Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ASHGABAT192
2008-02-07 08:23:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Ashgabat
Cable title:  

TURKMENISTAN: 500 SATELLITE TV CHANNELS FOR

Tags:  PGOV PHUM KDEM TX 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000192 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: 500 SATELLITE TV CHANNELS FOR
EVERY CITIZEN -- A CHICKEN IN EVERY POT?

REF: A. 07 ASHGABAT 1325

B. ASHGABAT 0023

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000192

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: 500 SATELLITE TV CHANNELS FOR
EVERY CITIZEN -- A CHICKEN IN EVERY POT?

REF: A. 07 ASHGABAT 1325

B. ASHGABAT 0023


1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.


2. (SBU) SUMMARY: Work continues in Ashgabat to provide
standardize satellite-television access for all citizens.
The government recently provided further detail on the
process of replacing the private satellite dishes on almost
every apartment balcony, calling the project a sign of
progress. It remains to be seen whether the authorities will
want to make use of their control over satellite access in
the future to limit programming, but so far they have not.
In fact, they are trumpeting that citizens will now have
access to about 500 global stations, rather than the previous

20. If true, this would be a remarable opening of the
information space in Turkmenistan. END SUMMARY.


3. (U) On January 28, Turkmen television aired a meeting
Communications Minister Hojagurbanow held with mid-level
officials, where the Minister explained in further detail
President Berdimuhamedov's decision to remove unsightly
private satellite dishes from apartment balconies. He also
explained the process by which the Ministry is undertaking
the work. He said that single, high-capacity dishes would be
installed on each residential building so that all residents
will have access both to national channels and some 500
foreign television channels.


4. (SBU) On January 31, "Neytralniy Turkmenistan" spelled
out the benefits of the changeover, noting "residents will no
longer have to find satellite repair people to connect up or
install dishes, because government specialists from
Turkmentelecom will do everything themselves." The newspaper
reported that connecting to the system will be free, and then
Turkmentelecom will charge a monthly fee of 12,000 manat
(about $2 at the official exchange rate) for access. the
article pointed out this new satellite access will be not
only for those living in "elite, white-marble heights, but
for everyone." The first stage of the project is to be
completed by the end of February, and will establish the new
service in some 50 residential buildings. The second stage
of the project will involve another 50 buildings.


PRESIDENT ORDERS SPEED-UP


5. (U) The president on February 2 asked the Ministry to
speed up its work replacing the private dishes with shared,
government-controlled systems. The Ministry reported to the
president that the work had been completed in 25 residential
buildings. It was also reviewing a tender for the supply of
components needed for another 2,000 residential buildings.
His report clarified that a total of four satellite dishes
were to be mounted on each building to enable the reception
of broadcasts from the Yamal 90 and Yamal 48 Russian
satellites, the European Hotbird 13 satellite, and the
Turkish Turksat satellite.

AFFECTED AREA STILL SMALL


6. (SBU) Local staff say that, so far, private dishes have
been replaced on buildings primarily in the city center,
especially along the main thoroughfare of Turkmenbashy Street
and on some buildings in the Mir Region, located in the
southeastern quarter of Ashgabat. Local staff say residents
of these buildings with whom they have spoken report no
change in their satellite access, including to Russian news
stations. In some other areas of Ashgabat off main streets,
residents have been able to relocate private satellite dishes
to the roof or to the sides of buildings not visible from the
street.

TECHNICALLY DIFFICULT


ASHGABAT 00000192 002 OF 002



7. (SBU) A local satellite service contractor, who does
both private and government work, told an EmbOff he did not
know how the government was going to carry out this work,
given the technical complexities of splitting a satellite
signal among as many as 50-100 apartments per building. A
technical specialist at post who is familiar with the
challenges of achieving satellite reception in Turkmenistan
commented there are several ways to bring satellite reception
to multiple residences from individual dishes, but each
option comes with cost and complexity. If the authorities
want to make this a standard across the country, it will be
expensive and take considerable time. Local press reported
that the Communications Ministry was purchasing sets of the
technical equipment needed to implement this new cable-based
satellite system only 50 at a time, suggesting the technology
may be expensive.


8. (SBU) Post's technical specialist hypothesized about the
way that the government may be undertaking the satellite
conversion. The first option would envision four dishes on
the roof, each with one receiver box and access card. The
cable connection from each dish would then be split to
accommodate all the residences in that building, but the
quality of reception would suffer. Additional technology
would have to be installed to allow residents to watch
different channels concurrently. The government could
control the content of satellite programming via the program
packages it purchases from international satellite program
providers. This would make satellite subscription access by
Turkmenistan's citizens legal, but government service
providers -- notoriously unresponsive to consumer needs --
would be responsible for repair and maintenance of the four
receiver boxes, their access cards, and the dishes.


9. (SBU) A second option would have the four rooftop
satellite dishes linked via cable to individual receivers in
the residences. Residents would be able to insert or take
out the access card, allowing them potentially to replace the
government access card if they do not like the programming.
This could continue the black market in satellite access
cards. It is possible, however, that since the government
service-provider maintains the satellite dishes and
connections to residences, it could also black out programs
or channels it does not want received, making the card
irrelevant.


10. (SBU) COMMENT: We see no evidence so far that this
vast switch-over from private satellite dishes to a
government-controlled cable system is an attempt to limit
information. On the contrary, the government has announced
citizens will now have access to about 500 global channels,
which, if true, would be a remarkable opening of
Turkmenistan's information space. It should be recalled that
this enormous project originated when Berdimuhamedov, while
being driven through Ashgabat, felt his aesthetic sense
violated by the thousands of satellite dishes defacing the
sides of every apartment building. Given the cost and
complexity of this project, we suspect in the end it might be
completed only along the main streets and boulevards.
However, the government has raised public expectations with
the promise of 500 satellite channels for every citizen --
sort of the electronic-age version of a chicken in every pot.
END COMMENT.
HOAGLAND