MUMBAI: Regional language channel Tara Bangla is set to make its entry into North America. The Ratikant Basu-promoted Broadcast Worldwide's Bengali language channel will be launched on the Echostar platform.

The launch, expected to happen in August-September, will take the channel to countries like the USA, Canada, Mexico and the West Indies.

Basu told Indiantelevision.com, "As far as North America is concerned, we decided to jump onto the DTH boat because of the good proposition we got. Initially, we will be relying on subscription revenues and once we reach a certain level, we will target local advertisers as well."Basu ruled out any possibility of getting onto Doordarshan's soon to be launched DTH platform DD Direct for the present, saying there was no such plan as yet.

He claimed that Tara Bangla is the only pan-Bangla channel that targets the international market.

"We have been strategising our programming keeping in mind both the West Bengal and the Bangladesh markets. With this expansion, we will be targeting the vast community of Bangla expats."

According to Basu, Tara Bangla is presently available in the Middle East, South East Asia and in the UK. The channel recorded a turnover of Rs 110 million (approx) in 2003-2004.