Brasília, 6/23/2004 (Agência Brasil) - A new satellite television channel, the Sat B1, will permit Radiobrás' TV NBR to reach 80% of South America. NBR began operating the Sat B1 yesterday. The channel's range runs from the Amazon border regions of Brazil to the Southern Cone countries of Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile.

According to the TV NBR chief of operations, José de Arimatéia, Radiobrás has been requesting a transmission frequency on the Embratel satellite, B1, since the end of last year. All of the other big Brazilian public and private networks already have broadcast frequencies on the satellite.

NBR will be transmitting using an analog system, which is less advanced than digital systems, but has a greater range. In Brazil there are 14 million parabolic antennas capable of receiving analog transmissions, compared to only 1 million antennas with the digital format.

Radiobrás already transmits in digital format using the Sat B2 channel.

Translator: Allen Bennett