Kashmiris living in UK and Europe will be getting infotainment in their own language next month through Aapna Channel on Sky Digital.

Aapna Channel will be the UK’s first TV channel that will broadcast in Pahari and Mirpuri, with selected programmes also in Pothowari and Hindko.

Aapna Channel will be broadcasting from its studios in Bradford, Birmingham and Mirpur (Azad Kashmir). A diverse range of programming will be shown including live Pahari news. There will also be Pothwari, Urdu and Hindko debate shows, current affairs, entertainment programmes such as music based shows and dramas amongst others.

Aapna Channel has been broadcasting in Asia for almost a year and has received a generous response from viewers back home.

To create further buzz around the channel's launch, the broadcaster has recently started billboard advertising across the country.

Aapna channel is expected to start test transmissions from the Tuesday 10th April and its regular transmission from Monday 23rd April.

ZEE's Alpha ETC Punjabi uses a two-hour strand during the day to relay programmes from its ZEE Kashmiri channel in India. Venus TV has a daily 60-minute slot devoted to Mirpuri/Pahari programming. DM Digital has a slew of Mirpuri/Pothwari shows.

Updated: 09:18 on 28/03/07

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