Multi-Choice TV (Barbados)

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The service known as Multichoice TV is a wireless broadcast cable television service in the country of Barbados. The service comes in different pricing packages but the prices are basically on-par or priced relatively the same as they are in the United States. The service began operating on December 14, 1987 under the name STV(Subscription Television), which had a few channels (like CNN, ESPN and Lifetime, etc.) additionally it also included Pay Per View. In 1996 it was upgraded to include a new platform called Multi-Choice TV with more channels (like the BBC, Canada's CBC, TBN, etc.) Recently, Multi-Choice TV has been in the process of being upgraded from analogue to digital format.

Given that the service uses an Aerial antenna to receive an encrypted broadcast, which in turn is then decrypted by a special rented converter-box, the system has become prone to persons using modified Cable TV tuners like the "Dreambox" manufactured in the United Kingdom to pirate the signal broadcasts. In order to prevent such activity in August, 2006 the Government of Barbados stiffened the local Barbadian copyright laws, in addition to a strengthening of the laws on cable TV piracy.

Multi-Choice TV also competes against the US-based direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service provider DirecTV in Barbados.

[edit] Current channel lineup

Below is a numerical representation of the Multi-Choice TV channel lineup. These channels are arranged in five tiers:

(Prices are in Bds$ Bds$2=US$1)

Tier	Cost
Basic	$65
Basic Extra	$90 (includes Basic)
Plus	$112 (includes above tiers)
Premium	$140 (includes above tiers)
High Flyer	$35 (additional with any of the above tiers)
Platinum	$175 (all tiers)

Channel	Tier	Network	Site	Notes
108 - 112: Local
108	Basic	CBC TV 8	Link	Local government-owned CBC TV-8.
109	Basic	Discover Barbados TV	*
110	Basic	Carib Vision	*
111	Basic	"The One" 98.1 FM	Link	(As audio stream only)
112	Basic	"Quality" 100.7 FM	*	(As audio stream only)
200 - 209: News
200	Basic	Cubavision International	Link	CubaVision - Cuba International
201	Basic	CNN (US)	Link
202	Plus	CNN International	Link
203	High Flyer	CNBC	Link
204	Basic	BBC World	Link
205	Basic	Fox News	Link
206	Basic	Court TV	Link
207	High Flyer	Bloomberg	Link
208	High Flyer	G4techTV	Link	Canadian channel
209	Plus	China Central Television (CCTV)	Link	the Chinese national television network.
300 - 305: Sports
300	Basic	ESPN	Link
301	Plus	Fox Soccer Channel	Link
302	High Flyer	ESPN2	Link
303	High Flyer	Fuel	Link
304	High Flyer	The Golf Channel	Link
305	High Flyer	SpeedVision	Link
400 - 406: Children
400	Basic	Boomerang	Link
401	Basic	Cartoon Network	Link
402	Basic Extra	Animal Planet	Link
403	(vacant)
404	Basic	Discovery Kids	Link
405	Basic Extra	Nickelodeon	Link
406	Basic Extra	Nickelodeon GAS	Link
500 - 511: Educational/Entertainment
500	Basic	National Geographic Channel	Link
501	Basic	Discovery Channel	Link
502	Basic	Discovery Health	Link
503	Basic	PBS (affiliate unknown)	Link
504	Plus	Sony Entertainment Television	Link
505	Plus	Warner Channel	Link
506	Plus	WWOR-TV (My Network TV)	Link	New York City, New York
507	Plus	CKVU-TV (Citytv)	Link	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
508	Basic Extra	Oxygen	Link
509	Basic Extra	Lifetime Real Women	Link
510	Basic Extra	The History Channel	Link
511	High Flyer	Travel Channel	Link
600 - 608: Spirituality, music and culture
600	Basic	TBN	Link
601	Basic	3ABN	Link
602	Basic	EWTN	Link
603	Basic	VH1 Soul	Link
604	Basic	Gospel Music Channel	Link
605	Basic	E!	Link
606	Basic	Telemundo	Link
607	Plus	BET on Jazz	Link
608	Basic	MTV Tempo	Link
700 - 712: Entertainment
700	Basic	ABC (affiliate unknown)	Link
701	Basic	BET	Link
702	Plus	CBS (affiliate unknown)	Link
703	Basic	CBLT (CBC Canada)	Link	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
704	Plus	Game Show Network	Link
705	Basic	Lifetime	Link
706	Plus	NBC (affiliate unknown)	Link
707	Plus	Fox (affiliate unknown)	Link
708	Plus	HBO Family	Link
709	Basic Extra	HGTV	Link
710	Basic Extra	Food Network	Link
711	Basic Extra	DIY	Link
712	Basic Extra	Fine Living	Link
800 - 810: Movies
800	Basic	TNT	Link
801	Premium	HBO Plus	Link	HBO-Latin America
802	Premium	Cinemax East	Link
803	Premium	HBO East	Link
804	Premium	Cinemax West	Link
805	Premium	HBO West	Link
806	Premium	Hallmark Channel	Link
807	Premium	Lifetime Movies	*
808	Premium	Cinecanal West	Link
809	Premium	Movie City East	Link
810	Premium	Turner Classic Movies	Link