Benchmark Broadcast Systems has signed a landmark contract with MYTV Broadcasting, the first-of-its-kind in Malaysia, and SE Asia’s largest Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) service provider. Over a period of five years, Benchmark will provide on-site technical support, planned technology refresh, and spares to MYTV’s Digital Multimedia Hub (DMBH) and Disaster Recovery Centre (DRC), located in Cyberjaya, Malaysia. On-site services will be on a 24×7 basis to ensure all equipment and signals continue to provide uninterrupted transmission; delivering seamless uptime.

Benchmark is a multinational on-site systems integration and engineering consultancy services provider with local knowledge and presence in Singapore, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and the Middle East.

MYTV has been making waves in Malaysia for pioneering DTT broadcast services. Benchmark’s support for MYTV will ensure uninterrupted delivery of TV and Radio channels to millions of households that subscribe to MYTV’s myFreeview service. Benchmark will also be working closely with MYTV to enhance their value-added services which may include interactive secondary graphics like HbbTV, OTT and DVB-IPTV. With MYTV’s emphasis on inclusivity, Benchmark will support MYTV’s network content regionalisation and facilitating international content providers who wish to offer their unique content to Malaysia’s diverse ethnic populations. An expansion to OTT services is also in the plans for the future.

Mazlan Mahdi, CEO of MYTV said “All terrestrial analogue services were switched to digital starting November 2019. MYTV had invested RM1 billion on infrastructure to ensure Analogue Switch Off was a success, and now are encouraging all licensed Broadcasters to jump on-board to utilise MYTV multimedia and interactive service offerings.   With the network’s capability to deliver a maximum of 30 TV services and 15 Radio channels the need to ensure the uptime of both headends are not compromised, warranty and support assurance became the primary objective for MYTV towards a smooth operation. In the process of selecting a technology partner, we decided to award the contract to Benchmark with their prior success in setting up our DRC in record time in early 2019 and the seamless upgrade of our main facility at DMBH in August-September 2019 under the leadership of their CTO, S Ramesh Babu. We are looking forward to a wonderful journey ahead.”