[press release from TVS]
Last week TVS – Sydney’s increasingly popular community television channel – became the first Australian station to simultaneously stream live via the internet. Viewers can watch TVS online by going to the website www.tvs.tv.
And from this week TVS now has a YouTube site: http://www.youtube.com/user/TVSTelevisionSydney. Highlights of the channel’s most popular programs will progressively be added to the site.
Announcing these moves TVS Chief Executive, Laurie Patton, said the decision to transmit live via the web and post segments on YouTube reflected the station’s long term desire to be available across all distribution platforms.
“We are keen to be accessible to everyone and the internet offers another option for our ever increasing viewing audiences,” Mr. Patton said.
In just on three years TVS has established itself as a new voice for the people of Sydney. The channel has seen its audience grow consistently by more than 20 percent over the past year so clearly people like what they see.
However, as with all the capital city based community channels TVS is awaiting allocation of digital spectrum from the Federal Government.
“The previous Government did not allocate digital space for TVS at the same time as the other five free-to-airs got theirs,” Mr Patton added. “We are confident that this omission will soon be rectified but in the meantime we hope that some of our viewers will take advantage of the ability to view TVS online”.
Mr Patton stressed that the addition of an internet capability was not a substitute for digital free-to-air transmission for TVS.
“While the streaming of TVS on the web is a really positive move the fact is that you need to have a good broadband service for it to work so not everyone will be able to watch us online at the moment,” Mr Patton commented.
The launch of TVS’s online services coincides with a significant upgrading of the station’s website that includes an interactive program guide and information about its programs.
TVS is Sydney’s new free TV channel. For more information visit www.tvs.tv.