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[whchocolate]

What kind of English language cable televsion is available in Taiwan? Can you get hbo, espn, cnbc, cnn, tnt?

[TaoyuanSteve]

CNN, HBO, ESPN as well as others are available on cable here (though often espn is dubbed into Mandarin). You get a smattering of english language movie channels and channels such as discovery, national geographic and animal planet. Certainly better than nothing, but be warned the overall quality of TV programming in Taiwan is not very good. The local cable company puts the same low quality ads for new real estate developments and local shops on again and again ad nauseum. I sometimes don't want to watch TV because I know the same ads--which I can recite from momory--will be on. I finally opted to get cable after quite a while without it. Basically, its relative affordability convinced me to get it. But you wouldn't be missing much without it.

[killian]

taiwan's cable industry is a joke. there is an extended thread over at forumosa.com on this very topic. third world countries have more access to world news and events than taiwan. PI has fox, bbc and cnn. taiwan has only cnn.

cnn-yes.
hbo-yes.
tnt-no
espn-same name but VERY different. billards and bowling, then european football and cricket, then local basketball/baseball in season. we get monday night football and one sunday game per week. olympics? forget it. superbowl? on fox. forget it.
cnbc-no.

yes, national geographic and discovery channel are here. the former expat favorite "star world" which showed north american fare such as "dharma and greg" got whacked at the start of this year. who is "monk" and why do newbies go on about him?