Claude Mancuso, President of "Haitian Digital Television", has launched a new digital television channel, Haitian, in Creole and French, broadcast via satellite from Miami

The channel is currently in test mode and should be deployed in the coming weeks, said Mancuso, film producer and television veteran, who had led a Haitian TV station 24/24 (closed in 2006 due to cost too high).

This new channel will be free and viewers can pick up the signal with a simple TV antenna, costing less than $ 40.

"Haitian Digital Television" first target Haitians counties of Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach whose the Haitian population is estimated at around 300,000 people [last U.S. census] which represent 5% of residents of 3 counties.

"Haitian Digital Television" operates from an office in Miami, which has satellite dishes. The company leases the digital channel 8.3 from "GenTV" part of Colombia's Caracol media group, which costs only a fraction of what Mancuso paid for the rental of a cable channel.

To ensure the long-term existence of "Haitian Digital Television," Mancuso paid particular attention to the reduction of operating costs. New technologies are helping to keep costs down, the TV crews can now edit on laptops and can film around town with small hand-held cameras, all at far lower equipment costs than years back.

Mancuso also saves by broadcasting prerecorded movies, music videos and excerpts from news reports from Haiti. It plans to add progressively more original productions, filmed in South Florida. His projects also include a local soap opera and later, the broadcasting of material filmed and sent by the Haitian communities throughout the world. "We're creating a window of Haitian culture from here [Florida]. We can't do it from Haiti, because the country doesn't have the bandwidth [...]"

Mancuso and its partners are in discussions with businesses to broadcast this new Haitian channel, or at least some programs, in the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Haiti and other U.S. areas with large Haitian communities such as New York. They also have plans for an Internet TV channel.

HL/ HaitiLibre