TORONTO — On the first day of its new CRTC licence term, OMNI Television today announced it is delivering new daily 30-minute newscasts to allow Filipino and Arabic-speaking Canadian viewers to enjoy local, national and international news in their native languages, starting today.
To support the new newscasts, OMNI created 25 new editorial, digital and video-journalist positions, with OMNI News: Arabic Edition and OMNI News: Filipino Edition being produced in-house at OMNI’s studios in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Edmonton. Content such as this were part of the promises the Rogers-owned broadcaster made to earn its licence from the Commission.
“Our new team of Filipino and Arabic-speaking journalists are diverse and keen to produce stories that are reflective of their communities while bridging cultural and generational gaps as well as shedding light on underreported topics and issues,” said Manuel Fonseca, director of OMNI Television, in the news release. “OMNI has proudly served multilingual Canadians for 30 years in more than 40 languages, and today’s expansion of our national news service is an exciting milestone as we continue to deliver vital news and information that is relevant and meaningful.”
OMNI now produces and delivers national third-language news and information in six languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, Italian, Punjabi, and now also Arabic and Filipino. OMNI News: Arabic Edition airs at 5 p.m. local/6 p.m. CT. OMNI News: Filipino Edition airs at 11 p.m. local/12 midnight CT.
For more information about OMNI’s Arabic and Filipino news teams, plus broadcast details for all OMNI Television national newscasts, please click here.
