Muslims in America may finally have their own television channel soon, if the dream of two men comes to fruition.

The Bridges Network Inc is in the process of launching Bridges TV, the first-ever nationwide English language, Muslim television channel in North America.

However, the launch date is still a year away, slated for summer 2004. Entrepreneurs Omar S Amanat and Muzzamil S Hassan are looking to sign up the required 10,000 paying members to demonstrate public support. So far, only a tenth of that number have signed up.

Hassan is the founder of Tradescape, which he sold to E-trade last year for $ 280 milllion.

"I realised that the only way to undo misconceptions [about Muslims] was to create our own media forum from which our stories would be beamed and our culture would be shared," says Amanat. "Other cultural groups have gained acceptance and increased understanding through a media forum, why can't Muslims do the same?"

Amanat says that despite his financial success on Wall Street, public perceptions of Muslims prevented him from being fully accepted.

In keeping with such networks as Telemundo, which caters to a Hispanic audience and BET, which caters to an African-American viewership, Amanat says Bridges TV would create programming that members of the American-Muslim community would be able to identify with.

"We would differentiate ourselves from such foreign language channels as Zee TV and ART TV (an Arabic
channel), which are broadcast in foreign languages and focus on life experiences in foreign countries," he says. "These channels are popular with immigrant parents but not with their US-born children."