Sunday, March 27, 2005
LTTE launches satellite channel
PK Balachandran
Colombo, March 27, 2005
The LTTE may now be having its own satellite channel.
The Tamilnet website said on Saturday, that the National Television of Thamil Eelam (NTT) satellite channel would be beaming programmes from "an undisclosed location in North East Sri Lanka," from Saturday onwards.
To begin with, for two weeks, the NTT would be telecasting only a 15 minute news bulletin, and that too only for Europe, Tamilnet quoted a NTT official as saying.
The first bulletin would be relayed for European audiences by the Paris-based Tamil Television Network (TTN) at 18.00 hours GMT.
The telecast time would be increased in course of time, and the channel would expand its reach to cover Asia also, the NTT official assured.
It is not clear if the NTT has got the necessary clearance from the Sri Lankan Government.
But whether authorised or unauthorised, it is expected to cause a political storm in south Sri Lanka.
Earlier in the last quarter of 2002, there was a huge controversy over the import of a powerful FM radio transmitting and studio equipment by the LTTE to boost the coverage of its clandestine Voice of Tigers radio.
The import had taken place, courtesy the Norwegian peace facilitators, and had the full approval of the then Sri Lankan government led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
But the opposition Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the South Sri Lankan Sinhala and English language media portrayed it as not only as a violation of Sri Lankan broadcasting laws but a threat to the country's security.
The United National Front (UNF) government, led by Wickremesinghe, had allowed the transmitter and other equipment in, as part of the normalization process following the signing of the ceasefire agreement in February 2002.
© HT Media Ltd. 2004.