MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media‘s family comedy channel Sab is the first free-to-air (FTA) South Asian television channel in the United States.

Sab is available on channel 23.4 on USA‘s largest designated market area (DMA) of the New York metro area and channel 44.4 on USA‘s fifth largest DMA of Dallas/Fortworth, TX, with a combined reach of over 10 million households.

With this move, Sab has become the first free-to-air South Asian channel with the largest reach in North America, the company said.

To access the channel, viewers in the coverage area will need a low-cost UHF antenna hooked to their television sets that are DTV-capable.

Sony Entertainment Network EVP and head of international business Neeraj Arora said, "Sab‘s foray into broadcast television in North America is a great step forward to reach out to viewers who do not have access to South Asian programming on satellite and cable television. We‘ll continue these efforts and hope that Sab will cross cultural boundaries too."

Set SVP International Business-Head of North America Jaideep Janakiram added, "At Sony Entertainment Television, we continue to lead in ways to make our programming available to the widest audience possible.This free-to-air Sab initiative is part of that goal. It‘s also a unique opportunity for local advertisers to efficiently reach the South Asian target audience in these markets."
 
Edison Broadcasting, operators of channel 23 WDVB LD (NYC) and channel 44 KLEG LS (Dallas), are the distribution partners of Sony Entertainment Network for the FTA distribution of Sab."

Edison is committed to being a multicast, multicultural TV station. With top-quality programming, an antenna is the best TV investment a family can make, unless its available through other platforms," added Edison Broadcasting MD Deepak Viswanath.