BINTULU: Hundreds of people here turned up at Times Square Megamall last Sunday and Monday to redeem their free myFreeview digital television decoders.
The distribution started at 8am and ended at 5pm on the first day. However, on Monday, all the decoders were fully distributed by 12pm.
The people arrived at the mall and waited in line as early as 7.30am for the decoders.
For the elderly and disabled groups, there was a special counter for them to redeem the decoders.
MyTV Broadcasting senior vice president Aliza Sulaiman said 3,000 of the electronic devices were allocated for distribution in Bintulu; 2,000 were presented on the first day and the remaining the next day.
Tanjung Batu assemblyman Chiew Chiu Sing was spotted giving out numbers to the people waiting in line at the shopping mall.
Catherine Sehai from Sungai Plan said her parents told her about the free decoder distribution. They had heard about it on the radio.
“I arrived here at the mall around 8.30am, and it was worth waiting in line for the decoder.
“Currently, we are subscribing to Astro with a monthly fee of about RM100. Now with this myFreeview decoder, we don’t have to pay anymore.
“I do not know how to install this decoder yet but I will wait for my children to help me,” she said.
Last year on Oct 31, East Malaysia officially switched from analogue TV broadcast to digital TV.
In line with the Malaysian Shared Prosperity Vision (SPV) 2030, MyTV and Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) are taking the initiative to distribute free decoders to people under the B40 category and also the disabled people across Sarawak and Sabah.
The transition to digital TV has enabled the public to experience 14 different television channels and 6 radio stations for free without any monthly subscription fees.
