Ministers approve licence for Alpha TV

ALPHA TV has finally been issued a temporary operating license following a decision by the Council of Ministers.

The pay-subscription channel had feared that pressure from private television channels – afraid of shrinking advertising revenues – would influence the government’s decision after last week’s cabinet meeting postponed discussion on the issue.

The license approval now means that Alpha can transmit in an open zone (which it plans to do on a daily basis between 7pm and 10pm) and also send out an encrypted signal.

Alpha hopes to start broadcasting after the February elections. Consumers will have the choice to subscribe as a package with Lumiere, or to take Alpha separately.

Subscription fees have yet to be finalised, but Lumiere subscribers will receive the new channel free of charge for the first month of operation.

Alpha TV is hoping to attract a large viewership with its mixture of big- name film premieres and live European football.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.