Nunatsiaq News – A long-awaited all-Inuit-language cable and satellite television channel will launch at 12:01 a.m. this Monday, Jan. 18. Nunavut Independent Television and Isuma TV will operate the new channel, called Uvagut TV. In English, the word “uvagut” means “us” or “we.” The new channel, announced this morning, will broadcast 168 hours of Inuktut programming each week — 24 hours a day, seven days a week — from producers such as the Inuit Broadcasting Society, Isuma TV, Arnait Video, Artcirq, Kingulliit and Taqqut Productions, and the Inuvialuit Communications Society.

That will include five hours of children’s programming per day, including IBC’s well-known Takuginai show.
NITV, Isuma and the Inuit Broadcasting Corp. have been working with Shaw and Arctic Co-ops since last September to obtain an Inuit-specific television channel.Arctic Co-ops offers cable television in 19 Nunavut communities and two in the N.W.T., using Shaw’s satellite service. Shaw’s own direct-to-home satellite service is also available in the N.W.T. and Nunavut.