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UK’s first Pakistani news channel set for launch

Channel 44
Channel 44

The UK’s first Pakistani news channel is set for launch in September, BizAsiaLive.com can exclusively confirm.

The service known as Channel 44 will replace the Urdu speaking Muslim Ummah TV on Sky Digital. It has been christened Channel 44 after the international telephone code for calling back to the UK.

Channel 44 will focus on current affairs for the Asian demographic locally. It will also have news updates from Pakistan. It is owned by the same group as Channel 24 and City 42 (Lahore channel) in Pakistan. BizAsiaLive.com understands that it has invested a lot of moolah in London based studios, along with local reporters in London, Birmingham, Manchester and other areas, covering news for all UK Asian communities. All programmes will be shot in HD but broadcast in SD.

Channel 44 will be available from Thursday 15th September on Sky channel 854. It will be handled by Evolution, the same company, which looks after Hum TV in UK/Europe.

Channel 44 will rival broadcasters ARY News, Geo News, SAMAA TV and Dunya TV. However, Channel 44’s USP will be its focus on UK based content. Existing services show very minimum UK based content due to rolling news coverage from Pakistan.