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Shielded by the Himalayan Mountain Range, the “Buddhist Shangri-la” of Bhutan has kept its unique ethnic and cultural identity largely intact. People seldom lock their doors when they are out, as the crime rate has always been low. In 2005, the kingdom had a gross national product (GNP) of US$712 f or each member of its population. This is quite remarkable for a country in underdeveloped south Asia. But, as the Bhutanese see it, GDP is not the sole yardstick for measuring a country’s development. What really counts, they believe, is “gross national happiness”(GNH), a philosophy advanced by their monarch, King Jime Singye Wangchuck.

Despite efforts by the monarchy to preserve the country’s unique cultural identity, the arrival of television in the kingdom seems to have brought about big changes in the lives and habits of many people. For one thing, crime waves have been reported in Bhutan for the first time.

On June 2, 1999, King Jime Singye Wangchuck announced that he would lift the ban on TV. He cautioned his people against the hazards that could possibly accompany the arrival of TV.“Not everything you watch on TV is good,” he warned at a gathering of his subjects at Changlimithang State Stadium in Thimphu, the national capital.

In the evening of the same day, the Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS) TV aired its first programs, making Bhutan the last country in the world to have legalized TV services. Programing is broadcast on 46 TV channels, most of which are affiliated with Rupert Murdoch, the global medium tycoon. The government has taken great pains to fend off the influences of TV that might adversely affect the kingdom’s traditional way of life. As a vital part of the effort, the BBS was set up to specialize in airing domestic educational and cultural programs before foreign programs were allowed in.