New Indigenous TV station turns on (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

New Indigenous TV station turns on

Posted Fri Jul 13, 2007 11:02am AEST
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/13/1977687.htm

Australia's first 24-hour Indigenous television service was switched on in
Sydney today.

Aboriginal leaders, actors, singers, and sports stars attended the launch by
the Federal Communications Minister Helen Coonan.

The Government-funded National Indigenous TV (NITV) will broadcast to more
than 200,000 people across Northern Australia, Queensland, and South
Australia on the Optus Aurora satellite and Imparja's second satellite
channel.

But remote Aboriginal communities say they are worried they could be
excluded from the new channel.

The general manager of Warlpiri media in Yuendumu Northern Territory, Rita
Catoni, says many cultural videos might not be picked up by NITV because
they are not up to industry standard.

"What's not going to be around is ... a platform for a whole lot of people
in remote communities to view their own grassroots content and to see
people in other remote communities," she said.

"It's going to be a very different type of content on television, which is a
shame really, because they're not mutually exclusive, they could have
coexisted."