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People watch a TV news channel airing an image of a North Korean ballistic missile launch at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, June 2016 Ahn Young-joon
Ahn Young-joon
NORTH KOREA 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’), functions like a sharply pared-down Netflix with an on-demand service menu that divides programming by channel and genre.
Viewers can scroll through the day’s programmes – usually aired during a 3pm-11pm window – and select a particular TV show to watch at their leisure.
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 North Korea’s state-operated intranet.
The number of intranet subscribers in North Korea 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.
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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.
Outside of hotels catering to foreigners, access to the full-blown internet in North Korea is for the super-elite only – a few hundred people or maybe 1,000 at most.
The KCTV programme interviewed a housewife who explained how she had been able to perfect a recipe by watching and re-watching her favourite cooking programme.
The new service “demonstrates a technological advancement”, said Martyn Williams, editor of the North Korea Tech website.
“But it is unclear how many apartment buildings and houses in North Korea 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.
Always amazes me that a lad on the sideline or up in the stand can see better what’s going on from 80 yards away than a ref who is right on top of the play.
@Vinnie Cooney: I’ve been reffing for years. My comment was aimed at all the geniuses in the stands who believe they can see better from 80 yards away. I should have phrased it better
Liam Collins was denied the opportunity to play for the under 20s by the Galway Senior Hurling Manager. A shame really as the under 20s needed him more.
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