The Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) is the national state broadcaster of the

Republic of Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Agal� ...

, that is the islands of Mauritius,

Rodrigues Rodrigues ( ; Mauritian Creole, Creole: ) is a Autonomous administrative division, autonomous Outer islands of Mauritius, outer island of the Republic of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, about east of Mauritius. It is part of the Mascarene Isl ...

, and Agaléga. The historical headquarters in

Curepipe Curepipe (), also known as ''La Ville-Lumière'' (The City of Light), is a town in Mauritius, located mainly in the Plaines Wilhems District. Its eastern part lies in the Moka District. The town is administered by the Municipal Council of Cure ...

were relocated in

Réduit, Moka Moka () is a village in Mauritius located mainly in the Moka District. The western part of the village lies in the Plaines Wilhems District. Since 1967 it forms part of Constituency No. 8 Quartier Militaire and Moka. The village is administered ...

. It also operates a station in Rodrigues. The MBC programmes are broadcast in 12 languages, notably French, Creole, English,

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri may refer to: * Bhojpuri language, an Indo-Aryan language of India and Nepal * Bhojpuri grammar, grammatical rules of the language * Bhojpuri nouns, nouns of the language * Bhojpuri people, people who speak the language * Bhojpuri region ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

, Telugu,

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

, and

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

. MBC provides 17 television channels in Mauritius, four in Rodrigues and two in Agaléga, as well as seven radio channels.

History

The MBC was established as a body corporate on 8 June 1964 under the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation Ordinance no. 7 (1964). Previously, it operated as a government service under the name of Mauritius Broadcasting Service. The original ordinance establishing the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation was amended and consolidated by Acts of Parliament: Act no. 65 of 1970, Act no. 22 of 1982, and Act no. 65 of 1985. These amendments were necessary to accommodate, ''inter alia'', changes at both technological and social levels as well as to satisfy the aspirations of all segments of the Mauritian nation. TV broadcasts started on a pilot basis in 1964 with the installation of three repeater stations at Fort George, Mount Thérése, and Jurançon. On 8 February 1965, television was officially launched with a daily evening transmission of about three hours. The first live local program was broadcast on the occasion of the visit of Princess Alexandra in 1968. The phasing out process of black and white television started in 1973 and indeed the OCAMM Conference which was held at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute in the same year was broadcast live in colour (

SECAM SECAM, also written SÉCAM (, ''Séquentiel de couleur à mémoire'', French for ''sequential colour memory''), is an analog color television system that was used in France, Russia and some other countries or territories of Europe and Africa. ...

system). By 1978 the MBC was fully equipped for the broadcast of colour programs. The MBC started its operation in

on 7 November 1987. A second channel was launched on 30 July 1990, the MBC 2. The MBC 3 became operational in March 1996. In 2005, the MBC became the first public television broadcaster in Africa to launch

Digital Terrestrial Television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV, DTT, or DTTB) is a technology for terrestrial television, in which television stations broadcast television content in a digital signal, digital format. Digital terrestrial television is a major technologica ...

channels. In 2007, the MBC also extended its digitalized service to the islands of

and Agaléga. In 2011, the MBC moved from its former headquarters in Forest Side, Curepipe to Moka. The Bhojpuri Channel and Senn Kreol were launched in January 2013. In 2012, the President of the Republic stated that the MBC is run with a mindset of unfairness, partiality, and is not worthy of a democratic nation. On 14 November 2016, MBC rebranded the logo of its 17 channels and introduced a standardised logo with different colour variations for each channel. Additionally, new onscreen graphics were introduced. MBC broadcasts many of its own shows, promoting the country and the physical and mental health of the people of Mauritius. On 1 December 2016, the MBC released the MBC play app, which is still under development, on the Google Play Store, allowing users around the globe to stream live TV and radio channels of the corporation. Later, after releasing a stable version, this app is also expected to be available through the Apple App Store.

Overview

The MBC operates under the aegis of the Prime Minister's Office. It is established as a body corporate under Act No. 7 of 1964. According to the provisions of the Act, its main objectives are to provide independent and impartial broadcasting services of information, education, culture, and entertainment in different languages taught or spoken in the country, and to ensure that the broadcasting services cater for the aspirations, needs, and tastes of the population in the matters of information, education, culture, and entertainment. Opposition parties and media commentators often criticise the MBC for pro-government bias. The MBC is a member of the Association des Radios et Télévisions de l’Océan Indien (ARTOI), Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, and an associate member at the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

, the

Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU or APBU), formed in 1964, is a non-profit, professional association of broadcasting organisations. It currently has over 288 members in 57 countries and regions, reaching a potential audience of about 3 b ...

, and the South African Broadcasting Association and of the Conseil International des Radios-Télévisions d’Expression Française. The MBC has been criticized for being the propaganda arm of the ruling party.

List of MBC channels

Television

Radio

MBC board and senior management

* Premode Neerunjun, Chairman of the MBC Board * Alain Gordon Gentil, Director-General of the MBC * Kavish Pultoo, ex-officio member on the MBC Board, Director Information Services at the Government Information Services * Vijay Chandreeka Ah Ku, board member * Avinash Venkama, board member * Jason Maulette, board member * M.S. Nahaboo Solim, board member

References

{{European Broadcasting Union Members Television in Mauritius Radio stations established in 1944 1964 establishments in Mauritius Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation Multilingual broadcasters Television channels and stations established in 1964