"We are tying up with cable networks and a DTH provider in the UK. We will be launching there soon," said a source in the company.

Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that Pragya TV would be launched in India by November-end.

The channel will be seen in India from 7.30 am on 24 November. This was announced by Pragya TV content head Pragyan Bhattacharya at a press conference attended by film star Suresh Oberoi and educator and motivator Shiv Kheda.

The tie ups with Indian MSOs are complete and the channel will start its Indian operations with the special programme "Pragya Pravah" on a special ceremony at the Amba Devi temple in Gujarat.

The company has so far spent Rs 250 million only on infrastructure, said the company's legal consultant Geetanjali Sehgal.

Pragya is not disclosing the advertising tie-ups at the moment, but says that its positioning as a clean channel would make it attractive to many top brands who want to associate with lasting values and cultural sensitivity, Bhattacharya said.

One of the key aspects of the programming and a marketing tool is to rope in stars from various fields and make them the presenters of various programmes, especially some of the live programmes.

Shiv Kheda has already recorded at the studios of Pragya for his programme, "Shiv Kheda Show" and Oberoi too for his own series "Beyond Brackets."

Other stars are also doing several programmes. These include Dr K Newton on past life regression and future progression ("Spiritual Science"); tarot card expert Ambika Khanna ("Let's Talk Tarot"); acupressure programming with MP Khemka.

The channel is hoping that its niche Live programmes "Khadi Baat" (men's exclusive programme); "Just for Women"; Youth.com and others, which are hour-long interactive programming, would break grounds for it among those viewers wanting to see positive programming.

Addressing the press, Pragya channel MD Meena Tiwari said, "The idea is to promote those values we have forgotten and find ourselves back. What we need most is positivity, which is the single most important idea behind this channel."

Answering a question as to how the youth today - fed as they are on a massive diet of glamour and violence - will relate to a channel that talks of Shankaracharyas and Babas, Tiwari said that is a misconception about the channel.

"We are not bringing in Shankaracharyas and Babas, but promoting solutions that would come from the youths themselves, which is unique in the Indian TV universe."

She said that the way Pragya wants to differentiate in the cluttered TV universe in the country is not to preach but to interact and find what is positive in life.

"In the TV universe brimming with stories of deceit, violence and scheming bahus, I am convinced that if we show the real-life problems of senior citizens and how they re-organise their own lives, we shall have better viewers."

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Pragya to launch in November-end; banks on interactivity