PROVO — BYU Broadcasting has launched a TV station that will provide audiences in the Americas, Spain and Portugal with multilingual television programming from Brigham Young University and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The programming service, BYU Television International, will broadcast in Spanish, Portuguese and English and will carry educational, religious, cultural and sports content.

Last Friday, when BYU Television International was launched, 90 cable operators in Central and South America had committed to carry the station.

The decision to launch the programming service was made in response to an increasing demand for translated content from the LDS Church and BYU, as well as the growth of the LDS Church in Central and South America.

A cable system near Lima, Peru contacted BYU Television in 2005 with interest in carrying the channel. Visits to Peru to see the response to the programming led to discussions about similar opportunities elsewhere.

The plan to launch the station was approved in late 2006 by BYU's Board of Trustees, and a donation by Rex and Ruth Maughan of Phoenix helped make the expansion possible.

The content of BYU Television International will be oriented toward an international audience.

BYU Television reaches 44 million homes throughout the United States via the DISH Network, DirecTV and 180 cable systems.

BYU Television International will be made available to cable and satellite providers in the United States and will soon be carried by Comcast in northern Utah. A listing of these providers as well as program listings is available at www.byutvint.org.