GIS Reports Greater Success With Second Trial Run

Contact: John Emmanuel

Wednesday, June 13, 2001 - The Government Information Service (GIS) is reporting greater success the second time around, as it continues a series of trial broadcasts in preparation for full-fledged broadcasting on its assigned Cable Vision Channel 2. Principal Information Officer Roger Joseph says the initiative represents a significant but not impossible challenge for the GIS. 

“Providing regularly scheduled programming is a major challenge even if it is four-hours per-day that is recycled within a 24-hour period. The fact is, it comes on top of the regular duties that the GIS has to perform and we have our hands full,” said Joseph.

The strategy being adopted is to include a lot of regular day-to-day programmes produced by the GIS in the schedule for Cable Vision Channel 2. The GIS, he notes, is hoping to make use of material coming from other governmental agencies, together with other local producers and regional bodies. “We also intend to show some classic films and that’s going to take up some of the time. We expect that perhaps 25% of what is on the channel at any given day would have been specifically produced for the channel by the GIS,” Joseph said.

Questioned about the suggestion that GIS would be providing increased competition to local media establishments by commissioning full-fledged broadcasting, Mr. Joseph explained, “GIS and the new Cable Vision Channel 2 will be providing alternative and not competitive programming. We’re not going into the soap opera and sitcoms and those kinds of things. What we’re hoping to provide is material that you will not find on the other television channels. We intend to make sure that our people see themselves on television - St. Lucians will be the stars. A lot of our programming will be geared towards providing coverage of youth and sporting activities. We want to be able to go out there in the communities and videotape what is happening and put that back on Cable Vision Channel 2.”

A date to commence full-fledged broadcasting is yet to be announced.

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