When the average American thinks about Africa, the negative images of AIDS, poverty or Save the Children commercials come to mind.

For the last two years, one channel has been working to dispel the common misconceptions TV feeds Americans about this much maligned continent.

The Africa Channel was founded with a mission to dispel a lot of the myths about Africa. Its target audience is one that's unfamiliar with African culture and its not just a black audience.

But getting the station broadcast to the people in every city in America has apparently been the biggest challenge.

The Africa Channel has its corporate headquarters in North Hollywood, Calif., and has made it on the air in cities like Atlanta and New Orleans, but still has a lot of growth potential in the U.S. Cities from New York to St. Louis to Sacramento are still missing out until cable providers decide to pick the channel up.Not long ago, the channel launched in the U.K. and Ireland, but its reach in the U.S. is still relatively low, about 2 million households, through the Cox and Comcast Cable providers.

The international TV service has plans to expand its reach into the rest of Europe, including France and Belgium.

James Makawa, co-founder and CEO of the Africa Channel and a native of Zimbabwe, said not long after the station was founded the interpretation Americans are given of Africa on television is flat wrong.

"The whole idea is that it comes to you from an African perspective, which has been missing from so much news coverage and, yes, entertainment related to Africa," Makawa told Reuters.

With entertainment as it primary focus; taking nearly 80 percent of all programming, the channel wants to introduce viewers to shows from an African viewpoint. They have dramas and daytime soaps. There are also news segments and documentaries, which are reminiscent of the content produced by the National Geographic Channel or the Discovery Channel.

Given the fact that Africa has become an increasingly difficult topic for the news to ignore, the arrival of a channel completely dedicated toward Africa is a relevant and timely idea.

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