APTN National News will air in a new 30-minute format, seven days a week during the course of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games (February 12th – 28th). APTN National News will air each morning prior to the start of the day’s Olympic event coverage (11:00 am ET on APTN East and APTN HD / 9:00 am MT on APTN West / 10:00 am CT on APTN North). The regular evening broadcast will not be airing during this time, but will return March 1st at 6:00 pm on all feeds.
Four crews, including 21 staff from across Canada will be in Vancouver to bring viewers the latest news stories about the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. APTN National News will not broadcast actual event coverage, but will focus on stories about the Olympic Games, including cultural stories, trade show coverage, guest interviews, and the economic impact of the Games on First Nations communities.
“It is very important for APTN to have a strong presence in Vancouver,” said Sky Bridges, APTN Director of Marketing. “We want to ensure that we utilize our resources to bring viewers all of the exciting and essential news surrounding the Olympic Games. People become very attached with their source of daily news and we are committed to our loyal viewers who rely on APTN for that content. The new time and format, which airs everyday before the start of the Olympic Games will be an effective way to make sure viewers won’t have to miss out on the news coverage that APTN is honoured to provide them.”
APTN is the first Aboriginal network worldwide to broadcast live coverage of the Olympic Games as an Official Broadcaster. From February 12 to 28, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network will provide live coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games in standard and high definition formats. APTN will air 10 hours of daily coverage throughout the Games, with two hours in prime time in various Aboriginal languages, and four hours each in French and English. As an Official Broadcaster, APTN will also air the Opening and Closing Ceremonies in Aboriginal languages, providing more access and coverage of the Games to multi-language communities and cultures across Canada than ever before.
APTN is one of 12 television networks within Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, which also consists of 19 official radio stations, a national print publication and two dedicated websites. Together, the Consortium suite of assets will provide Canadians with an unprecedented 4,800 hours of multilingual, multi-platform coverage of the Games.
