Fashion TV has launched a 24 hour standalone feed into greater Asia, reaching a population in excess of 1 billion.

The popular channel better known as FTV broadcasts fashion retail shows and trends around the clock, promoting retail brands ranging from Victoria’s Secret to high end exclusive designers.  It launched in Asia in 1999 as a ‘content block’ housed during down time on other channels.

Now the launch of a dedicated channel will reach viewers from Saudi Arabia in the Northwest to New Zealand in the Southeast – 24 hours per day, seven days a week.

London-based owner Fashion Television International chose Asiasat 7, one of the satellites operated by Hong-Kong based Asiasat Satellite Telecommunications to transmit the channel. A soft launch commenced last Wednesday at noon Hong Kong time.

“Fashion Television is excited about its launch as a dedicated channel in a region in which we know we already have many fans,” says Ralph Siebenaler who spearheads the international expansion of Fashion Television.

Siebenaler, who had a leading role in many high profile channel roll-outs across Europe, Russia and the Asia-Pacific for both free-to-air and pay TV channels, was tapped as the new CEO of Fashion Television’s international headquarters, where all activities in Europe and Asia are coordinated under a new management team.

“Asia has become the growth engine for the fashion industry, with most fashion brands booking record revenue quarters after record revenue quarters, while the rest of the world is lagging,” said Siebenaler.