American Desi to entertain NRIs

Here's something to cheer the US Indians ? there'll be more of the 'Desi' experience in the New Year.

Here's something to cheer the US's 1.8 million strong Indian community in the New Year: There will be more of India and more of the 'Desi' experience with the launch of two television channels — 'American Desi' and 'MTV Desi'.

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The 'American Desi' touts itself as the first 24-hour English-language TV network for South Asians. Officially launched in New York on Wednesday, the new network will be carried by the Echostar DISH network satellite from January.

MTV will follow with its own 'Desi' channel a little later. Its will be an out-and-out music and entertainment channel for Indian Americans, the first in a series to cater to ethnic audiences that will later include Chinese and Korean viewers. Lucknow-born Nusrat Durrani has been named to manage the ethnic channels.

"We live in an increasingly diverse and multi-cultural country where conversations at the dinner table and in the living room are more and more taking place in Chinese, Hindi, Urdu or Korean," remarked MTV networks chairman Judy McGrath.