International Indigenous People's Television Stations
Full Members│Associate Members
WITBN members are classified as Founding Members, Full Members, and Associate Members. The Full Members of WITBN are Indigenous television broadcasters that identify with the purpose of WITBN, have a mandate to promote and revitalize the indigenous language(s) and culture(s) at a national level and are not commercial organizations focused on profit maximization. The current ten Full Members are:
National Indigenous Television (NITV), Australia
Australia Launched in July 2007, NITV is a 24-hour television service that acquires and commissions a range of programming which reflects the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and communities. It also supports locally produced content, and helps to further open up career paths for indigenous people in the industry. NITV aims to build its audience share by informing, entertaining and educating, preserving their languages, telling their stories and showcasing the cultures and creative talent from all over Australia.
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), Canada
The launch of APTN in 1999 represented a significant milestone for Aboriginal peoples across Canada: for the first time in broadcast history, First Nations, Inuit and Metis people had the opportunity to share their stories with the rest of the world on a national television network dedicated to Aboriginal programming. Through documentaries, news magazines, dramas, entertainment specials, children's series, cooking shows and educational programmes, APTN offers all Canadians a window into the remarkably diverse worlds of indigenous peoples in Canada and throughout the world.
TG4, Ireland
Irish language television channel TG4 has been on-air since late 1996 and is the most positive and high-profile Government policy for the Irish language for the past 50 years. The daily Irish language programme schedule is its core service: six hours of innovative quality programming in Irish supported by a wide range of material in other languages. The channel's programmes have achieved national recognition, prestigious prizes and awards at home and abroad, and sales overseas, and 800,000 viewers tune into the channel every day.
Māori Television, New Zealand
New Zealand's national indigenous television broadcaster, Māori Television launched in March 2008 with a mission to promote Māori language and culture. Its schedule comprises at least 80 percent of locally-made programmes – in both Māori and English – that cover a range of genre including news and current affairs, sports, children, youth, lifestyle and entertainment, documentaries and films. Māori Television's programming informs, educates and entertains a broad viewing audience and in so doing, enriches New Zealand's society, culture and heritage.
NRK Sápmi, Norway
NRK Sámi Radio is a Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) unit that produces radio, television and internet news and other programmes for the Sámi people. The aim is to activate an inherent wish among the Sámi people to live and act in Sámi ways, and to generate greater knowledge amongst the populations of Norway about matters Sámi and Sámi people, their culture and society. Sámi Radio, TV and internet services are vital for their informative output in the native language and for the preservation and development of Sámi.
BBC ALBA, Scotland
Scotland's Gaelic digital service, BBC ALBA, was in launched in September 2008 in a historic collaboration between MG ALBA and the BBC – the realisation of a long-held ambition of the Gaelic community. The tri-media Gaelic service consists of a dedicated digital TV channel broadcasting Gaelic programmes daily including news, Scottish sport, music, factual, children's and entertainment programmes. MG ALBA is responsible for ensuring that a diverse range of high quality programmes in Gaelic are made available to the people in Scotland.
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)
The aim of South Africa's national public service broadcaster is to inform, educate, entertain, support and develop culture and education and secure fair and equal treatment for the various groupings in the nation and the country, while offering world-class programming on television and radio. SABC's television network comprises four channels – three of them free-to-air and the fourth pay-TV. Combined, the free-to-air channels attract more than 17.5 million adult viewers daily, reaching 89 per cent of the total adult television-viewing population.
Public Television Service (PTS), Taiwan
With the passage of the Public Television Act by the Legislative Yuan, Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation (PTS Foundation) was established as a non-profit foundation to operate the Public Television Service (PTS), which started broadcast on July 1, 1998. The chief objective of PTS is to establish a public service mass media system and to balance out for the inadequacy of commercial television.
S4C, Wales
S4C broadcasts more than 80 hours of Welsh language programmes across a range of platforms, including television and broadband, each week. They include live national events, sport, music, news, drama, entertainment, children, culture, rural and lifestyle. Independent television companies produce the majority of S4C's programmes with the BBC and ITV Wales also supplying programming. In 2009, the Government will switch off the analogue signal in Wales and at that time, S4C will become a wholly Welsh-language service.
'Ōiwi TV, Hawai'i
debuted as the first and only Native Hawaiian television station in March 2009. Utilizing a forward-thinking technology platform that seamlessly streams its on-demand programming via digital cable, www.oiwi.tv, and soon to mobile devices, 'Ōiwi TV engages its audience on whatever medium they choose to watch. The founders of 'Ōiwi TV leveraged a technical partnership with Oceanic Time Warner Cable and content partnerships with key Hawaiian educational organizations to establish this digital cable and Internet television station with almost no capital investment. 'Ōiwi TV is an example that less-funded native communities, through partnerships and technological advances, can overcome traditional barriers to television and media market entry.
