Television broadcasting in Malaysia is provided by the federal government and respective private broadcasting companies. Analog television transmissions were completely turned off on 31 October 2019 and replaced with full MYTV Digital TV broadcast using DVB-T2 technology. The switchover was done in stages by region, which began with the Central and Southern regions on 30 September 2019, the Northern and Eastern regions on 14 October 2019, and Sabah and Sarawak on 31 October 2019. The Service Level Availability (SLA) for digital TV transmissions currently stands at 99.9%.
The first trial broadcasts of digital TV started in 2006 by a government-owned television broadcaster, Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM). Some local TV channels have been broadcasting shows in HD for special occasions since 2008. Free-to-air and subscription-based television channels in Malaysia are available in HD standards through terrestrial, satellite, and IP, as well as over OTT platforms.
Currently, there are only two free-to-air digital terrestrial platforms in Malaysia with high-definition channels: MYTV and NJOI.
Government-owned free-to-air television broadcasters
Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM)
DVB name LCN Launch date Broadcast hours (UTC+08:00) Programming language(s) AvailabilityTV1 101HD 28 December 196324 hours Malay and Englishrowspan=15 TV2 102HD 17 November 1969 Malay, English, Chinese (Mandarin), Indian (Hindi, Tamil and Telugu), Korean, Filipino and TurkishOKEY 110HD 21 March 2018 Malay, English, Chinese (Mandarin), Indonesian, Indian (Tamil), Iban (Bumiputera Sarawak), Kadazandusun (Bumiputera Sabah) and BajauSukan+ 111HD 1 April 2021 Malay and EnglishBerita RTM 123HD 25 June 2020 Malay, English, Chinese (Mandarin), Indian (Tamil), Iban (Bumiputera Sarawak), Kadazandusun (Bumiputera Sabah) and Bajau
Over-the-top (OTT) RTMKlik
Private television broadcasters Media Prima Berhad DVB name LCN Launch date Broadcast hours (UTC+08:00) Programming language(s) Availability TV3 103HD 1 June 198424 hours Malay, English, Indian (Hindi), Indonesian and Koreanrowspan=5 DidikTV KPM 107 17 February 2021 Malay 8TV 108 8 January 2004 Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkien) TV9 109 22 April 2006 Malay
MY Hankuk TV Sdn Bhd DVB name LCN Launch date Broadcast hours (UTC+08:00) Programming language(s) AvailabilityHankuk TV 104HD 16 February 2026 7:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m. English, Korean and Malay rowspan=20
Other free-to-air television broadcasters AlHijrah Media Corporation DVB name LCN Launch date Broadcast hours (UTC+08:00) Programming language(s) Availability TV AlHijrahTV Alhijrah official website 114HD 7 December 2010 24 hours Malay, English and Arabic
Malaysia News National Agency (Bernama) DVB name LCN Launch date Broadcast hours (UTC+08:00) Programming language(s) Availability Bernama TVBernama TV Page 121HD 28 February 2008 24 hours Malay, English, Chinese (Mandarin) and Indian (Tamil)
MYTV Broadcasting Sdn Bhd DVB name LCN Launch date Broadcast hours (UTC+08:00) Programming language(s) Availability SIARA TV Official website of SIARA TV 200HD 20 July 2026 24 hours Malay and English
State owned free-to-air television broadcasters
Sarawak Media Group (SMG) DVB name LCN Launch date Broadcast hours (UTC+08:00) Programming language(s) Availability TVSTV Sarawak (TVS) official website 122HD 10 October 2020 24 hours English, Malay, Iban, Chinese (Mandarin), Filipino, Thai, and Indonesian rowspan=20
Subscription-based providers
Satellite television Astro and Sooka NJOI
Digital terrestrial television (DVB-T2) MYTV NJOI (available for several free-to-air digital television channels)
IPTV Unifi TV
Over-the-top (OTT)
Local OTTs Astro GO EDUWEBTV iflix MYTV ManaMana Selangor TV SIAR Sooka Tonton Unifi TV 2.0 app (formerly known as unifi playTV)
International OTTs
Amazon Prime Video Apple TV+ BBC Player beIN SPORTS CONNECT Bilibili Crunchyroll DAZN Disney+ Eros Now GMA Play HBO Max iQIYI iWant Lionsgate Play Mango TV Netflix Pilipinas Live Plus Rakuten Viki Simply South SonyLIV SPOTV NOW Sun NXT TVB Anywhere+ Vidio Vision+ Viu Viva One VMX WeTV Youku YuppTV ZEE5
Other television stations Asia Media Vision Four
Former / discontinued television channels and networks Former Astro channels (by timeline) 1997 STAR Mandarin Movies was replaced by Astro AEC on 1 September 1997. 1998 Asia Business News and the original incarnation of CNBC Asia were merged to form CNBC Asia Business News on 1 February 1998, and was rebranded to CNBC Asia on 1 July 1998. MGM Gold ceased broadcast on 6 April 1998 and was replaced by Cinemax on 23 April 1998. STAR Plus rebranded to STAR World on 1 May 1998. NBC Asia rebranded to National Geographic Channel on 1 July 1998. 2002 TV Pendidikan/Animal Planet was split into TV Pendidikan (Channel 13) and Animal Planet (Channel 51) on 1 January 2002. 2006 TechTV ceased broadcast on 1 March 2006. NHK World TV was replaced by NHK World Premium on 1 May 2006. 2007 TV Pendidikan ceased broadcast on 1 January 2007. 2008 BBC World was rebranded to BBC World News on 21 April 2008. Discovery Real Time was replaced by Discovery Turbo following its rebranding in October 2008. 2009 RTM1 and RTM2 rebranded to TV1 and TV2 on New Year's Day (1 January) 2009. Astro News (which carries programs from DW TV, Al Jazeera English, and Australia Network) ceased broadcast on 1 March 2009, while DW TV programs are carried by BERNAMA TV. Astro @Play ceased service on 1 May 2009 due to the insignificant number of subscribers. Astro Kirana ceased broadcast on 18 May 2009. Replaced by Astro Citra on 1 June 2009. BBC Entertainment was replaced by BIO Channel on 1 December 2009. 2010 Eastern Television Asia was replaced by CTi TV on 1 January 2010. Astro Aruna ceased broadcast on 1 February 2010 due to low viewership. Replaced by Bintang and Pelangi on 11 July 2011. CCTV-9 rebranded to CCTV News on 26 April 2010 at 7:00pm. Channel [V] was replaced by FOX on 16 June 2010. TVB8 was replaced by TVB Entertainment News on 1 July 2010. Hallmark Channel was rebranded to DIVA Universal on 19 September 2010. Granada TV rebranded to ITV Granada on 1 November 2010. 2011 Playhouse Disney rebranded to Disney Junior on 11 July 2011. 2012 STAR Movies and STAR Movies HD rebranded to FOX Movies Premium and FOX Movies Premium HD on New Year's Day (1 January) 2012 at midnight. WaTV ceased broadcast on 1 March 2012. Replaced by Celestial Movies HD and Kix HD, while programs broadcast by the channel are now carried by Astro AEC. B4U was rebranded to Astro Bella on 5 March 2012. Astro @15 ceased broadcast at midnight on 1 May 2012. Replaced by Astro Mustika HD on 21 May 2012, while programs broadcast by the channel were carried by other Malay channels. Astro Lifestyle HD was separated into Food Network Asia HD and Life Inspired HD on 1 October 2012. 2013 ESPN, ESPNews, and ESPN HD rebranded to FOX Sports, FOX Sports News, and FOX Sports Plus HD on 28 January 2013. Radio Mosaic ceased service on 9 February 2013 due to same-channel broadcast. BIO Channel ceased broadcast on 14 June 2013. beTV HD ceased broadcast on 26 August 2013. CNBC will ceased broadcast on 7 October 2013 because it was unable to fulfill these objectives, but was relaunched in the same month. 2014 Jia Yu will ceased broadcast at midnight on 1 April 2014. A temporary channel aired for a month before being rebranded as Kah Lai Toi at 6am. Diva Universal was officially rebranded to Diva on 16 June 2014. Discovery Turbo was officially rebranded to DMAX on 7 July 2014. Discovery Home & Health Asia officially rebranded to Eve on 1 August 2014. STAR Sports and FOX Sports Plus HD rebranded to FOX Sports 2, FOX Sports 3, and FOX Sports HD, in which FOX Sports News was rebranded to FOX Sports 3 on 15 August 2014. FOX Sports News continued its broadcast on Astro GO. Astro Zhi Zun HD rebranded to Astro Wah Lai Toi HD (Channel 310) on 6 October 2014. The SD version of Fox ceased broadcasting on 16 November 2014. They were upgraded to Fox HD until Fox HD ceased broadcasting on 1 October 2021 and was replaced by Disney+ Hotstar. 2015 iView ceased broadcast on 12 January 2015 and replaced by the NJOI version on 20 January 2015. The SD versions of Golf Channel ceased broadcast on 26 February 2015. 2016 Astro Hitz ceased broadcast on 16 May 2016 at 12:01am due to low viewership and declining popularity. Channel M HD was rebranded back as tvN HD on 3 June 2016. Sundance Channel HD ceased broadcast at midnight on 1 July 2016 due to low popularity. The first international movie channel to cease broadcasting on Astro. Zee Variasi ceased broadcast on Astro at midnight on 1 October 2016. Replaced by Tara HD on 19 October 2016. CCTV News rebranded to CGTN on New Year's Eve (31 December) 2016 at 12:00pm. 2017 ITV Choice ceased broadcasting and transmission on Astro 16 January 2017 at 12:15am due to low viewership. Discovery HD World rebranded to Discovery Asia HD on 17 March 2017 at 09:00pm. FOX Sports News, broadcast on Astro GO, ceased transmission on 29 April 2017. FOX Movies Premium and FOX Movies Premium HD rebranded to FOX Movies and FOX Movies HD on 10 June 2017. GO ASEAN ceased broadcasting and transmission on 12 June 2017 at 2:00am. GO ASEAN maintains its programs on Tonton and DimSum. Kah Lai Toi ceased broadcasting and transmission on 1 October 2017 at midnight due to low viewership. STAR World and STAR World HD rebranded to FOX Life and FOX Life HD on 1 October 2017 at 9:00am. Life Inspired HD ceased transmission on 7 October 2017 due to the company's financial losses. 2018 ZooMoo ceased broadcasting and transmission on 1 April 2018 to mitigate further losses by the company. ZooMoo shows moved to Astro Xiao Tai Yang. They were the first Preschool channels to be ceased on Astro. Astro Mustika HD rebranded to Astro Citra HD on 1 October 2018 at midnight. Astro Bella ceased broadcasting and transmission at midnight on 1 October 2018 due to low viewership. Replaced by Naura HD. EVE ceased broadcast on 1 November 2018. Lifetime HD and FYI ceased broadcasting and transmission on 14 December 2018 due to low popularity, but relaunched on 15 September 2021. 2019 Astro Maya HD ceased broadcasting and transmission at midnight on 14 January 2019. The programs were later carried by Astro Prima, Astro Oasis, Astro Prima HD, and Astro Oasis HD channels, the latter two of which are in HD and available to all Astro customers. For NJOI customers, the HD version is optional; the HD pack must be purchased, while the SD version is available on different channel numbers. The SD version of Disney XD ceased broadcasting and transmission on 1 March 2019. The HD version of this channel remained until 1 January 2021 due to a review of Disney's business in the region and was replaced by TA-DAA HD on 15 March 2021. Zee Tamil HD ceased broadcasting and transmission on 1 March 2019 due to low popularity, Zee Tamil HD but relaunched on 1 June 2020. Channel NewsAsia HD rebranded as CNA HD on 29 March 2019 to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Astro Xi Yue HD ceased broadcasting and transmission on 1 July 2019 at midnight because the Overseas event channel would be aired on Channel 338. Replaced by iQIYI HD 17 days later on the same channel number. It is the first Chinese HD channel to cease on Astro. A-List HD ceased broadcasting and transmission at midnight on 2 August 2019 due to low viewership, but its Astro OD service continued. Tara HD were ceased broadcast on 1 October 2019. Replaced by Colors Hindi HD 6 hours later. Diva and E! (along with their HD feeds) ceased broadcasting on 31 December 2019. They are the first historic channels to cease on Astro. Their shows were moved to Hello HD. 2020 Setanta Sports HD was rebranded to RugbyPass TV HD on 29 January 2020.