The government of Venezuela is behind the launch of Telesur, intended as a counterweight to CNN.
An excerpt from the BBC story:
The new channel's director, Aram Aharonian, told the BBC it would be the first large-scale broadcasting project to challenge regional power structures.
He said Latin Americans wanted to see each other through their own eyes.
The network plans to show its first programmes in July, before going on air 24 hours a day in September.
The new channel, backed by left-wing governments in Argentina, Uruguay and Cuba, will show news, documentaries and Latin American films.
It hopes that Brazil will join the project at a later stage, though the country is working on its own network project.