From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 1, March 2000.

A second television station for Tonga is expected to begin broadcasting on July 4 this year, once a conflict over channels allocation is resolved.

The new station will be a dream come true for the Tonga Broadcasting Commission whose applications for a licence were twice turned down by government.

Tavake Fusimalohi, the General Manager of Radio Tonga, said that the new Station would be an extension of Radio Tonga and, “85% of our daily programming will be locally produced.”

Initially they plan to telecast only four to five hours every evening. “There will be news in Tongan and in English, as well as documentaries, current affairs, sports, and international news.

“We will down-load satellite programs selectively, to offer the most suitable,” he said. “We are looking at a low-cost quality service, and an investment of half a million would be adequate to start with.”

The commission had hoped to launch their television station in October last year, to broadcast the Rugby World Cup, and to enter the new Millennium with a television station, but their application for a licence was deferred until late last year.

Tavake said that equipment would start arriving by early May, and they would start testing in June before launching their service in July. One problem was that the four channels 7, 8, 9, and 10 in the Upper VHF band had been bagged by Chris Racine, of OBN Television, and the possibility of sub-leasing Radio Tonga one of these channels remained a sticky issue.

“These bands are national assets, and the Tonga Telecom is having a headache over it with regards to what channels they will allocate to Radio Tonga,” said Tavake.

Paula Ma’u from the Prime Minister’s office, said that the technical details with regards to channels had yet to be finalised by the Tonga Telecom. Following the issuing of new television licences Chris Racine had been informed to choose two out of the four channels from the Upper VHF band for his proposed national television network and the other two channels would be given to licence holders. The Prime Minister’s Office is represented in the Tongan Television Licensing Authority.