Venezuelan TV Station Skirts Ban, Airs on YouTube

Demonstrators protest Chavez, shutdown
By Colleen Barry,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 1, 2007 11:55 AM CDT

An anti-establishment TV station taken off the air by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has found a new way to reach viewers: YouTube. A reduced staff produces and uploads three hour-long newscasts a day for Radio Caracas Television, which stopped broadcasting Sunday. The shutdown of RCTV, which was replaced with a state-run station, sparked protests in the streets of Caracas.

Venezuela's oldest private station, RCTV has been in operation since 1953. On YouTube, it's the most subscribed-to channel of the week and has recorded nearly 165,000 views. An affiliate station in neighboring Colombia has agreed to one daily airing of RCTV's "El Observador," giving the newscast a potential 800,000 viewers. (More Venezuela stories.)

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