An up and coming religious channel is pledging for financial support to hurry its launch in the UK.The Sikh Channel, which wants to become the UK's first all religious Sikh TV service has opened up a Facebook message group, as well as a website requesting members of the public to contribute financially to make the launch happen.
A breakdown on its website indicates that it requires up to a £1m to launch the channel. This includes carriage on the Sky Digital platform, Ofcom licence, satelite uplink and operational costs. As per information on its website, the channel has raised over £50,000 to date.
According to information provided by the channel, the channel will aim to attract a broad range of viewers with a wide variety of spiritual programming, including Kirtan , Katha, Banis, to cultural such as cooking, yoga and discussion shows.
"There will be no non gurmat programming such as Bhangra or music videos. As this will be the first channel of its kind therefore the Sikh Channel will attract and provide an opportunity for sponsorship and advertisement for Sikh Gurdwaras and Sikhs Businesses," said a spokesman.
In order to give an insight into programming, below is what a typical daily schedule would look like.
03:00-04:00 Simran
04:00-05:00 Nitnem
05:00-07:00 Asa di Var
07:00-08:00 Katha (Hukamnama from Darbar Sahib) in Punjabi and English i.e. Western World and Indian
08:00-09:00 Gurbani Kirtan
09:00-10:00 Kundalini Yoga
10:00-11:00 Discussion Show 1 - Medical Advice
11:00-12:00 Cooking Show
12:00-13:30 Sukhmani Sahib
13:30-14:30 Shaadi Show
14:30-15:30 Santhiya
15:30-16:00 Kirtan
16:00-18:00 Kids, cartoons, teach Punjabi and kirtan
18:00-18:30 Rehraas
18:30-19:30 Katha in English
19:30-20:30 Discussion Show 2 - Youth
20:30-21:00 Sikhs in the 21st Century
21:00-22:00 Sikh History
22:00-03:00 Kirtan Playlist
Other dynamic programming would include, Sikh News, Gatka, Kabaddi, Whats happening at Your Gurdwara, UK Gurdwara Profiles, Sikh Stories, Sikh Personality Profiles, Sikh Quiz and Competitions etc etc.
Earlier, MATV was planning a similar service called 'Sukrit', which has been delayed. This year, viewers are likely to see three new channels - 1. MATV Punjabi 2. Punjabi TV 3. Virsa TV. Currently, ZEE Punjabi (formerly Alpha ETC Punjabi) remains the only Punjabi TV channel in the UK.
You can view the website of The Sikh Channel here
Related links:
Alpha ETC Punjabi rebranded to ZEE Punjabi
MATV planning Punjabi channel launch
PTC News in negotiations for UK launch
Channel Punjab to return as Virsa TV?