The government is launching an international affairs channel aimed at the international audience as well as non-resident Indians, which will be funded by the ministry of information and broadcasting at an initial outlay of Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion).

The channel will be ready for launch in six to eight months and will be beamed into 146 countries across the world. A news bureau at key international locations-like New York, London, Moscow, Singapore- is also proposed to be set up to support the international affairs channel, an I&B official said.

The channel might be run by a newly floated organisation-on lines of Prasar Bharti-and will also solicit private participation.

Some programming is expected to be outsourced to TV production houses. The channel will offer news that has relevance to Indians, music, current affairs, tourism related programming amongst others.