TV packages in Mauritius

You will find that in Mauritius you get only 3 TV channels as standard with an aerial. Unfortunately only two are watchable, the third channel is really random with football most of the time plus it only broadcasts from mid afternoon. When I moved to Mauritius from the UK, I was stuck on two channels MBC 1 and MBC 2, luckily MBC 1 screens an English film once a week and they have some of the programs from the UK. Heroes, CSI, Hawaii Five-0 and Desperate Housewives are just a few of them.

Just like the UK, there is also freeview here called TNT - you just buy the set up box, plug in your aerial and you get 17 more channels free. When I moved into my house and tuned my TV, I forgot it also had a built in digital box for free view. Thankfully it picked up the TNT channels so I get 20 channels in total without the need for yet another box on my TV stand. I get the feeling that if you have a free view box from the UK it will work here too, so if you are relocating bring it with you just in case, it’ll save you from having to buy one here afterwards.

Canal Sat

Canal+/Canal Sat is a very expensive option in Mauritius but after thoroughly checking it out it’s so worth it, for me it’s the movies that I miss. Canal Sat play movies everyday and you can even choose your own tailor made package. There are many options such as music channels, kid’s channels, sport and bollywood. You can even add English subtitles to some programs and films and the TV guide works! There are also some English channels but this is also limited, on some programs you can change the audio to English but again this is restricted to some programs and channels.

Parabole Maurice

Parabole is another TV package that you can get through a satellite dish. Just like Canal Sat, you can have premium channels added to your package. This can be movies, sport channels, disney or bollywood channels. However I did not get good reviews for this one.

My.T

MyT is similar to the 3 in 1 packages (broadband, TV and phone). They have launched some TV channels and you are supposed to get 30. I have it and the only person that watches it is my 9 month old who loves the cartoons in the morning, other than that it doesn’t get switched on. You do not have subtitles to the programmes and no interactive TV guide, just movies on demand; some are ridiculously priced at Rs250 for an English movie! My T also has no English channels.

DSTV

DSTV is the best option if you are an expat or prefer English only as the programs are streamed from South Africa via a satellite dish. You will need to find an approved person for your area, prices are not displayed you will need to contact them (budget over Rs2,000 per month for its subscription fees). As far as I know it is more expensive than Canal Sat but it’s pretty much the same, you get movies, kid’s channels, music, documentaries etc only everything is in English.

If you know what you are looking for, then it’s easier to choose which provider to sign up to otherwise it's hit and miss. At the moment I haven’t really looked into getting another TV package as I don’t have much time to sit and watch TV as I used to but in the future I will definitely be signing up to DSTV or Canal Sat, when I can afford it.