Venezuelan Military’s TV Channel Launched

Mérida, 30th December 2013 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – A newly launched TV channel for Venezuela’s armed forces will feature news, documentaries, soap operas and even a military-themed cooking show.

At the launch of TVFANB on Saturday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stated the new free-to-air channel will “show the life of the military”.

“This television station will show how [Venezuela’s independence] liberators are alive in every soldier,” Maduro stated.

BsF 54 million has already been invested in the new channel by the government, but according to Maduro, TVFANB isn’t a stand-alone project.

“TVFANB is part of the new television revolution of Venezuela,” he stated, pointing to two other new state funded channels currently being planned. A youth focused channel, TVZoon is set to go on air in February, and a channel for Venezuela’s commune movement dubbed TVComunas is also in the works.

“We will continue to make investments that are needed to strengthen our television system,” Maduro stated.

TVFANB is also the latest channel to be launched on Venezuela’s Digital Terrestrial Television (DTTV) network. Venezuela’s DTTV was launched earlier this year with a mix of public and private channels, though private broadcaster Globovision was excluded.

DTTV currently covers over half of Venezuela, though the government plans to expand coverage to at least 90% of the population by 2014, and increase the number of channels available over the free-to-air network.

“With the investment we’re doing, the DTTV could reach 200 channels in three or four years,” Maduro said.

According to the president, TVFANB’s launch is part of an “impetus to reach that goal”.

During its first broadcast on Saturday, TVFANB opened with the Venezuelan national anthem, followed by an inaugural program featuring Maduro.

The new channel will broadcast programs such as military news and short documentaries, along with soap operas about life in Venezuela’s armed forces. Some of the programs already announced will focus on women in the military, Bolivarian military ideology and a cooking show called “Cocinando Con La Tropa” (Cooking With the Troops). The channel will also share content from other state broadcasters VTV and TeleSur.

Along with creating new channels, Maduro said on Saturday that the government aims to improve the general quality of Venezuelan television.

“We will build a new television culture for Venezuela…a television culture for life, for work, for productivity, for peace, for the good of mankind,” he stated.