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Filmmaker Edgy Lee launches Pacific Network.tv in the fall. CLICK FOR LARGE
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Lee to launch Pacific Network with a Hawaiian theme
In an effort to link Hawaiian communities around the world with island residents, Hawaii filmmaker Edgy Lee will launch Pacific Network.tv, a nine-channel Internet television portal with a native Hawaiian theme.
Her partnership with Time Warner Telecom of Hawaii, a national company with a presence in more than 75 locations -- including cities where many Hawaii expatriates live -- provides the technology for unifying people with common cultural values.
Lee and Time Warner Telecom of Hawaii will host a party tonight at the Honolulu Design Center to announce the alliance.
"Our business model is very unique," said Lee, who explained that they also will offer programming to KGMB9, which in turn will give Pacific Network access to its historical library to share on the Web in a pay-per-view format.
But most of the educational, science, sports, keiki and health-oriented content is free, allowing the network to "connect people with information they wouldn't necessarily get."
Viewers can access the seven channels, one store and one blog through www.pacificnetwork.tv, scheduled to be up and running this fall.
"Each channel goes deep," Lee explained. The health channel, for instance, has a section "for wahine only," as well as material about Hawaiian healing arts and substance abuse prevention and treatment.
"It's not Discovery or Travel Channel," said Lee, who has worked on this concept for nearly a year. "We're doing it for real. We're from here and we're not going anywhere. ... We have to be authentic; we have to be responsible."