The newly found craze of Indian channels launching internationally in the Europe sector of digital TV platforms is growing monthly.

Today it has been confirmed by New Delhi Television (NDTV) that its English speaking news channel NDTV 24x7 will be launching on Sky Digital "by year-end".

Rahul Sood, VP-Network Development, NDTV 24x7, said, “We are close to finalising the contract for the US, UK and Canada markets, and the channel should be available in these markets by yearend.” The news channel has been available in the Middle East, parts of Europe and South Africa for more than a year now.

Sood stressed that his channel was taking a different route to tap these markets. The objective was to “target the global Indian and provide them content at par with international standards and in their lingo”. Sood pointed out that the channel had a competitive advantage being in English.

“The Hindi news channels targeted at mass markets in India will not sit well with the global Indian. As it is, the international Indians are so much exposed to BBC and CNN, that when Indian channels enter, it’s more of an urban-rural divide. Hence, NDTV 24x7 is the channel that is going to be targeted at them and not NDTV India,” argued Sood. He further said that the channel might also roll out NDTV Profit to the foreign soil at a later stage, keeping in mind the growing business interests of expats.

This follows last week's report of ZEE News making its debut by the end of the year in the UK. As it stands, Sky Digital only carries two Asian channels - STAR News and South Asia World. The number is set to increase further with India TV planning to launch next year.

Elaborating on how India TV was charting the road ahead, Rajat Sharma, Editor-in-Chief, India TV, said, “We have received a variety of ideas for alliances in important NRI/PIO markets of the world. We’ve been evaluating each of the options carefully. In fact, the idea of giving our diaspora a flavour of changing India is part of our editorial mission. Therefore, important announcements are in the works.”

Related article:ZEE News to launch in UK within six months
Related article:South Asia World launches on Sky Digital