AFRTS to expand service;

Air Force Radio and Television Service officials from the Defense Media Center, at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., are working to expand American Forces Network service with two new channels soon.
Officials visited Aviano this week to explain their approach in providing the upcoming 24-hour family and movie channels to complement the Atlantic, Pacific and Spectrum channels.
“We’re looking to expand our services because we know our audience wants more and more, and we don’t blame them,” said Mr. Lawrence Marotta, American Forces Network chief of television division. “American television is exploding, and we need to reflect that. We are in the planning stages of putting together a family channel and a movie channel.”
Mr. Marotta explained the family channel is aimed at an 18 and under audience featuring daytime programs for youth, after-school hour programs for teens and family-oriented movies during primetime hours.
The movie channel is focused at the over-18 audience with movies and entertainment and profiles of actors, directors and movies. The movie channel is based on a 24-hour schedule with a primetime double feature nightly and a weekly release of new movies every Saturday night.
“It will be a cross between an ‘HBO’ or ‘TNT,’ but the difference is, we’ll have all the movies in Hollywood available to us to acquire,” he said. “We have a lot of things up our sleeve, and we’re looking forward to it.”