26 Brooten, McElhone and Venkiteswaran SkyNet, a direct-to-home satellite service. In 2005 the exiled Democratic Voice of Burma (now called DVB Multimedia Group) became the first Burmese satellite broadcaster, beaming into the country from exile. Government control was also undermined by the emergence of black market satellite dishes (Reporters Without Borders 2010a). The nationwide state broadcaster, Myanmar Radio, was launched in 1960 as an AM station and remained the only radio service in the country until the launch of Yangon City FM in 2001. Yangon City FM was one of seven FM stations which were established as joint ventures between the government and private companies (business cronies) over the next ten years. Additional state-controlled stations were later launched, including Thazin FM in 2008 by the Ministry of Defence and Myanma Radio Athan by MRTV and the Ministry of Information (Nwe Nwe Aye 2012; UNESCO and IMS 2016). Documentary filmmaking was challenging in the aftermath of the 1988 uprisings. The craft was not developed inside the country and, given the pervasive climate of censorship and fear, foreign filmmakers had difficulties getting visas, let alone accessing people willing to talk with them. Those who were able to get a permit to film inside the country were stuck with a government “minder” who controlled where they could travel and what they could film, and, even if the filming was successful, it was challenging to get the film safely out of the country, past the eyes of the customs agents (Schlaefli 2016). A new surge of documentary filmmaking began to emerge in the mid2000s, however, with classes and workshops offered at the Yangon Film School (YFS) and the Alliance Française (Aung Min 2012; Schlaefli 2016). YFS, established in 2005 by Anglo-Burmese filmmaker Lindsey Merrison, is officially a Berlin-based non-profit organization but was established to support young Myanmar filmmakers. Since its founding, YFS has produced almost two hundred films — including several awardwinners — that have screened in film festivals around the world. YFS also creates films for local and international development organizations working in Myanmar, and trains their students to help local people in marginalized communities shoot their own films (Schlaefli 2016). A more detailed history of the Myanmar film and video industry and the impact of the transition are the focus of the chapter by Jane Ferguson in this volume. 01 ch1-MyanmarMediaIT-5P.indd 26 8/4/19 10:29 am