Pond Island – Orion Production Studio, led by husband and wife team, Altagracia and Ricardo William, are the new director/operator of St. Maarten’s TV15 – with both now set on a mission to re-invent local television programming to tele-viewers on St. Maarten.
The couple will be holding an open house at the new Backstreet location of TV15, today (Friday) and tomorrow, Saturday, to show all the possibilities that are currently available on St. Maarten for local television production.
Friday’s open house is exclusively for government officials and business owners. The following day, on Saturday, is for the general public, who are invited to get an up close and personal insight into how local programs are produced and also how they can produce programs themselves. Visitors will be challenged or take up any of the many opportunities available to work in the TV/broadcast and production field.
Veteran TV broadcaster, Ricardo William, will hold down the position of Executive Producer of Orion Production Studio, bringing to the fore more than 16 years of broadcasting, local news production, switching and videography. Wife Altagracia, will be handling the management and administrative aspects of the operation.
The former owner and operators of AVS News have been working on a new format for TV15 ever since taking over the channel that provides local programming for the St. Maarten telecommunication company’s TelTV.
TV15 is part of TelTV +, which is the exclusive IPTV solution of TelEm Group, offering more than 150 regional and international viewing channels.
“We have set ourselves a goal to have 24/7 programming, 75% of which will be local content and 25% outside content” said Ricardo.
He says the main challenge will be to generate new and exciting local programming with a diverse and professional quality that can compete with the best channels out there. Productions that can also compete with the flexibility of production on platforms such as YouTube, FaceBook, TikTok etc.
“People want to see their own local news and they want to see their own local programs. In communities such as St. Maarten with so many diverse cultures and nationalities we are very, very excited about the types of programs and programming that can come our way once people know what can be done and how to do it,” said Ricardo.
Presently, Orion Production Studio has two students working along with the company, learning the ropes. With a setup that includes a broadcast studio and a production studio under one roof, it is Ricardo and Altagracia’s hope that other youngsters can be attracted into the industry and can be encouraged to produce and air their own homegrown programs.
Documentaries are something the company is keen to promote especially those with a historic and cultural focus. Orion Production Studio also intends to begin airing of a nightly news program of high quality, able to compete against even the major news networks outside of St. Maarten.
With panel discussions, live programming such as the weekly airing of the COM press conference and parliamentary meetings, Orion Production Studio believes it will be able to reinvent local tv viewership once again on St. Maarten.
“We cannot do it on our own. That is why we are appealing to the business community to come to our open house to inspect and view our setup and see how serious we are and how professional we are. Once they see the equipment at our disposal, we’re sure they will want to fully support our venture,” said the enterprising couple.
Ricardo and Altagracia also want the general public to recognize TV15 as their own channel and to let them know what they want to see on their local television screens.
“We are ready for tele-viewers to hold us fully responsible for the delivery of excellent, professional, home-grown television made in St. Maarten,” the couple state.
The TV15 open house will take place at No 172 Backstreet. Look for the sign that reads: ‘Welcome! Home of TV15’.
For further enquiries call Orion Production Studio at 1721 542-8005.
ENDS
xFor further information please contact:
Joe Dominique – Media Consultant
TelEm Group
Cell: 522-6903