From the annual Tauranga Arts Festival, to live Jazz, Bay of Plenty residents will have the opportunity to find out about it through their own locally owned television station.

In November Bay of Plenty residents will no longer have to fight for their piece of regional fame when Matamata based Family TV Waikato.BOP will broadcast from the Mount Te Aroha antennae under a rebranded name ‘TV Central’.

FamilyTV has been broadcasting to a much smaller rural population based around Matamata, Morrinsville, Te Aroha, Tirau and Putaruru since January 2002. This expansion will take viewership from a potential 50,000 to close to 400,000 as it broadcasts in cities such as Bay of Plenty and Hamilton, Huntly and Waihi in the north, down to Te Kuiti and Te Puke in the south.

Family TV trustee and chief executive Daryl Anderson says the aim of the community-based television has always been to grow and develop into a greater area and serve a larger potential viewership base.

Now operating under the banner of Television Media Group, FamilyTV has been broadcasting since 2002, along with AlphaMedia Productions (programming, commercials and DVD corporate work), AlphaMedia Concepts (web development and hosting) and more recently live web streaming of iTV Live (Information Television) in Rotorua and UHF broadcast ‘FamilyTV Rotorua’. Now it is Bay of Plenty’s time to shine in the media spotlight.

Over the past five years FamilyTV has delivered quality programming suitable for family viewing at all times. The current TV schedule shows a variety of programming genre including international news and sport, motoring, drama, children’s shows, home and gardening, inspirational viewing, classic movies, business shows, music and much more. FamilyTV broadcasts seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Mr Anderson says the demand for family safe TV has been growing and he is excited to be able to deliver this product to a wider audience.

As FamilyTV is a charitable trust, Mr Anderson says he is grateful for all the support and grants from viewers, organisations and sponsors and is eager to see this support continue. “We continue to need and welcome support in this manner to enable us to continue to deliver family safe TV,” says Daryl.

TV Central will launch in November, with free to air coverage available on the UHF analogue, channel 40.

For further information, contact:

Daryl Anderson
CEO
Television Media Group

Phone: 07 888 5030
e-mail Daryl