Reminiscent India Television (RITV) has started transmitting its Punjabi language entertainment television channel Lashkara in analog mode. Earlier the service was being telecast in digital mode alone and the management says this was acting as an impediment as cable TV operators in India were loathe to pay for digital receivers.

Lashkara has reportedly beaten back Punjabi language television channel PunjabiWorld and is slowly gaining in penetration all over India, more so in the northern parts of the country where Punjabi is the mother tongue. Punjabi World on the other hand went off the air last week, apparently because it had not made payments for its transponder on Thaicom 3.

Lashkara meanwhile is hopeful of attracting additional advertisers as its viewer ratings are going up and are likely to rise further with Punjabi World blanking out. Already advertisers such as Colgate and Khaitan have been placing their commercials on the channel.

RITV meanwhile is targeting to launch an Urdu language channel within the next couple of months to be followed by a Marathi and Bengali language channel. The company has been promoted by UK-based non-resident Indians, who have set aside Rs 2,000 million as investment for three television channels. Two have already been launched in Lashkara and Gurjari, a Gujarati language channel. The third service will be the Urdu channel.