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DPRK is rolling out an on-demand TV catch-up service, allowing people with some sort of internet access to enjoy the highly-propagandised output of its four state-run TV channels at their leisure.
The system, which goes by the name “Manbang” (“Everywhere”), has a menu that divides programming by channel and genre.
Viewers can scroll through the day’s programmes – usually aired during a 3.00pm-11.00pm window – and select a particular TV show to watch.
A programme introducing the service that aired on Korean Central Television (KCTV) last week said it was available to any institute, company or household that subscribes to DPRK’s state-operated intranet.
An underwater test-firing of a strategic submarine ballistic missile is seen in this undated photo released by DPRK's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 24. Photo: Reuters
The number of intranet subscribers in DPRK is unknown, but KCTV said “hundreds” of people had signed up to the Manbang service in Sinuiju – one of three cities where the system is being rolled out.
Set up in 2000, the intranet only allows access to selected, government-approved websites and mostly functions as a communication platform between government agencies, universities, industry and commerce.
Besides hotels catering to foreigners, access to the full-blown internet in DPRK is for the super-elite only – a few hundred people or maybe 1,000 at the most.
The KCTV programme interviewed a housewife who explained how she had been able to perfect a recipe by watching and then rewatching her favourite cooking programme.
The new service “demonstrates a technological advancement,” said Martyn Williams, editor of the DPRK Tech website.
“But it is unclear how many apartment buildings and houses in DPRK have access to the kind of high-speed data service that such a service relies on,” Williams said.
The service also provides access to selected study sources, suggesting it could be used to enhance distance learning.
(AFP)
