Sky saves another channel

William Mace at the Dom Post reports:

Sky Television is to host a new public service channel on its airwaves after striking a deal with Stratos Television founder Jim Blackman.

The channel, Face TV, will beam local and international news and current affairs on Sky’s channel 89 from the beginning of February. …

Sky has given the channel spectrum to Blackman in order to make Face TV viable. He hoped regional broadcasters would see it as a complement to their operations.

He had not yet approached them to sign up to the channel, but his Auckland-based Triangle TV channel would be the basis for Face TV’s schedule.

Blackman said Face TV was different to Stratos and Triangle because it would have more of a public service focus, although the exact programming schedule was not yet decided.

“I believe it will have much more of a public service focus – we’re aiming to increase the amount of local news and current affairs we do, we want to involve the community and the regions more, and get a much more reflective view of broadcasting both in New Zealand and overseas,” he said.

I used to enjoy some of the Stratos content, so am looking forward to it.