The newest television channel ‘Siyatha TV’ which was launched recently has vowed to make a difference in the television culture in the country.
Marking the history of Sri Lankan television, ‘Siyatha TV’ was launched with its Tamil counterpart ‘Vettri TV’. And Siyatha TV with 70% of island wide coverage at present could also be viewed in India, Japan and New Zealand through satellite transmission.
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| Director Siyatha TV Nimal Ekanayake |
Saddamangala Suriyabandara, Manager Programme |
Started by a group of experienced, versatile and talented group of television personalities, ‘Siyatha TV’ team says that they would fill the much needed vacuum for a ‘different’ television channel to Lankan TV audience.
Award winning playwright and experienced TV personality, Nimal Ekanayake is the Director of Siyatha TV.
Starting as a playwright, Mr. Ekanayake’s stage play ‘Dande lu Gini’ about the tragedy of farmers in Wellassa who turned labourers of sugar won the most number of awards at the State Drama Festival in 1992. Joined Sri Lanka Rupvahini Corporation, Mr. Ekanayake was responsible for starting ‘Channel Eye’ and a number of popular programmes which are still continuing. This experienced TV artiste explained the vision and the mission of the new channel to the TV Times.
TVT: Do you think that there is a void for another TV channel in Sri Lanka?
Mr. Ekanayake: Of course yes. Before starting Siyatha TV we studied Sri Lankan television and realised that there was a much needed vacuum for a channel that could cater to the entire family. There will be a lot of differences between ours and other existing TV channels. Our aim is to do what other channels don’t do and avoid what the others do.
TVT: Do you consider TV to be a mode of entertainment or of education?
Mr. Ekanayake: In our country TV is mainly used as a mode of entertainment. But in other countries it is used as a mode of education and information. However I consider TV is far beyond all these and medium of power and responsibility. We want to use this power for the betterment of this country.
TVT: Do you admit today that television has contributed vastly to bring down social, cultural and moral values of present society?
Mr. Ekanayake: I do admit it. Yet we can not place the blame entirely on television. There is a massive decline in the aesthetic interest among the public. This is proved with the number of people going for theatre and cinema hall today.
TVT: Can you tell about the Tamil channel?
Ekanayake: At present Vettri TV is telecast combined with ‘Tamil Box Office’, a South Indian channel and gradually we want to add news and other locally made programmes to it.
TVT: A controversy has been created over the trend of ‘Mega teledrama’ which is supposed to be low in quality and depth? Do you hope to have mega teledramas in ‘Siyatha TV’?
Mr. Ekanayake: Length could not be a measurement on the quality of a work of art. Then ‘Ramayanaya’ or ‘Mahabaratha’ could not be shown on television. It is not the concept but the presentation that is the problem. We do not hesitate to telecast a mega teledrama with a standard. And we have introduced standards even to other teledramas and short plays.
Siyatha TV : A
variety for viewers
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| Getting ready for Siyatha news |
Speaking about Siyatha TV, talented TV producer who introduced popular programmes like ‘Always Break Down’ which was rated top, Saddamangala Suriyabandara, Manager Programme- Siyatha TV said that the main aim of the channel was to give a variety for the viewers.
‘We are presenting a number of novel programmes. We introduced ‘Siyatha Sarasaviya’ to discuss about universities and the issues of undergraduates of this country. The speciality of this programme is, it is produced and presented by university students themselves, to test talented.
The new channel also has a programme on new Sri Lankan inventors who are lesser known and it is titled ‘Nawakama’, interviews with politicians by the journalists ‘Prasna Paththaraya’ (Question Paper), ‘Colombo Journal’ important events that are taking place in town, ‘Keti’ (Short) introducing short filmmakers, ‘Hotel and Travel’ a programme on hotels and tourism, ‘Road Map’, a bicycle trip to important yet lesser known places presented by actor Mahendra Perera and media personality Nuwan Liyanage and many other interesting programmes.
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