ZEE TV will soon become the first South Asian TV channel in the Americas to launch in HD. It plans to launch its new HD service by the end of the first quarter of 2012. Asia TV distributes ZEE TV in the United Statesacross DTH, telco, satellite, broadband and cable platforms and offers viewers more than 300,000 hours of original, entertaining content. The ZEE brand covers a range of niche channels, including ZEE TV, ZEE Cinema, Ten Cricket, Alpha ETC Punjabi, ZEE Business, Zing, ZEE Kanada, ZEE Marathi and ZEE Smile. The programming has proven to be extremely popular with Asian Americans, and at one time even beat out Lifetime, Oxygen, Style, BBC America, CNBC, CNN, HGTV, Univision, Travel Channel, WE tv and VH-1 to win in the primetime sweeps among all 18-34 adults in the New York DMA. "Once again the ZEE brand has taken on the role of a pioneer," said Suresh Bala Iyer, CEO of Asia TV USA Ltd. "It is a great honor for us to provide our loyal viewers their favorite programming in HD service, and also to become the first channel in the Americas to deliver high-quality South Asian entertainment in HD." IOC awards broadcast rights in Japan for 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games