Iqaluit, Nunavut (January 15, 2021) – Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC), television by Inuit, for Inuit, is proud to announce that our audience will finally be able to enjoy IBC’s wealth of content daily, helping to revitalize and strengthen our language and culture immediately.
IBC has been producing unique, award-winning Inuktitut language television since 1981, and now, in addition to our continued presence on APTN and the web, IBC will broadcast six hours daily on ‘Uvagut TV’ starting Monday, January 18th, 2021.
“I believe that Inuit deserve to see these programs,” says Manitok Thompson, CEO of IBC. “They have a right to hear Inuktitut in their homes and learn more about their ancestors. Television is a tool parents and caregivers can use to help pass on the legacy their relatives left to them. Seeing their grandparents and great grandparents on television will help our young people connect to their culture and language; it’s a gift our elders have given us that must be passed on to the younger generation.”
IBC is providing programming to Uvagut TV without charge, while absorbing the costs internally at this time.
Residents in Nunavut, NWT, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nunavik who subscribe to Shaw Direct Satellite or Artic Co-op will be able to view the channel with a basic subscription. A live-stream of the channel will also be available 24/7 at uvagut.tv beginning Monday, January 18th.
IBC programming can be viewed at the following times (EST):
6:30 am-8:30 am: Takuginai Children’s Show
1:30 pm-3:30 pm: IBC Prime – Archives, Takuginai
5:00 pm-6:00 pm: Takuginai Children’s Show
8:00 pm-9:00 pm: IBC Prime – Archives and other Programs
IBC Prime will include selections from IBC’s extensive archives that date back to the late 1970’s and early 1980’s chronicling the division of the territories, the creation of key national Inuit organizations, Inuit traditional knowledge before and after first contact and the creation of Nunavut. Children in Nunavut will be able to watch award winning Takuginai daily, just like their parents did, along with other programs including Inuit language musicians, hunting, community concerts, stories and legends, youth and cooking shows.
“IBC is willing to work with anyone to bring our priceless programming to the public. Elders
have been waiting for over 20 years for this to happen. IBC maintains a collection of 40 years
of historic films that include 9,000 hours of footage and 18,000 programs, some in dialects that
are being lost right now. We have collected and preserved this treasure, and it needs to
breathe out into Inuit homes and we are glad that some of the content will be seen on this
new station along with new and innovative programming IBC is planning now.”
IBC is working on new programs and methods of collecting feedback from inside and outside
of Inuit Nunagnat to find out what our audience really wants to see on television. We’re
planning innovative new shows that will utilize our technology savvy and creative high school
students coupled with knowledge and advice from our elders.
“IBC has been producing programs for forty years and we’re looking ahead to the next forty
and beyond. Our goal is to capture our language and culture as it unfolds and continue to share
it with our people and the rest of the world.”
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For more information contact:
Karen Prentice, Communications Director
Inuit Broadcasting Corporation
(226) 222 8742
karen@inuitbroadcasting.ca