How north or south will new Eastern TV be?

Only time will tell if local entertainment fans have a friend in South Africa's newest Eastern-inspired television channel.

Glow TV is one of 17 channels that will form part of the offering of OpenView HD, a new free-to-air, high-definition satellite television platform. OpenView HD, which consumers will be able to access by paying a once-off fee for a set-top box, dish and installation, will be launched on October 15.

The price of the equipment and installation will vary across retailers.

Glow TV, a channel on the bouquet, debuts on October 21. The channel is owned by Kagiso Media and will be run by business development and special projects head, Yusuf Nabee.

Nabee said it would position itself as an "Indian-inspired channel but not exclusively Bollywood".

"We see our channel appealing to all South Africans," he said.

In its first phase, the channel will offer only international content, 80% of which will be sourced from the UK and 20% from India. Shows expected to be popular include the soapies Kya Huaa Tera Vaada and Bade Acche Lagte Hain; variety and game shows Koffee with Karan and Kaun Banega Crorepati; and the food show Sanjeev Kapoor's Kitchen.

It will air 17 different shows and two weekend movies weekly during its launch phase.

Nabee said the channel planned to add local content at a later stage. He said Glow TV wanted to "provide compelling, universal storylines and high production values ... which means we will look at all types of content - north, south, UK, US - as long as there is an Eastern influence. We are a commercially driven business and will schedule programming on air that attracts the support of advertisers and audiences."

Nolava International Film and Television Distribution, part of entertainment group Avalon, is one of Glow TV's shareholders.

Avalon CEO AB Moosa, who has an advisory role, said commercial viability would ultimately determine what kind of content the channel found feasible.

Tamil Action Group chairman Reuben Pillay said the cultural rights organisation was "anxiously waiting to see what sort of programming content they will give the Tamil-speaking people". The group lobbies against the apparent dominance of north-Indian television content at the expense of south-Indian content.

"Tamils constitute more than 42% of the Indian community in South Africa. We would like to watch Tamil content."