TORONTO – Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium Monday announced it will deliver the Games in a record 22 languages.
Consortium broadcast partners Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), Asian Television Network (ATN) and OMNI Television will air a combined total of 421 hours of multilingual coverage throughout the 17 days of the Games.
"In the truest spirit of the Olympic Games, the Consortium has made a significant commitment to delivering inclusive coverage of Vancouver 2010 that embraces the multicultural heritage of this country," said Keith Pelley, president of the consortium, in the press release. "Canadians of various cultures and backgrounds will have the unique opportunity to experience the magic of the Games in their own language and share in the breathtaking stories like never before.”
APTN, the first ever Aboriginal network worldwide to broadcast live coverage of the Games, will deliver 214 hours of coverage in a mix of English, French and eight Aboriginal languages. APTN will air an average of 13 hours of coverage per day on its standard definition channel and in high definition on APTN HD.
The Games will be televised in the following languages: Cree, Dene, English, French, Inuktitut, Mechif, Mi’Kmaq, Mohawk, Ojibway and Oji-Cree.
ATN, Canada’s largest South Asian broadcaster, will deliver 107 hours of live Games coverage in six languages across seven channels, for an average of six hours per day. The Games will be televised in the following languages: Bangla (on ATN Bangla), Gujarati (on ATN Gujarati), Hindi (on ATN), Punjabi (on ATN-Alpha Punjabi and ATN-MH1), Tamil (on ATN-Jaya TV) and Urdu (on ATN-ARY Digital).
Multilingual broadcaster OMNI Television will deliver 100 hours of Games coverage in a total of seven languages across five stations, for an average of six hours per day. Ninety-five hours will air in prime time. The Games will be televised in the following languages: Cantonese (on OMNI.2, OMNI Calgary, OMNI Edmonton, OMNI BC), Italian (on OMNI.1), Mandarin (on OMNI.2, OMNI Calgary, OMNI Edmonton, OMNI BC), Polish (on OMNI.1), Portuguese (on OMNI.1), Punjabi (on OMNI BC), and Ukrainian (on OMNI.1).
“APTN is delighted to join the Consortium as Official Broadcaster and to be the first Aboriginal network ever to broadcast live coverage of the Olympic Games,” said Jean LaRose, APTN CEO. “It is our special privilege to play such a large role in bringing the Games to viewers across Canada in their Native languages. Much planning and effort has gone into preparations to ensure the very best Aboriginal-language coverage of this world class event.”
“ATN is pleased to partner with Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium. We are very proud to give our community this wonderful opportunity to cheer on the Canadian Olympic team,” added Shan Chandrasekar, president and CEO, ATN, in the same release. “ATN and the Consortium will be making history by offering Olympic winter sports coverage in six South Asian languages.”
“OMNI is proud to honour the Olympic spirit of inclusion by making coverage of the Games available to linguistically diverse communities throughout Canada,” said Madeline Ziniak, national vice-president of the OMNI Television stations. “By delivering the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games to viewers in their language of comfort, we are showcasing Canada to Canadians – and celebrating our diversity to the world.”
