India's national public service broadcaster Doordarshan is to launch two 24-hour channels in the UK, including a news service.
The free-to-air channels, which will mostly broadcast in Hindi with 20% of their content in English, will be launched by private group Rayat TV on the Sky platform on 16 April.
News channel DD News will feature breaking news as well as business and current affairs while general channel DD India will include programmes from Doordarshan's Indian network across a range of genres such as children's TV, sports and documentaries.
Doordarshan, India's only public service broadcaster, was launched in 1959.
It now has the world's largest terrestrial network with over 1,400 transmitters and broadcasts to over 1.4 billion viewers in India and 150 countries worldwide.
It says its UK launch is the starting point for further expansion in Europe.
The Rayat TV marketing manager, Inari Sharma, said: "Doordarshan will provide the most innovative and rich content and bring the essence of India to Great Britain.
"With the largest library of sub-continental programming in the world, we will be able to offer a unique blend of content that, until now, has not been available to viewers in the UK."
The night before the channels' launch, Rayat TV will also host a gala event at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London which will be televised in the UK and across the world on the Doordarshan network.
