ATN Calls for Equitable Access to Federal Broadcasting Support for Independent Multicultural Broadcasters

TORONTO, July 6, 2026 /CNW/ -  Asian Television Network International Limited (ATN), Canada's largest South Asian broadcaster and a leading multicultural media company, today reiterated its call for equitable access to any federal financial support being made available to Canada's broadcasting sector.

Prior to the recent announcement of the federal government's proposed $600 million support initiative for broadcasters, ATN had already written to the Right Honourable Prime Minister of Canada, outlining the significant challenges facing independent multicultural broadcasters and requesting meaningful financial assistance to help preserve local multicultural media services across Canada. ATN is hoping to get a positive response from the Prime Minister's Office.

For more than four decades, ATN has invested several million dollars in serving Canada's diverse South Asian communities by providing multilingual news & current affairs, entertainment, sports, and cultural programming while creating over 120 full time Canadian jobs and supporting multicultural storytelling.

"Independent multicultural broadcasters play a vital role in ensuring that Canada's diverse communities remain informed, connected, and represented," said Dr. Shan Chandrasekar, President and CEO of ATN. "As the broadcasting industry continues to face unprecedented economic and structural challenges, it is essential that any government support be distributed fairly and recognizes the unique contribution made by independent multicultural broadcasters--in addition to the large conventional media companies."

ATN believes that any public funding initiative should be inclusive, transparent, and accessible to broadcasters of all sizes that provide meaningful public service and Canadian programming.

The company looks forward to engaging with the Government of Canada and relevant stakeholders to ensure that multicultural broadcasters are fully considered as part of any support framework designed to strengthen Canada's broadcasting ecosystem.

About ATN-Asian Television Network International Limited 
ATN serves Canada's diverse cultural communities with over 50 specialty television channels. The Company offers its flagship ATN-HD general interest service along with 7 other general interest channels, 3 sports Channels, 7 news Channels, 5 Bollywood movie channels and a variety of channels that include music, lifestyle, and several regional language channels that includes Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Bengali, Urdu, Gujarati & Marathi. ATN has been a pioneer in the Production of Multicultural Television Programming in Canada. ATN has programming alliances with leading international broadcasters like Sony Entertainment Television, Disney/Reliance- JioStar, CNN News 18, Zee Network, Times Television, B4U, NDTV (Good Times), Republic TV, ABP News Network, Jaya TV, ARY, FOOD FOOD Network and many more.. ATN is also a pioneer broadcaster of Cricket in Canada and has exclusive broadcast rights for various International Cricket Boards. ATN was the first to bring the ICC World Cup of Cricket live across Canada in 1987 and since have exclusively broadcast a large number of Test Matches, One Day Internationals, limited over T-20 games including the Premier of IPL & various T-10 leagues. ATN's content is also available on Amazon Prime in USA & UK, ATN has its own State Of The Art Production and Digital Broadcast facilities which have also been used by various production companies associated with Netflix, Amazon, CBC and others. ATN Channels are distributed through TELUS, Rogers, BELL, Cogeco, MTS, Eastlink, FUBO & Canadian cable systems alliance.

^{We rely on safe harbour provision.}

SOURCE Asian Television Network International Limited

For more information, please visit www.asiantelevision.com or contact: Pramod Israni, Vice President - Marketing, Asian Television Network International Limited,  330 Cochrane Drive, Markham, Ontario L3R 8E4, Tel: [phone] / Email: [email protected]