Malaysia cracks down on “illegal satellite dishes”
July 8, 2019
By Chris Forrester
The arrival of a 160-channel DTH service from neighbouring Laos has prompted Malaysia’s Communications & Multimedia Commission to say it will crack down on what it describes as “illegal satellite dishes”.
Reportedly around half of the channels on the LaoSat satellite are in Mandarin Chinese, itself popular amongst some Malaysian communities. Other channel offerings include sports which are language neutral and include football matches.
Satellite reception is perfectly legal in Malaysia provided the dishes are focused on the local DTH operator Astro Malaysia Holdings. However, it seems some unscrupulous operators are repointing dishes or adding equipment to pick up the offending channels.