Because CNN sucks

Move over Al Jazeera, Telesur is here.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, tireless polemist and Bush nemesis, has a new pet project: a continent-wide television network slated for broadcast throughout South America in the coming weeks.

Telesur, or "Television of the South," aims to be a competitor of CNN, Univison and other global giants seen by southern neighbors as minions of American hegemony.

Described by its new director, Aram Aharonian, as South America's "first counter-hegemonic media project," Telesur reportedly has 20 employees but hopes to work its way up to at least 60. The Chavez government has coughed up $2.5 million for the project thus far and is permitting Telesur to operate as an affiliate of Venezuelan state television.

Telesur is painted in populist hues, befitting a World Social Forum keynoter. A kind of Al Jazeera of the South, the commercial-free, state-funded channel will beam news, documentaries and other programming with a uniquely Latin flavor. The network will be boosted by the presence of journalistic heavyweights -- among them, Jorge Enrique Botero, a well-known television producer known for his coverage of FARC rebels.