Australia is one step closer to having its first Indigenous channel on free-to-air television, with NITV moving into SBS's Artarmon premises in Sydney.
Coinciding with NAIDOC Week, NITV will begin producing news, current affairs and other programming from SBS and broadcast across its existing platforms on Foxtel and satellite.
“NITV as part of SBS will vastly increase the opportunity for the telling of stories by Indigenous communities and make those stories available to the widest possible national audience,” said NITV Channel Manager Tanya Denning.
“The securing of a national free-to-air transmission for Indigenous television and all of the SBS resources will allow access to important cultural, educational, news and sports programming that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, and millions of other Australians are currently missing out on," she added.
It follows the Federal Government's Budget decision this year to provide SBS with $63 million to develop a new, national digital free-to-air channel dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content.
“The creation of this channel will mark a new stage for Indigenous broadcasting in Australia and SBS is honoured and delighted to be delivering the service,” said SBS Managing Director Michael Ebeid.
“SBS acknowledges and respects the importance of maintaining Indigenous editorial responsibility in the delivery of the new channel. We also acknowledge the pioneering role that NITV has played in forging the way for a national Indigenous broadcasting service.”
SBS will maintain the existing NITV service distributed by Foxtel and satellite. The new digital free-to-air Indigenous channel will launch in late 2012.
Watch SBS Managing Director discuss the funding boost on YouTube
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