The New Television Station of the South ( La Nueva Televisora del Sur ),
named TELESUR, is a pan-Latin American television network based in
Caracas, Venezuela. It began broadcasting on a limited schedule on July
24, 2005, and began full-time broadcasts on October 31, 2005.

Proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo Ch?ez, TELESUR is intended to be
a counterweight to popular privately-run networks in South America like
CNN en Espa?l and Univisi?. It is also intended as a spur toward Latin
American integration. The network is funded by the countries that
jointly own the network: Venezuela (a 51 percent share), Argentina (20
percent), Cuba (19 percent), and Uruguay (10 percent), with the prospect
of other countries joining later. (On April 6, 2006 Bolivia"s President
Evo Morales agreed to buy a 5% stake in TELESUR.) These countries, as well as Brazil (which is working on its own international Portuguese station, TV Brasil) will collaborate on content and technology.

TELESUR"s advisory council is formed by many international and regional
intellectuals, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo P?ez Esquivel,
poet Ernesto Cardenal, writers Eduardo Galeano, Tariq Ali and Saul
Landau, editor-in-chief of Le Monde diplomatique and historian Ignacio
Ramonet, free software pioneer Richard Stallman, and actor Danny Glover.
TELESUR"s current president is Andr? Izarra, who briefly served as
Minister of Communication and Information (MCI) in Venezuela"s
government. Izarra is also a veteran journalist and has worked for NBC"s
defunct Canal de Noticias NBC based at the NBC Newschannel Headquaters
in Charlotte, North Carolina. He then moved on to CNN en Espanol and
Radio Caracas Television, a private Venezuelan network.

The station is an alternative to large media conglomerates like CNN, and
has taken on the slogan "News from the South." It can be seen in over 15
countries through at least 53 cable services, as well as five free
stations. TELESUR runs public service announcements and musical
interludes instead of commercials. The news channel has 160 employees
and correspondents in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Haiti,
Mexico, Uruguay and the United States.