Iran launches Spanish-language Hispan TV

Text of report by Iranian official government news agency IRNA

Tehran, 22 August: A Brazilian newspaper has reported the inauguration and launching of Iran’s first Spanish-language news channel, which can be received in Europe and America, including Brazil.

The Brazilian newspaper, Folha de São Paolo, said in its report: The aim of Hispan TV is to bring Iran’s perspective to the region, especially to South America; a region in which President Ahmadinezhad has close ties with his Venezuelan and Brazilian counterparts, Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales (apart from the governments of Argentina and Colombia). [Sentence as received]

Hispan TV, the cost of which will be paid completely by the Iranian government, will be part of the Press TV group, which covers all the continents.

The television’s programmes will be broadcast with the aid of two free-to-air satellites and you will only require a satellite dish and a code-finder machine [Persian: dastgah-e kodyab] to receive it. The Spanish-language channel is a new example of Iran’s effort to create TV channels away from “the media giants”.

The Brazilian paper added in its report: Tehran also intends to set up an office for the government news agency, IRNA, here. According to the Iranian embassy, the project is in hand, but no date has been foreseen for the inauguration of the office.

Based on the report, Hispan TV will be based in Tehran, in a building next to the Press TV centre, which is being completed. This transmitter [as received] will have a branch in Madrid and intends to open an office in South America. Arismendi [not further identified] says that the members of this channel are “constantly in contact” with TeleSur and are ready to cooperate with other channels in the region.

Folha de São Paolo has said: The people in charge of the TV channel are promising very varied programmes, including Talk Show [previous expression in English, in the singular] and reviews of Iranian and Spanish books and films.

As far as the Iranian embassy in Brazil is concerned, the arrival of Hispan TV in the region will strengthen and expand the work that has been done by Press TV.

Ali Mohaqqeq, first secretary at the embassy in Brasilia, said in this connection: “A limited number of Western agencies have a monopoly on news about Iran and the Middle East in Latin America. This TV channel will help people have access to the news without distortion.”

(Source: Islamic Republic News Agency, Tehran, in Persian 0757 gmt 22 Aug 11 via BBC Monitoring)