moment to mark the end of the nationwide analogue free-to-air (FTA) broadcasting services, which started in 1963.
Meanwhile, Gobind said his ministry received several problems regarding the services of myFreeview.
“However, most had been resolved…as is the case of any new implementation, there will be teething problems, but we will face them as there are no problems that cannot be solved,” he said.
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About 3,000 free myFreeview decoders would be distributed to registered B40 households and people with disabilities for three days starting Thursday.
Meanwhile, Gobind said the Government is looking into finding better measures to tackle fake news.
“We have been studying this for the past year. There were several proposals but I am not going into that now…when the time comes, I will call a press conference.
“But of course, yes, there had been discussions in the Ministry and we are in the process of gathering opinions on how we can deal with this (fake news).
“It is not a problem that affects Malaysia alone but the whole world.”
As far as fake news is concerned, he said, “we already have laws in place to deal with it.”
“I think you have seen in the case of coronavirus (Covid-19), actions have been taken.
“And we have advised the general public to ensure that before you share any content, there is a need for you to check, ascertain its truth before spreading it.
“Despite that, there have been certain quarters that had gone on to share or post items which contain fake news, and actions have been taken.
“I am sure that the laws that exist are sufficient to deal with fake news.
“It is just a question of us moving towards getting the public to co-operate (with the authorities).”
He stressed that actions will be taken on social media posts that have an impact on national security and public order.
“Just yesterday (Wednesday), we saw a post involving Finance Minister Lim Guang Eng, in which there were allegations made about him being involved in the Tabung Haji.
“Surely, he does not have anything to do with that as it is solely under the purview of (Datuk Seri) Mujahid Yusof (the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Religious Affairs).
“And I had been informed that a police report has been lodged…we have to be very careful when it comes to fake news and the usage of social media.
“We have laws to deal with cases like this.”
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