AKEL widens its media scope

ASTRA TV station set to air in April

A NEW television station, ASTRA TV, is set to begin broadcasting by the end of April, one month before parliamentary elections. It is widely believed that the station will share ties with communist AKEL as it bears the same name as the AKEL-affiliated ASTRA radio.

AKEL spokesman Andros Kyprianou told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that he was not in a position to comment on whether or not the station would be ideologically positioned towards AKEL.

The Cyprus Broadcasting Authority first gave ASTRA TV an operating license two-and-a-half years ago on the condition that the station would commence programming within two years.
ASTRA TV failed to begin programming by the end of the two years and was then granted a six-month extension. Failing to meet the new deadline, the station asked for one more extension, which was granted until the end of April 2006.

One of the lawyers for ASTRA TV told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that the delays resulted because of the need to be “assured of the quality and viability of the television station.” The lawyer claimed that the station would be ready for national broadcast by the end of April.

A representative from the Broadcasting Authority told the Cyprus Mail that the latest extension had been granted because ASTRA TV had “supplied evidence that they will be ready by the end of April 2006” but warned that if they are not on air by then, the authorities will have to consider revoking the licence.

National TV stations pay a £30,000 annual broadcasting fee. Applications are only accepted within a specific time framework and licenses are only granted if there is an available frequency.

At present there are no frequencies available for new television stations.

Phileleftheros yesterday reported that ASTRA TV does not currently possess the necessary structural and technical capability to broadcast autonomously and so it will possibly be collaborating with another station or company.

But the Broadcasting Authority said that while ASTRA may work with another station in a technical sense – such as sharing the tower on which its antenna is situated with another station – the station must still be independent.

As with the newspaper Haravghi, ASTRA radio is widely recognised as having strong AKEL affiliations. Yesterday’s Phileleftheros called ASTRA TV the “Pancyprian television of the Left.”

But the ASTRA TV lawyers said that ASTRA TV is “not an AKEL station”.
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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.