Telesur

Televisora del Sur ("Television of the South", teleSUR) is a pan-Latin American television network based in Caracas, Venezuela. It began broadcasting on a limited schedule on July 24 2005 and began full-time broadcast on October 31 2005 (see live streaming online).

Proposed by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, teleSUR is meant as a counterweight to popular privately-run networks in South America like CNN and Univision. It is also intended as a spur toward Latin American integration. The network is funded with $10 million dollars provided by the countries that jointly own the network, these being Venezuela (51%), Argentina (20%), Cuba (19%), and Uruguay (10%), with the prospect of other countries joining later. These countries as well as Brazil (which is working on its own international TV channel, TV Brasil) will collaborate on content and technology.

Its advisory council is formed by many international and regional intellectuals, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, poet Ernesto Cardenal, writers Eduardo Galeano, Tariq Ali and Saul Landau, newspaper editor and historian Ignacio Ramonet, free software pioneer Richard Stallman, and actor Danny Glover. TeleSUR's current president is Andres Izarra, who briefly served as Minister of Communications in Venezuela's government. Izarra however is also a veteran journalist and has worked for both CNN and RCTV, a private Venezuelan network.

A week before the network began broadcasting, the United States House of Representatives voted on House bill number H.R.2601 to which an amendment A024 was introduced by Florida Republican Congressman Connie Mack to enable the U.S. administration to begin broadcasting its own television signals to Venezuela should the station broadcast what the Mack refers to as "anti-U.S propaganda". The exact text of the amendment is the following:


 * An amendment numbered 25 printed in part B of House Report 109-175 to authorize the Broadcasting Board of Governors to initiate radio and television broadcasts to Venezuela for at least 30 minutes a day of balanced, objective, and comprehensive news programming.

The station promises to be a Latin alternative to large media conglomerates like CNN, and has taken on the slogan "News from the South." It is being shown in 15 countries through 53 cable services, as well as five free stations. TeleSUR runs public service announcements and musical interludes instead of commercials. The news channel has 160 employees and correspondents in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Haiti, Mexico and the United States.