Telesur goes on the air under fire from U.S.

By Alejandro Kirk

MONTEVIDEO, 7/22 (IPS)– Sunday will be the first day of broadcasting for a new Latin Americawide TV network aimed at competing with U.S. and European international news stations.

Telesur, an initiative led by Venezuela, the majority shareholder, is also being financed by the governments of Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay, and will gradually become available on local cable TV channels around the region and on the DirecTV satellite system, said Venezuelan Information Minister Andrés Izarra.

But the minister warned that the U.S. government could attempt to jam the station’s broadcasts, which will initially cover four hours a day: “Our technological capacity is limited, and the United States is obviously superior in that aspect… We do not rule out the possibility of having to seek other routes, besides satellite, to air our programming.”

Even before the content of Telesur’s programming has become clear, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment Wednesday authorising Washington to create a station that would broadcast exclusively to Venezuela to “provide a consistently accurate, objective, and comprehensive source of news.”

Through its embassy in Washington, the Venezuelan government responded that all continent-wide cable and satellite stations already operate freely in Venezuela, where most of the local media outlets are not only privately owned, but are controlled by the opposition.

The sponsor of the amendment in the U.S. legislature, Republican Rep. Connie Mack of the state of Florida, described Telesur as a threat to the United States that would undermine the balance of power in the western hemisphere and spread Chávez’s “anti-American, anti-freedom rhetoric.”

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Telesur signal will reach throughout the Americas, western Europe and North Africa, through the New Skies Satellite 806.

Telesur begins transmissions in Bolivia

LA PAZ, Oct 31, Prensa Latina— The Latin American TV channel Telesur initiated broadcasts in Bolivia Monday, with the attendance of numerous popular leaders, diplomats and other personages.

The first images of the regular program of Telesur were simultaneously viewed by the enthusiastic audience on a giant screen and transmitted to La Paz and El Alto on local TV Channel 51.

Telesur deputy director Ovidio Cabrera, in charge of the La Paz transmission, said Telesur offers the Bolivian people a chance “to see ourselves with Latin American eyes” as an alternative to the dominating huge media corporations. Cabrera pointed out that the channel is now present in 14 Latin American countries and more than 30 TV stations broadcast its signal.

Freddy Morales, Telesur press correspondent in Bolivia, informed that Telesur’s signal can also be seen in the interior of Bolivia, and mentioned the Aymara community of Achacachi and the mining community of Llallagua, historically rebellious localities.

Telesur has contracted its services to La Paz University Television and Radio Television Popular, with private TV Supercanal and Cotel, both from La Paz, and others in the interior of Bolivia, and is negotiating with a State-owned national TV station.

After the ceremony, Bolivian Human Rights Assembly president Sacha Llorenti told Prensa Latina the beginning of transmissions was a decisive step for construction of a different and integrated America.