The Sikh Channel is a
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
-based,
free-to-air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring ...
,
Sikhi
Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...
-focused satellite television channel. It broadcasts across
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
on
satellite television
Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...
, in Canada and is also streamed live on the
internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
. The Sikh Channel began to broadcast on 13 April 2009 on
Sky
The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space.
In the field of astronomy, ...
channel 840, replacing
Brit Hits
Brit Hits was a British television channel that was launched on 20 February 2006. It was broadcast via the Sky Digital satellite platform to the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as t ...
. The Sikh Channel primarily focuses on education and religious programming for the Sikh community. It operates from a studio in the
Aston
Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, England. Located immediately to the north-east of Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a ward within the metropolitan authority. It is approximately 1.5 miles from Birmingham City Centre.
History
Aston wa ...
area of
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
.
The Sikh Channel was set up by Davinder Singh Bal in April 2009 by TV Legal Limited. TV Legal formed The Sikh Channel Community Broadcasting Company Limited to accept donations, which are used to pay broadcast and programming costs. The Sikh Channel Community Broadcasting Company Limited became a registered
community interest company
A community interest company (CIC, colloquially pronounced "kick") is a type of company introduced by the United Kingdom government in 2005 under the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004, designed for social ente ...
on 25 September 2009 and a
registered charity
A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good).
The legal definition of a ch ...
on 2 June 2010. In December 2012, TV Legal Limited transferred the channel's television broadcast licence to the Sikh Channel Community Interest Company Limited.
On 18 April 2013, the channel launched in Canada as "ATN Sikh Channel" through an exclusive licensing agreement with the
Asian Television Network
Asian Television Network (ATN) is a publicly traded Canadian broadcasting company, with 54 television channels in 9 languages, serving the South Asian cultural communities in Canada. ATN operates a South Asian Radio service on XM, available in ...
See also
*
Brit Hits
Brit Hits was a British television channel that was launched on 20 February 2006. It was broadcast via the Sky Digital satellite platform to the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as t ...
*
Sikhism in England
English Sikhs number over 520,000 people and account for 0.92% of England's population in 2021, forming the country's fourth-largest religious group. In 2006 there were 352 gurdwaras in England. The largest Sikh populations in the U.K. are in the ...
*
Sikhism in United Kingdom
British Sikhs number over 520,000 people and account for 0.88% of England and Wales's population 2021 United Kingdom census, as of 2021, forming the United Kingdom's Religion in the United Kingdom, fourth-largest religious group. According to th ...
References
External links
Official website
Broadcasting in Birmingham, West Midlands
Religious television channels in the United Kingdom
Sikh mass media
Television channels and stations established in 2009
Sikhism in the United Kingdom
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