MUMBAI: Just two years after launch, Raghav Bahl has shut down his English infotainment channel, South Asia World (SAW).

"The channel has discontinued to broadcast. It was not commercially viable," a source in the company tells Indiantelevision.com. Bahl was not available for comment.

Aimed at South Asians, TV18 founder Bahl launched SAW in the US on the Echostar direct-to-home (DTH) platform in 2004. The channel was launched the following year in the UK on Sky Digital and was distributed by Zee Network.

Bahl had floated India World Network USA Inc, which owned and managed South Asia World. The holding company is SAW Holdings Ltd.

Earlier at the launch of the channel Bahl had said, "South Asia World is the realisation of a dream we've had for five years - to create a television forum for Indians the world over. The Indian American community is the fastest growing, representing some of the richest populations in the US. This channel is not only a celebration of the life success of these people, but will also act as a platform to highlight issues that impact their progress."

Bahl had set up a separate infrastructure for SAW: a fully equipped studio in the Empire State Building in New York, bureaux in Washington DC and the San Francisco Bay Area, reporters from coast-to-coast in the US, and in-live news studios in Mumbai and Delhi.