The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network has launched a new high-definition channel called APTNHD, which will carry 16.5 hours per week of distinctive HD programming – initially only available to Bell Canada HD subscribers.
The new channel’s schedule features many of the network’s most popular shows, including renegadepress.com, now in its fifth and final season. Youth programming on APTNHD will include the world premieres of MyTV and La Piqure, two new programs that explore the lives of today’s Aboriginal youth, and the Gemini-award winning Wapos Bay.
As well, all of APTN’s national news and current affairs programs, including the network’s daytime and primetime broadcasts, will be available on APTNHD.
‘This new station will help our viewers see the best of APTN with the best technology available today,’ says APTN CEO Jean LaRose. ‘Every day, APTN offers Canadians a window into the diverse worlds of Indigenous peoples in Canada and throughout the world through newscasts and documentaries, dramas, entertainment and children’s programs. With the new APTNHD channel, we’ll be providing viewers the same high-quality programming at the highest-quality broadcast standard that can be offered today.’
LaRose is hopeful that APTNHD will encourage the development of new and original Aboriginal-language HD programming. The new channel ‘will provide Aboriginal producers with an impetus to create more content in high definition,’ he says. ‘We look forward to increasing the amount of Aboriginal-language HD content on television to further strengthen our mandate of promoting, strengthening and enhance the languages, cultures and reality of Aboriginal peoples in Canada.’
