Amidst the current controversies in France regarding gay marriages and talk of enhancing fiscal rights of gay couples comes the launch of the nation's first all-gay TV channel, Pink TV.

The channel will feature a mix of gay-orientated talk, movies, soaps and fashion among other things.

The channel's president stresses the fact that the aim is not to alienate heterosexual audiences, who will be catered for. Channel president Pascal Houzelot told Le Parisien: "Pink will not be a ghetto channel, but one to assert gay identity. We want to accompany a positive development in society but remain watchful of movements going the opposite way."

The subscription fee for the private channel will be 9 Euros a month: a good value for what it provides to the gay community, which is around seven per cent of the population according to Houzelot's estimate.

Gay rights groups welcome the channel for its potential power to show homosexuality as normal and socially acceptable, though the channel is not heralded as a saviour of gay rights.

"In our campaign to legalise gay weddings, for example, we seek to address as broad an audience as possible. Promoting this demand on the gay channel -- to ourselves basically -- doesn't really serve this interest," explained Alain Piriou of the Inter-LGBT group.