Come 14 July a fifth Malayalam channel (this is excluding India Vision, which has begun test signals) is set to officially make its bow in Kerala.

Jeevan TV, a wholly owned unit of Jeevan Telecasting Corporation Ltd promoted by the Catholic Church of Kerala, will be transmitting in a fully digitised format. The channel is being run from a studio and uplinking centre located in Kerala's business capital Kochi. 

Reports quoting Jeevan TV managing director PC Cyriac say the channel will be a 24-hour one with emphasis on news and current affairs, information and education. Entertainment will be second priority.

For programming, the channel has readied two studios, one solely for news and the other of other programmes. Jeevan TV claims it has a bank of programming worth Rs 40 million ready with it ahead of the launch.

Funding for the channel, Rs 250 million in the first phase, has been raised from the public. The company has around 6,000 shareholders

A unique feature of the channel, according to business daily The Financial Express, is that it plans to have associations of its viewers called "Jeevan Clubs", where its shareholders too would actively participate. These will be in the form of grassroots level societies, which will provide feedback about the channel programmes.