Anti-Cuba Broadcast to Expand Across Hemisphere Via Satellite TV

Por Stephen Peacock,
Publicado en Thu Nov 10th, 2005 a las 06:08:26 PM EST

The anti-Cuba TV Marti produced by the U.S. government may soon expand its reach across Latin America. According to a recently obtained planning document, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) hopes to step up pressure on Cuban leader Fidel Castro by securing air time on DirecTV. 

It intends to accomplish this task by convincing TV programmers currently leasing time via DirectTV's Latin American channels to sell portions of their time slots to BBG's International Broadcasting Bureau. Those channels cannot otherwise be distributed to audiences in the U.S., the document emphasizes. 

The goal is to enable the bureau's Office of Cuba Broadcasting to deliver what it characterizes as "news and discussion programs" to a broader audience across the hemisphere. 

The BBG currently is conducting a market survey of programming distributors who can disseminate TV Marti "one or more hours per day during the following timeframe: Monday through Sunday; 7 AM thru 12 Midnight EDT Eastern Daylight Savings Time (EDST) for the period October 1, 2005 through September 30, 2006. (Hours can be offered during the same time period Monday through Friday, or Saturday and Sunday)."