During our stay in Kathmandu, we had the chance to visit one of Nepal's - to its own statement - most popular TV stations: Nepal Television. When we first got into the huge studio of Nepal Television's show 'Namaste live!', we could not notice many differences compared to a German TV studio. There were many studio lights, camera equipment and typical TV show furniture, which set up the studio.
The TV broadcaster Nepal Television overall calls about 40 TV studios their own. It reaches 70% of the population and covers 65% of the country with its program. Their programs vary from children's programs to daily news and they broadcast 24 hours a day. There are also plans to expand the studio, as our guide told us and they are planning to go fully digital soon.
When we went on with our tour through the building of Nepal Television, we noticed that the technologies were quite similar, although the devices and control techniques might be older than those we know from Germany. Furthermore, we had the chance to experience the feeling what it's like to stand behind a news desk and to read the news from the teleprompter out loud. It was a realistic experience, since all of the equipment we saw is actually used by the TV station in their daily news production.
But, although there were many similarities, especially in the composition and equipment of the studio, we noticed that the modernity of the technology and also the modernity of the building where Nepal Television broadcasts varied a lot from what we know in Germany since we are used to work with the latest equipment.
Moving on, we also realized some other differences to German TV stations. Due to the German dual broadcasting system, we are used to full press freedom and independence from the state. Since Nepal Television is supervised by the state, there are certain differences in the production of the content - for example assigned topics - because independence from the state, as we know it in Germany, is not guaranteed.
All in all, visiting Nepal Television was an interesting experience since we had the chance to compare the familiar dual broadcasting system in Germany to the supervised news production at Nepal Television. Our tour ended on the terrace of the television broadcaster´s building where we were once again rewarded with a great mountain view.