MIAMI -- A South Florida Spanish-language TV station has begun broadcasting programs produced by TV Marti, the federally owned station that beams anti-Castro programming into Cuba, U.S.  officials said.

The first show, a half-hour news broadcast, came as Miami-based TV Marti faced a new round of criticism for spending $10 million annually to produce programs rarely seen by the network’s intended audience.

Radio and TV Marti have always had the option of using U.S.  frequencies in case the stations were jammed in Cuba, said Joseph O’Connell, a spokesman for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees the Cuban broadcasting stations.

TV Marti has long been jammed on the communist island nation, but Monday appeared to mark the first time the programming was broadcast on U.S. airwaves.

In recent years, the Marti podcasts have been available in the U.S. over the Internet.

The show aired Monday night on WPMF-TV, a local affiliate of the Hispanic Aztec Americas network.

“We provide news for our community, and these [programs] are important for the community,” said Enrique Landin, the station’s general manager.

Some Cubans might see the broadcasts via satellite.

Radio and TV Marti are among a number of federally funded TV and radio stations whose programming is aired outside the U.S., including Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia.