ABC’s Hiru TV to launch on 23 May

By Cassandra Mascarenhas

Sri Lanka’s first-ever digital ready and HD ready television station, Hiru FM, will be launched on 23 May at 6.02 a.m., Asia Broadcasting Corporation announced yesterday. It marks the organisation’s foray into Sri Lankan television under its flagship brand Hiru after enjoying much success in the radio industry.

Hiru TV will be the single largest investment ever made in the country to set up a television channel and will be equipped with next generation technology, including being digital ready and HD ready. Slated to be one of the largest television channels in Sri Lanka, it will launch with island-wide coverage from day one.

Planning on revolutionising the country’s television industry with this new entrant, the team behind Hiru TV has given great emphasis on coverage and has put a lot of effort towards clarity of transmission as well as quality of delivery. This will ensure quality standards as never seen before in the history of the Sri Lankan television industry and the technology used by Hiru TV is in fact on par with global giants such as Star World.

“Hiru TV will have unmatched reach and coverage. The quality and clarity of Hiru TV’s transmission is unmistakable and will give every Sri Lankan home the opportunity to enter a new era in television,” stated Asia Broadcasting Corporation Chairman Rayynor Silva.

According to Hiru TV’s team, the channel’s programming line-up has been compiled to mesmerise the country’s television viewers and will be a combination of a general television channel and a music television channel, delivering more colour, personality and attitude when compared to the other players in the market. Added emphasis has also been given to tele-dramas which are a firm favourite with Sri Lanka’s television viewers and Hiru TV will therefore feature a line-up of six tele-dramas within a two-hour time-period.

The television channel will also run a series of blockbuster movies and a myriad of other programmes including reality shows.

Silva added that the channel’s news segment will be launched as a separate product in order to give it added emphasis in July 2012.

ABC is currently home to Sri Lanka’s number one and most listened to Sinhala radio channel Hiru FM, the number one and most listened to Tamil radio channel Sooriyan FM, the number one and most listened to English radio channel Gold FM and the number one and most listened to English youth radio channel Sun FM.