Manuel Homem said that the decision came as a result of the TPA project of "creating thematic channels, after the State's recovery of the old private television founded with public funds".
The minister was speaking this Friday, in Luanda, at the end of a working meeting with the Minister of Youth and Sports, Ana Paula do Sacramento, in which cooperation between the two ministerial bodies was discussed.
On the occasion, the Minister of Youth and Sports expressed an interest in seeing "issues related to the sector she runs" portrayed in the TPA, namely community sports and those practiced by people with disabilities.
The Palanca TV channel will be officially launched "perhaps in the beginning of 2021", according to the chairman of the Board of Directors of TPA, Francisco Mendes, also coordinator of the management committee of Palanca TV.
"The content will be made by journalists and technicians who are currently on the staff of Palanca TV and TPA staff," said Francisco Mendes, speaking to journalists.
Palanca TV recently passed to the State sphere, within the scope of the Government's asset recovery program, together with Rádio Global, until then allegedly held by a former minister investigated by the Attorney General's Office.
The State also has TV Zimbo, Rádio Mais and a printing company, which belonged to the private group Media Nova, generals "Dino" and "Kopelipa" and former vice-president Manuel Vicente, "due to having constituted with the support and institutional strengthening of the State ".
However, on Tuesday, professional associations of journalists issued a public statement, to which Lusa had access, in which they appealed to the executive to "respect the editorial independence" of the aforementioned bodies "refraining from any direct and indirect interference" .
"The possibility of transforming TV Zimbo and Palanca TV into public channels specialized in news and sports attacks the plurality of information, subjecting Angolan citizens to a disguised state monopoly and would represent a serious setback for press freedom in the country", read in the declaration.
Reacting to the position of the journalists, Manuel Homem assured that the "plurality of information is safeguarded", noting that there are in Angola "private radio and television channels that work normally".
"And it is important to clarify that Palanca TV and other agencies recovered by the State were constituted with public funds and the State must have a strategy in its management", he underlined, when questioned by the journalists.
In relation to TV Zimbo, he added that "there is a management committee of the body to allow the identification of the problems that it has and the initial work that is being done shows that it is having many difficulties".
"Other thematic channels will be managed by TPA and at any time we will also launch", concluded the minister.
