Bollywood director Vijay Anand will soon launch a 24-hour television channel that will seek to fill the 'void' in the entertainment fare offered by other cable channels.

"I have watched the channels and think that the Indian viewers are not being offered the best," Anand, the brother of evergreen actor Dev Anand, told rediff.com.

Anand hopes to provide 'meaningful entertainment and not the mother-in-law versus daughter-in-law type of soaps.'

The new channel is owned by Lamhas Communications and it will be launched with the airing of a 365-episode saga on Indian women.

A consortium of three businessmen has formed Lamhas Communications, but Anand is not willing to divulge their names yet.

Anand will be the managing director of the channel.

The channel will have an annual budget of Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.50 billion).

The channel, the launch date for which is yet to be announced, will have serials, talk shows, game shows and musical programmes, including a substantial slot for classical Indian music.

"The idea is to give viewers an alternative to what is now available," Anand says.