NEW YORK: Senior officials of Dish Network said the satellite broadcaster was closely watching the burgeoning TV industry in India to identify new channels for its South Asian bouquet in America.On the sidelines of an internal marketing meeting in New York with South Asian programmers, Caitlin Quattromani, Director of International Programming at Dish Network, said the South Asian division at Dish Network had continuously grown to be the most comprehensive unit outside of its Hispanic television network.

Quattromani currently oversees 145 international channels, including 34 channels from South Asia.During an informal chat with the media, she contended Dish Network was faced with programming challenges given the overwhelming interest evinced by a number of TV channels from India to join Dish Network's South Asian bouquet.

While Dish Network has stringent criterion to determine suitability of channels, Quattromani said the satellite broadcaster was actively working on bringing more South Asian channels on the Dish platform.From a consumer's perspective, Dish Network, she said, was aggressively looking at creative use of technology allowing viewers access to its programming across the nation.Also present at the meeting was Tarun Pal, Associate Director of South Asian Services at the Denver-based Dish Network.

Pal emphasized the need for improving synergies between the media and marketing efforts at Dish Network through its association with Dreamakers, its marketing agency for South Asian services.Dish Network's Hindi-language "Mega Pack" is a bouquet of South Asian channels comprising Zee TV, Sony TV, TV Asia, Sahara One, Sahara Samay, Aaj Tak, Headlines Today, B4U Movies, ZEE Cinema, SET Max, B4U Music and the Dish Network radio service Asian FM.

The "Mega Pack" is available for a low monthly fee of $54.99.Dish Network is owned by EchoStar Communications Corporation, which serves more than 13 million satellite customers across America and is the fastest-growing pay-TV provider in the country.