CRTC approves six foreign-language channels
Last Updated Sat, 26 Nov 2005 11:30:01 EST
CBC Arts
Canada is getting six new satellite foreign-language TV channels.
The CRTC has approved digital channels in Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Urdu and Portuguese.
Two of the channels, New Tang Dynasty Television out of New York and the Phoenix North America Chinese channel, will be in Chinese. Both are mainly in Mandarin but will also carry shows in other Chinese dialects.
Phoenix North America, which will be a service of a Hong Kong-based company, provides news and entertainment from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and other Asian Pacific countries, primarily for North American audiences.
The applicants had argued that Mandarin speakers in Canada are underserved. Competitors such as Fairchild TV had lobbied against more Chinese-language channels.
More than 600 people wanted the CRTC to approve two additional channels in Portuguese.
TV Globo Internacional will target the Brazilian community. RTPi is the international version of Radiotelevisao Portuguesa, Portugal's public broadcaster. They will compete against the existing service, Festival Portuguese Television.
Channel One Russia Worldwide, out of Moscow, will have 24-hour service carrying an international version of Russia's major TV network, Channel One.
PTV-Prime USA, a family-oriented channel in Urdu, will carry diverse programming from Pakistan.
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