Mumbai, April 16 (PTI): The countdown has begun for launch of the world's first 24-hour dedicated maritime satellite television channel, to be beamed from three payloads, panning all continents.

Making it the first "single point of contact" for the international marine industry, the channel will facilitate global coordination on a single platform and include the entire gamut of marine activities.

MarineBiz TV, a free-to-air channel, is expected to take off officially on May seven in Dubai, at a glittering event to be attended by dignitaries from across the continents and members of the royal family of Dubai.

The launch will be marked by an awards ceremony honouring distinguished personnel from the maritime world.

"An initiative of Dubai-based Aries group, the channel will bring the world to your desktop....and also explore hitherto unknown areas of marine technology, ship building, global navigation, and deep sea activities", according to Aries group chairman Sohan Roy.

"MarinBiz will be available through Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia in phase one and will extend to rest of the world by August, accessible on DTH, and other world-wide networks. Telecasts will be in eight-languages with auto-lingual overlapping," Project Manager Shyam Kurup told PTI from Dubai.

"Hectic preparations are on for the launch, with trial runs already on our website. The teams are in place and almost two months of docu-data and programming have been archived".

"The channel will provide a support platform for developments in marine trade and the point of contact for information linking worldwide developments," Roy said.

"It will redefine the market place for maritime buyers where brand owners are provided with a selling space for their products.

"But overall, the network aims at educating, informing and entertaining marine enthusiasts and all interested...we wish to make the marine industry an exciting, entertaining, progressive and forward thinking arena to be in," the Aries group chairman said.

"With Dubai now taking on the lead role in maritime activity, it was considered appropriate to launch the channel here," Roy said.

According to him, world-over Dubai is being considered a waterfront city with upscale activities linking global networks.

"Aries Marine group, channel sponsors, is a consortium of firms incepted in 1998. It is also one of the largest ship design and consultancy firms in the Middle East," Roy said.

"The award ceremony will also honour alumni of Cochin University of Science and Technology" Kurup said.