The Ethnic-American Broadcasting Company (EABC) plans to expand its production and distribution of multiethnic programming.

The media company serves over 10 million U.S. households where a language other than English or Spanish is spoken. ‘There are people who are poorly served when it comes to television in their own languages, and we want to improve that,’ says Murray Klippenstein, executive VP of corporate development at New Jersey-based, EABC. Findings from a recent survey from Analysis and Forecasting of Cambridge, Massachussetts, indicates that the foreign-born population of the United States is expected to grow to over 31 million by the year 2010.

EABC will be rolling out 10 foreign-language channels throughout the fall on the new DIRECTV satellite platform, with an option to carry a total of 20 channels. DIRECTV services over 3.7 million American subscribers with access to 185 channels.

EABC’s new additions include the Egyptian Satellite Channel in Arabic, WMNB-TV in Russian, ECOM in Chinese and Mandarin, as well as the Ukranian Broadcasting Network. EABC acquires the content and then repackages it to suit the community.

The EABC will also be using children’s programming for the channels, selected according to the age of the ethnic group, says Klippenstein. ‘Some cultures only began emigrating after World War II, and others only a decade ago,’ he says. ‘If a specific group is of the age to have young kids, for example, we will try and select as much programming to suit both adults and children [as possible].