Brit Asia TV, a new free-to-air television channel aimed at the British Asian audience, is hoping to launch this week.

Based in Birmingham, the channel promises to “broadcast and promote Asian culture amongst British Asians” in the UK and across Europe.

It will be available on the Sky Digital platform, but unofficial broadcast has already begun.

The channel will offer an eclectic mix of feature shows, talk shows, music and drama, as well as a healthy dose of the modern phenomenon that is reality TV. The station hopes to capture and capitalise on the lucrative young British Asian market, joining similar rivals such as Raj TV.

It could be argued that a channel that solely appeals to the young British Asian is long overdue. Whilst we’ve been inundated with B4U, Zee TV, Star Plus and the like, none of these channels have really hit the nail on the head in terms of serving the modern British Asian. Flicking through such channels, you will find an abundance of overly-dramatic serials about Indian households (which keep the mums happy), cooking programmes (mum again) and Koffee with Karan. The latter, to be fair, does have some interesting interviews, though listening to Bollywood stars chatting about how fabulously glamorous their world is can be rather disenchanting; somewhat like going to a private members club, only to be left outside looking through the window. Bearing in mind that these channels are based mainly in India, their remit and vision is different to that of UK programmes, which is perhaps why it has eluded a lot of young British Asians.

Director of Brit Asia TV, Jaz Bal, promises something different. “This is a unique and highly entertaining TV channel that will plug the gap for quality programming by British Asians for British Asians.”

“This unique television channel is determined to put its UK British Asian audience first by giving them the television content that they want to see with original and exclusive shows. All material on the channel is relevant and focused on Asian lives in Britain,” a channel spokesperson said.

Though this isn’t the first British Asian Channel to be broadcast from the UK. MATV serves the Punjabi and Gujarati audience in Leicester, whilst TV programmes such as Network East and more recently Desi DNA have attempted to tap into the British Asian mind.

The growth of channels within the UK targeting the British Asian audience reflects market research that the vast majority of British Asians and other ethnic minorities are not satisfied with the mainstream programming available on the BBC.

Shows already receiving massive public interest include ‘Desi’s have talent’ - the biggest Asian talent show that the UK has ever seen, ‘Star talk’ -A List celebrity interviews and ‘Shabnam goes nuts’, which will see former Big Brother housemate host a lively and entertaining reality TV show.

This free-to-view channel will be available on channel 836 to Sky viewers across the country.

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