To ensure audiences can access crucial information in the aftermath of the Myanmar earthquake, the BBC World Service has added a direct-to-home satellite video channel to the platforms delivering BBC News Burmese content.

In the coming four months, the Thaicom 6 satellite, which covers Myanmar, Thailand, and the wider region, will deliver BBC News Burmese TV and audio programming. The service effectively replaces a US service that President Donald Trump has ceased to fund.

BBC News Global Director and Deputy CEO, Jonathan Munro, commented: “In Myanmar, where press freedom is severely restricted and where a vicious conflict continues, we now have an audience also beset by a natural disaster. During the week of the disastrous earthquake, BBC News Burmese total digital reach quadrupled as people came to the BBC for trusted information. With the launch of this new satellite-based video service, featuring our TV, radio and online output in Burmese, we’ll be offering a critical information stream for an audience struggling to recover from the calamity which took so many lives. Aimed for an audience in need, this is yet another timely and much-needed initiative born from the commitment and expertise of the BBC teams.”

In the aftermath of the disaster that struck Myanmar on March 28th, millions in the country, as well as Burmese-speakers in Thailand, came to the service’s platforms for accurate updates and analysis. BBC News Burmese journalists were deployed to the earthquake epicentre and were reporting from Mandalay, Yangon, and Bangkok, as well as from London. BBC News Burmese extended its daily live radio bulletin from 15min to 30min to include additional reporting and lifeline information. Audiences can also watch the Monday to Friday 15-minute TV bulletin which goes on air at 20.45 local time.

BBC News Burmese channel on Thaicom 6 satellite will run all this programming, with evening repeats of radio and TV bulletins from May 2025. The channel will also visualise the QR code for the website so viewers can access the latest news and information online.

Over the next few months, the direct-to-home satellite video channel – formerly used by VOA – will add to BBC News Burmese availability via the service’s website as well as its YouTube channel and its Facebook page. BBC News Burmese also connects with audiences via Instagram, Telegram and X.  Digital free-to-air TV channel, Mizzima TV, rebroadcasts BBC News Burmese TV programmes.

BBC News Burmese is part of the BBC World Service.

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Categories: Articles, Content, DTH/Satellite

Tags: BBC, BBC News, bbc world service, Myanmar, thaicom