MUMBAI: A new 24-hour entertainment channel called "Simply Asian" was launched in UK on Tuesday.

The channel which claims to be the first free-to-air Asian channel, is available on Sky's digital platform and requires viewers to purchase a Sky box and dish costing approximately £70 to access the channel.

Apart from offering a variety of programmes in Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi and Tamil, the channel will show two movies a day, comedy, music, entertainment news, Bollywood blockbusters, established religious programming and the first tele-shopping service on an Asian channel in the UK.

A spokesman for the parent company, Simply Television, owned by British businessman Mike Blackwell, said the concept was similar to that of a free newspaper, which funds its operations through advertising and sales revenue, states a report on www.rediff.com.

Simply Television has also created a network of teleshopping and entertainment channels, including Simply Shopping, Simply Nature and Simply Nostalgia.