Dhammakaya Media Channel

Programming and availability

The main focus of the channel, as described by the temple, is moral education. DMC has programs for people of different ages. It broadcasts guided meditations, talks, preaching, songs, documentaries, dramas, live events and cartoons twenty-four hours a day. The most popular program is a broadcast of a teaching called Fan Nai Fan, which also includes a guided meditation. The channel can be watched or listened to for free through satellite television, Internet, cable and radio. In 2005, DMC had a hundred thousand viewers. As of 2016, the satellite channel could be received in all continents in the world, excepting South-America. The channel has programs in Thai, English, Chinese and Japanese language.

The channel is also broadcast in public places like temples, hotels and prisons. The channel has sought cooperation with other Buddhist countries as well: the temple assisted in establishing a television channel with Buddhist content in Sri Lanka, and discussion have taken place considering teaching Abhidhamma teachings from Burmese teachers through the channel.

Founding

The channel was founded to provide an alternative to the many distractions that surround people in modern life, which lure "people into doing immoral things", as stated by Phra Somsak Piyasilo, one of the monks in the organization. The channel originated from an initiative in 2001, when people living in the far provinces of Thailand wanted to listen in to the teachings of the temple. The temple therefore provided live teaching through a thousand public telephone lines, through which people could follow the activities. The telephone lines had many restrictions in use, and the temple started to broadcast through a television channel instead. Later, in 2005, the temple developed an online counterpart to the channel.

Teaching about Steve Jobs

In 2012, the temple broadcast a talk of Luang Por Dhammajayo about what happened to Steve Jobs after his death. The talk came as a response to a software engineer of Apple who had sent a letter with questions to the abbot. Luang Por Dhammajayo described how Steve Jobs looked like in heaven. He said that Jobs had been reborn as a deva living close to his former offices, as a result of the karma of having given knowledge to people. He was a deva with a creative, but angry temperament. The talk was much criticized, and the abbot was accused of pretending to have attained an advanced meditative state and of attempting to outshine other temples. The temple answered the critics, saying that the talk was meant to illustrate the law of karma, not to defame Jobs, nor to fake an advanced state.

Closing down

In 2016, the channel was ordered to close down for thirty days during the junta's legal investigations into the temple, citing that the channel was used to mobilize people to resist a possible arrest of the former abbot, as had happened during a previous attempt at arrest. The temple appealed to a higher court, denying the accusations and stating that insufficient evidence had been provided. The temple further described the closing down as an infringement of human rights. The channel's broadcast permit was permanently withdrawn the same month, on 26 December. Critics compared the closing down with the military crackdown during the 1992 Black May protest, news outlet Bangkok Post criticizing the junta's broadcasting commission for "operating outside the courts and justice system". DMC's radio station had not been withdrawn yet, pending an investigation of the police, and the online channel was also still available. Despite the channel being closed down, Thai Rath and other main media outlets have continued to broadcast the temple's ceremonies. The temple has stated that the number of people joining ceremonies has increased since the closing down, people showing sympathy with the temple and the satellite channel.