The logo of the Gila River Indian Community

The Gila River Indian Community of Arizona is planning to launch a digital television station next month.

The Gila River Broadcasting Corporation is currently in testing phases and plans to air tribally and Native-produced content. The tribe is believed to be the first in Indian Country to own and operate a low-power digital TV station.

"There really isn’t anybody to provide that kind of community-based information that’s geared toward our culture," Gila River Telecommunications board member John Lewis told KJZZ. "And so this is really the only way we would get something like this."

Elsewhere in Indian Country, the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma operates an Internet-based TV station and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in California broadcasts FNX on a public access channel.

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Gila River Indian Community To Launch A Low-Power Television Station (KJZZ 1/15)