Link TV


Link TV, original WorldLink TV, is a non-commercial American satellite television network providing what it describes as "diverse perspectives on world and national issues." It is carried nationally on DirecTV and Dish Network and is broadcast over the air in the Los Angeles area on the 28.2 subchannel of KCET. Link TV was launched as a daily, 24-hour non-commercial network on 15 December 1999. It receives no money from the satellite providers, but relies instead on contributions from viewers and foundations.
Link TV broadcasts a mix of documentaries, global and national news, music of diverse cultures, and programs promoting citizen action. The network also airs English language news from Al Jazeera English, Deutsche Welle, NHK and France 24, as well as various documentaries and world music videos. Select Link TV programs are streamed on the Internet, via the channel's website at linktv.org.
The network also produced , a program of translated news reports from the Middle East.

History

Direct satellite broadcasters were mandated to set aside 4% of its channel space for noncommercial educational and informational programming. ITVS, Internews Network and Internews Interactive joined in forming Link Media Inc. to program a channel, WorldLink TV, for this mandate. WorldLink TV was one of the nine channels select to meet the mandate for DirecTV.
In October 2012, Link TV announced that it was merging with KCET, an independent public television station in Los Angeles, to form a new nonprofit entity, to be called KCETLink. The entity was headquartered at KCET's Burbank facilities. In 2018, KECTLink merged with the KOCE-TV Foundation to form the Public Media Group of Southern California.

Production and projects

In 2010, Link TV announced the launch of ViewChange.org, an online video platform funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that aims to raise awareness of global development issues. It applies Semantic Web technology to video, in order to automatically create links to related content from other online sources.
In conjunction with the New York City Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, LinkTV broadcast a "Youth Producing Change" program which showcases the works of youth from all over the world. They also support efforts to fund groups such as imMEDIAte Justice Productions which help youth create their own film works.
Production facilities for Link TV are in San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Burbank, California.

Programs

Original