MUMBAI: Jeevan TV the fifth Malayalam news channel, will begin telecasting 20 hours a day from Thursday. 

The channel, promoted by the Catholic Church of Kerala, was formally launched on 14 July and is being run from a studio and uplinking centre located in Kerala's commercial capital, Kochi.

The fifth entrant in a market which already has regional Doordarshan apart from Asianet, Surya and Kairali, Jeevan claims it will offer programmes that entertain while stressing the importance of moral values. Although the target of the channel is the family, soap operas will be conspicous by their absence. News and education shows will dominate the channel's programming. The channel will serve as a forum for issue based discussions on topics otherwise considered taboo, say reports.

Jeevan TV managing director P C Cyriac has been quoted by the Economic Times as saying that the channel would not accept surrogate advertisements of liquor. The channel will be telecast through the APR-1 satellite and will have a footprint which covers India, South East Asia, Australia, Middle East and Central Europe.