TV in China

We have 40 odd terrestrial TV channels here.  I had to fill out forms and this and that (in person) to get the terrestrial TV paid for and operational, but we have it now.  There’s CCTV1 through to CCTV12, but then there are a whole lot of other channels, most of which I can’t figure out names for.  I think one of them is Shanghai Star for example.

 

We also have satellite TV, which we asked our landlord to fit for us.  Satellite gives us CNBC, BBC, CNN, HBO, sports channels, that kind of thing.  It also has a Taiwanese Chinese channel, Star Chinese.  It’s my preferred channel when wanting to watch a little TV but not wanting to watch in English.  The trouble with satellite (other than it allegedly being illegal) is that when the weather is less than brilliant, the reception is very poor.  When it rains, the satellite is pretty much un-watchable.  Which is disappointing given that the TV is often refuge on rainy days.

 

Satellite TV isn’t so affordable.  It cost us 3600 to have the dish installed, which we split with our landlord.  A friend of mine had the same thing installed previously for 1200 apparently.  We buy satellite cards once a quarter for 200 RMB.  They look distinctly unofficial.  It seems someone is making a lot of money from satellite.  I do wonder why it isn’t legalized, so that the government can make tax out of it.  Oh no, I forget – businesses declare very little of their business as taxable here it seems.

 

Slowly I guess I’ll figure out what’s on terrestrial TV.  In the early morning, there’s a programme which teaches basic English phrases, which is nice because I can hear some Chinese phrases in context.  Yesterday morning I heard a bit of a play, acted out on stage.  That would have been good to record and study later, because the actors and actresses spoke slowly and clearly.  This morning I saw a Shanghainese drama – would be good to listen to as and when in the distant future I begin to learn Shanghainese.  I also caught the tail end of a documentary on Fudan University and its history, topical given the 100^th anniversary celebrations.  Shame I couldn’t understand much of it.

 

When I’m at home relaxing, sometimes now I’ll put on an American film, but play the Chinese soundtrack on it with English subtitles.  Their choice of voices is sometimes amusing, giving say brad bitt a slightly different personality.  Overall though I think it’s a reasonable practice.