TV channel to promote ASEAN culture mooted

TV channel to promote ASEAN culture mooted

SINGAPORE (DPA): The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) may set up a satellite television channel to showcase the
region's cultures, reports in Singapore said Wednesday.

ASEAN representatives will discuss the idea at the ASEAN
Information Ministers meeting in Bangkok in July, a Singapore
official said.

The satellite channel would be part of an ASEAN drive to
"exploit broadcasting and information technologies to promote an
awareness of our cultures cost effectively", Singapore's deputy
secretary for information and the arts, Choo Whatt Bin, said in
an interview with the Straits Times newspaper.

"If the ministers are all keen and anxious to have the
satellite channel up, it can be done quite quickly," Chew said.

"The programs are all ready. You just need to rent a
transponder and take them from the national broadcasters" in each
country, Choo explained. He was speaking to reporters at the
start of a four-day meeting of the ASEAN Committee on Culture and
Information in Singapore.

ASEAN includes Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

About 10 satellite and cable broadcasting companies - such as
music channel MTV and the educational Discovery channel - have
set up their Asian headquarters in Singapore, for production and
transmission of their programs throughout the region.

Satellite dish antennae are strictly banned in Singapore
itself because authorities are concerned that unlimited access to
some satellite programming could have a detrimental effect on
society.