The UK's first Indian shopping channel WWS Sky Shop (World Wide Shopping) is set to launch on Sky Digital on Monday (11th August).

The channel, which has been testing off the Sky EPG for the past few days, has confirmed to BizAsia.co.uk that WWS Sky Shop will be available on EPG 681 this week. It will compete directly with mainstream giants QVC and Ideal World as the channel will sit within the main 'Shopping' genre of the EPG.

WWS Sky Shop claims to be the market leader in the Indian teleshopping industry with a full range of unique and innovative products at affordable prices, the products includes a complete range of herbal and health care products including several kinds of fitness equipments.

Whilst the channel promotes it products on ZEE TV India, Sony Entertainment Television Asia India and STAR Plus India, it doesn’t have a 24-hour channel of its own. However this will now change with WWS Sky Shop experimenting a full time service in the UK for the first time. Initially some shows will be shown in pre-recorded format but it is expected a move towards live programming will be implemented later.

Apurva Meratia of WWS Sky Shop told BizAsia.co.uk how excited the team was to launch in the UK. "This is a very happy occasion for WWS and we're looking forward to competing with the other UK shopping channels. This is the first of a kind in the UK market -a teleshopping channel from India. We're hoping this will prove a grand success."

In the UK, there have been two attempts at Brit-Asian teleshopping, both of, which proved unsuccessful. Vectone Mall was the first to step foot into the teleshopping foray, followed by Apna Bazaar. The first closed within weeks of launching, whereas the latter had a longer run but eventually was removed from the Sky platform in April last year.

Full video and audio testing can be tuned in by following the steps below:

-> Using your Sky Digi remote, go to Services Menu
-> System Setup (4)
-> Add Channels (4)
-> Enter the frequency: 11.307 (V), FEC 2/3, Symbol Rate 27500
-> Find Channels and Press SELECT
-> Highlight "53340" service and press Yellow button.
-> Return to Services Menu
-> Other Channels (6) on STB / (8) on Sky+
-> "53340" should be listed and available

Related links:
Apna Bazaar removed from Sky EPG
First Asian shopping channel launches on Sky
EXCLUSIVE: Vectone to launch shopping channel