Inuit film industry renews talks about starting Nunavut TV network

Some in Nunavut's film industry say a recent decline in Inuit-language programming on Canadian television has prompted new talks on starting a Nunavut-based broadcaster.

The idea of a regional TV network, informally dubbed "TV Nunavut," has come up before over the last couple of years, but delegates at the Nunavut Film Symposium in Iqaluit last week began serious discussions on how to make it happen.

Those talks were sparked by the Inuit Broadcasting Corp., which produces Inuktitut TV programs from Nunavut for national networks like the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) to broadcast.

"Inuktitut programming on APTN is suffering and declining every year," IBC president Okalik Eegeesiak said at a roundtable discussion Thursday.

"We support APTN, what they do. Now it's just time to take the next step of increasing and developing our Inuktitut programming once again."

Delegates at the symposium suggested tapping into cable television systems that are available in all Nunavut communities.

Filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk said his company, Isuma Productions of Igloolik, has broadcasted live events within the community through a local cable channel.

"It's a great feeling. People at home are watching as it happens," Kunuk said. "We have that system; if every community could have that, we have a network."

Delegates suggested having a feasibility study done into a regional broadcasting network — especially as Canada moves towards replacing analog television broadcasting with digital television by August 2011.