Mansudae Television

Mansudae Television (Korean: 만수대 텔레비죤) is an educational television station in North Korea.[1]

Mansudae Television

Mansudae
Country	North Korea
Broadcast area	Pyongyang, Sinuiju, Sariwon (via Manbang IPTV)
Network	cable, IPTV
Programming
Language(s)	Korean
History
Launched	1 December 1973 (1973-12-01), November 2015
Availability
Terrestrial
Analog VHF	Channel 5 (77.25 Mhz) In Pyongyang
IPTV
Manbang (only for North Koreans)	Button 2

Mansudae Television broadcasts educational material with the occasional advert on weekends.[2] It opened on December 1, 1973. The Mansudae TV Broadcasting Station broadcasts three hours (19:00–22:00) on Saturdays, and nine hours (10:00–13:00, 16:00–22:00) on Sundays.[3]

From establishing of its broadcast until July 13, 2015, broadcasting was carried out on Channel 5 from the Pyongyang TV Tower and a special app on the Samjiyon tablet computer. In July 2015, Mansudae Television closed its on-air broadcasting-[4] The exact reasons for the closure of the channel's broadcasting are unknown, however, two versions were considered in the Newstopia online edition (South Korea): According to the first, this step could be taken by the North Korean authorities to restrict the access of Pyongyang residents to foreign content broadcast on the channel. According to the second (reported by the Free Asia radio station), in the editorial board there was an incident with unfiltered content, shown on air on the channel.[5] It was also reported that the launch of the broadcasting of the new Sport Television, carried out on August 15 of the same year, was made at a frequency previously owned by Mansudae Television.[6] As a result of internal checks of the government of North Korea, the television channel was rehabilitated only in 2016 (according to other sources - in November 2015). The message of South Korean news agency Yonhap from May 18, 2016 reported that access to the television channel was proposed to be carried out through cable networks.[7] In August 2016, the channel was included in the distribution via the Manbang IPTV system on the 2nd button of the "Aircast" section.

External image
Mansudae Television
Screenshot from "Skydiving from space" film on Mansudae TV air

In March 2018 Daily NK reported about the proposal of the DPRK government to organize the broadcasting of Mansudae Television on the principle of a paid subscription;[8] however, according to the Daily NK, it was not established that the project is supposed to be carried out using traditional cable TV or Manbang IPTV. One of the main reasons for the decision of the DPRK government was the high popularity of films and programs that appear on the TV channel. The offer price is set at 650 yuan.