Australia has continued to boost its presence in the Pacific with the Australian Government today announcing the expansion of the PacificAus TV initiative to two new nations.
Residents of Cook Islands and Niue will be able to access more than 2,000 hours of Australian TV content each year as part of the initiative.
PacificAus TV, which is managed by Free TV Australia, currently receives $5.68 million per year under the Indo-Pacific Broadcasting Strategy to bolster the viability of Pacific regional media and expand access to Australian television programs.
Sports programming is an important element of the PacificAus TV initiative, with Australian news, current affairs, children's programs, drama, lifestyle and entertainment programs also available.
Cook Islands Television, Vaka TV, and the Broadcasting Corporation of Niue have joined the initiative, with each able to individually broadcast a wide range of Australian television content according to their programming strategies, interests and audience preferences.
They join 14 free-to-air broadcasters across Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu already accessing Australian content through the initiative.
The Indo-Pacific Broadcasting Strategy seeks to increase access to trusted and reliable news, deliver quality content and foster engagement across the region, including through measures like this.
The Strategy provides a framework to help foster a vibrant and independent media sector, counter misinformation, present modern multicultural Australia, and support deeper people-to-people engagement.
