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Today, 2008 December 03
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English Radio and Television, Korea


English Radio and Televisi...


RADIO:
Radio programming is mostly in Korean, but it is possible to get English stations on both AM and FM. AFN (American Forces Network) AM and FM stations broadcast news, music and sports 24 hours a day. In the Seoul area, set your radio at 102.7 for AFN FM and 1530 for AFN AM.

You can also get traffic repors and some English programming on TBS (Traffic Broadcasting System) on FM 95.1.

Trial English Station Programming from 15 August 2008 to 15 October 2008, and then again from 16 to 30 November, with 12 hours of programming a day on 101.3 FM. The official launch of tbs-eFM English Station is scheduled for 1 December 2008. For more information, check out http://tbs.seoul.kr.
 


TELEVISION:
Television services are available via cable or satellite. Basic television (Antenna Service) is not widely used – most people have cable or satellite. Satellite television is expensive to install but provides the widest range of program options (up to 140 channels), including CNN, BBC, STAR-PLUS, etc. along with RAI (Italian) TVE (Spanish) TV5 (French), NHK (Japanese), DW (German) and other foreign language stations. Depending on your requirements, you may need different dishes and receivers, which can quickly hike up the cost. (Note: in some cases you may be able to include this equipment when negotiating your lease – ask your real estate agent about it). The basic installation fee is about W600,000.
Satellite television providers include:
  1. Ehwa Satellite Co. Tel: (02) 415-4700
  2. Seki Communication Tel: (02) 2231-7989
  3. Sky-Master Company Tel: (02) 701-6363
  4. Unique Communications Tel: (02) 749-0301
To get satellite service you must have an alien registration number. If you know that you will be in Korea at the same address for more than 3 years you can sign up under the less expensive plan used by Korean nationals. You can usually have your satellite service hooked up within a day or two of making the request. Monthly payments can be made directly from your Korean bank account.
Cable television offers a wide range of options including CNN, sports movies, music videos and religious programs. In addition, there is a Korean cultural channel - Arirang - that offers English programs – some original and some Korean with English sub-titles. Movies in English are often broadcast on a variety of channels as are some English-language programs from the US, UK and Australia mainly. However, for the most part, very few channels offer total programming in English. Cable companies and channel selection vary by geographical area. Ask your real estate agent to arrange service for you or to provide you with contact numbers.

Cable television currently provides a variety of additional services such as high speed Internet service, pay-per-view (PPV) services for movie and IPG. Various payment/option plans are available including a basic plan (cost just under W20,000/month for one television set), upgraded plan, family plan, HBO package, etc. Hook-up is often same or next day service. Termination usually takes effect after a few days. Repair service is usually provided on the day the request is made or, at the latest, the next day. Monthly payments can be made directly from your Korean bank account. (see Banking)

For information on service providers contact:
  1. Korean Cable TV Association Tel: 02-735-6511
  2. C-VISION Tel: (02) 753-6781
English Programming:

AFN (American Forces Network)* provides news from the U.S. and military installations around Asia, as well as American programming. The station can be accessed easily in the Seoul area via cable or sometimes, satellite. Local ‘military’ news is generally in real time, but the rest of the programming is on a different cycle than in the U.S. Daily programs such as news shows, soap operas and day/night talk shows are seen one day later in Korea because of the time zone differences.
*Although a few people are still managing to get AFN, cable companies have been asked to discontinue selling this service as the AFN rules require that it be limited to a service for the US military abroad and not be sold for public consumption or profit.

ArirangTV is an English language broadcasting service aimed at both the ex-pat community in Seoul as well as Korean wanting to practice their English or living abroad as ex-pats. Arirang produces its own news and discussion programs and offer two hours of BBC a day, along with variety shows, subtitled Korean dramas and children’s programs. In-house productions can also be viewed via Internet.
 
BBC (British Broadcast Corporation) Asia is available to satellite subscribers and on some cable stations, albeit very few. Cable subscribers who receive ArirangTV can view BBC for an hour in the morning and another in the evening. Korean cable companies appear to be restricted by law from offering more than one news channel in English, so most opt for CNN. CNN (Asia) can be found on both cable and satellite services.

Home Country TV programs are available through the Internet for residents of certain countries. It is possible to get cable from Canada or the U.S. through a device called the SLINGBOX, which allows you to watch all your favourite programs via your computer here in Korea.
Here's how to set up your SLINGBOX: You can do it before you leave or even if you’re already in Korea. Travis, the person, who provided the following information, made the arrangements from Korea.
  1. Find a friend or relative who is willing to let you  connect the slingbox to their regular cable line and their broadband internet connection.
  2. The best place to buy a slingbox is at Best Buy. It costs less than $200.00. If you're already in South Korea, Best Buy will allow you to purchase the slingbox over the internet with your credit card and will ship it to any address in Canada or the U.S. Here is the link for Canada: Best Buy.
  3. If your friend or relative doesn't have a router that allows you to plug more than one computer into one internet connection, you will have to buy a router for the slingbox. Thee are also available at Best Buy. Here is an example of a reasonably priced router.
  4.  Once your friend has the slingbox, he or she will hook up the cable to the coaxial input on the back of the slingbox. They will also hook the slingbox up to their internet connection via the router. Their computer will also have to be hooked up to the internet via the same router.
  5. Your friend will have to put the software that comes with the slingbox on their computer and will have to set administrative passwords and other things during this set-up. However, your friend will not need to have her/his computer on for you to use the slingbox after the initial set-up.
  6. You will download a free program called Sling Player off of Sling Media's website onto your computer that will allow you to view the video from your slingbox.
  7.  Once you have Sling Player on your computer and your friend has set up everything on her/his end, you will have to enter the unique finder code that your friend acquired while they were setting up your slingbox. Once you type in the code you will be able to view video on your computer from your slingbox.
  8. If you would like to view the video on your TV instead of your computer, you can do so by purchasing the proper cords. (For example, if your laptop has an S-Video output you can hook it up to the RCA-style video input on your television. If you also have a standard stereo headphone jack on your laptop for audio, you can hook that up to the RCA-style plugs on your television.) Since Sling Player will allow you to fill the entire screen of your computer with the video, it will also fill the entire screen of your TV. The quality of the video is comparable to a Super Long Play recording on a VHS tape and the audio is excellent. Some computers will not send the video to your TV without hitting a couple of buttons first, so you should read your manual on how to send video to another monitor.
  9. Some additional notes:
    a. The slingbox will work with things like Bell Express-Vu or digital cable. However, keep in mind that if that is the case you will have to watch what your friend is watching at the time. It is better to find someone who has a regular cable line in their home. (For example, if your friend has digital cable, but also has a regular cable line in another room that is not attached to the digital cable box, he/she can use that line to attach to the slingbox. He/She can split that line with a cable splitter (so as to still have cable going to the TV in that room) and plug that into the slingbox. If you attach a regular cable line to the slingbox, you will be able to change the channels at your will from South Korea and it will not matter what your friend is watching at that time.
    b. It will power down back home when you are not using it.
    c. It will not affect your friend’s Internet speed noticeably.
    d. The big drawback to the slingbox is that all the evening prime time television in North America is on in the morning South Korea time. The only solution to that is to hook the video from your computer up to your VCR and record the programs if you don't want to watch them in the morning.

K4E Editor: Our aim at Korea4Expats.com is to provide as complete and accurate information as possible, so if you notice any errors or omissions in this section, please let us know at info@korea4expats.com 



  In the same header
-English News and Magazines, Seoul -English Radio and Television, Korea
-Internet Services, Korea -Telephone Service, Korea


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