The Buddhist is the first Buddhist television channel for Sri Lanka. The Buddhist channel studios are located at Sri Sambodhi Viharaya that is situated in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is available on the Sri Lankan Direct to Home satellite television service Dialog TV

Dialog TV

Dialog TV is a direct broadcast satellite pay television provider based in Sri Lanka. A fully owned subsidiary of Dialog Telekom, Dialog TV was launched in July 2005 under the name "CBNsat". It was later renamed Dialog TV in February 2007 after the company was acquired by Dialog Telekom.Dialog TV...

. The aim of the channel is to telecast valuable religious and cultural programming in the three main languages of Sri Lanka, English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Sinhalese and Tamil

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

. On 29 June 2007, the channel was officially launched by President

President of Sri Lanka

The President of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the elected head of state and the head of government. The President is a dominant political figure in Sri Lanka. The office was created in 1978 but has grown so powerful there have been calls to restrict or even eliminate its power...

 Mahinda Rajapaksa

Mahinda Rajapaksa

Percy Mahendra "Mahinda" Rajapaksa ; ; born November 18, 1945) is the 6th and current President of Sri Lanka and Commander in Chief of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. A lawyer by profession, Rajapaksa was first elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka in 1970, and served as prime minister from April 6,...

, Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva

Sarath N. Silva

Sarath Nanda Silva PC is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.He obtained his Primary and Secondary school education at Trinity College Kandy and continued to Sri Lanka Law College. Prior to civil service, his achievements included work obtaining a Master of Laws degree Magna...

 and head priest of the Asgiriya chapter in Sri Lanka.

Costs

Cost of channel establishment is 65 million Sri Lankan rupee

Sri Lankan rupee

The rupee is the currency of Sri Lanka, divided into 100 cents. It is issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and is generally written Rs. The rupee (Sinhala: රුපියල , Tamil: ரூபாய்) (sign: ₨; code: LKR) is the currency of Sri Lanka, divided into 100 cents. It is issued by the Central Bank of Sri...

 (approx. US$600,000). The equipment and the channel was donated by the former CEO Muhunthan Canagey of Dialog TV

Dialog TV

Dialog TV is a direct broadcast satellite pay television provider based in Sri Lanka. A fully owned subsidiary of Dialog Telekom, Dialog TV was launched in July 2005 under the name "CBNsat". It was later renamed Dialog TV in February 2007 after the company was acquired by Dialog Telekom.Dialog TV...

.