PRIME Minister Stephen Harper last week inaugurated the new High Definition Digital Broadcast Centre and studios of ASIAN Television Network International Limited (ATN), Canada’s largest South Asian Broadcaster, in Markham.
Harper visited ATN on September 12 for the official opening and tour of the facility. He also did a television interview with Dr. Shan Chandrasekar, President and CEO of ATN. Harper viewed ATN’s huge programming library and archives, which is one of its kind in the world with a massive collection of ATN’s Canadian and international productions from the past 35 years. Harper watched a short video presentation of ATN’s history and its commitment to Canadian television and broadcast industry which includes Canadian productions and potential for export of Canadian content oversees.
During his interview with Chandrasekar, Harper spoke about Canada- India trade relations and his recent meetings with the world leaders at the NATO summit. He spoke about the historic Canada- European Trade Agreement. He also elaborated on the Economic Action Plan of Canada and identified the priorities of the government in the immediate future.
Harper said: “First of all, let me say, Shan, that I was delighted to tour your facility and cut the ribbon – you have a great operation and we are very impressed. This is a great Canadian success story and this is the model that the government wants to see. Here is a Canadian operation that is growing , that is successful, that has a global presence and you are providing consumers with services that they want and they get to choose and I think it is just fantastic. So congratulations to what you and your team have done.”
Chandrasekar said: “We are honoured and thankful to Prime Minister Harper for accepting our invitation to inaugurate our facility. We are delighted that the Prime Minister amidst his busy schedule was able to see some of our accomplishments and what we offer to a vast and growing South Asian community in Canada. The Prime Minister’s kind words of encouragement is highly motivating and reassuring as we continue our journey with optimism and pride, as an independent broadcaster of discretionary services in a regulated Canadian broadcast landscape. Needless to say that the Prime Minister has a vision and aspiration for a Canadian cultural industry which is inclusive of third languages and which enriches the lives of all Canadians and which contributes to economic growth , more jobs, more security and prosperity.”
ATN`s new HD Digital Broadcast Centre was built to enhance its Canadian production facilities and broadcast operations. It features a complete infrastructure and workflow solution to support the current lineup of 52 channels and help ATN efficiently add new channels for expansion. The television series ‘ATN’s Tribute to 100 Years of Indian Cinema’ featuring 100 celebrities in over 100 episodes produced at ATN’s new facility in Canada is one of its kind in the world.
ATN serves Canada’s diverse cultural communities with 52 specialty television channels. The company offers its flagship ATN-HD general interest service, 5 Bollywood movie channels and a variety of channels that include 3 sports channels, 4 news channels, 4 music channels, 3 lifestyle channels, 3 Chinese channels, 6 Punjabi channels, and several regional language channels. ATN operates a South Asian Radio Service on Satellite Radio across the United States and Canada. Some ATN content is also available on any Bell mobile phone that supports video. ATN has programming alliances with leading international broadcasters like Star Network (News Corp), Sony Entertainment Television, Viacom, Times Television Network, B4U Network, NDTV, Disney and many more. ATN channels are available on various cable, satellite and IPTV platforms across Canada like Shaw Cable, Bell TV, Rogers Cable, Bell Fibe TV, TELUS Optic TV, Cogeco Cable, V Media and Others.
