Germany's nascent gay television channel is drawing a large crowd and advertisers are following. Reaction to TIMM's November 1 launch has been overwhelmingly positive, reports Variety.

Created by the German production company Deutsche Fernsehweke and offered by satellite and cable, TIMM is attracting an audience and big name advertisers, BMW Mini, Ford and Nivea included.

With the theme “We love men,” the cable channel is aimed directly at gay men, but a press release said it also hopes to attract a gay-friendly audience including lesbians and “metrosexuals.”

The United States enjoys several gay and lesbian themed cable channels including Logo, here!, Olivia and gay-friendly Bravo; many of whom supply programming for the gay-themed channel. Gay faves like Bravo's Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D List and Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, join Logo's animated series Rick And Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple In All The World and the African-American gay drama series-turned-movie Noah's Arc on TIMM.

Showtime's groundbreaking drama about a group of lesbians living in Los Angeles, L Word, and America's original gay-themed drama (via the UK) about the life-long friendship of two gay men in gritty Pittsburgh, Queer As Folk, are also being broadcast.

The channel broadcasts a modest 6 hours of programming throughout the week, a bit more on the weekends, with rebroadcasts available on the web.

“Many anticipated obscene or hardcore content,” founder Frank Lukas told the magazine. “Others couldn't even imagine what the channel could look like. That quickly changed following our launch. Advertisers now understand our concept. We're abstaining from telephone hotlines, ringtone ads and silly quiz shows with scantily clad hosts.”

Lukas told the paper that he hopes programming on regional issues and cultural events of interest to gay men and lesbians – such as the annual Teddy prize for gay cinema handed out at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Verzaubert International Queer Film Festival – will give the channel its edge.

Officials have also promised to tackle Germany's leading gay rights issues such as the discrimination faced by Muslim gays and Germany's dark era of gay persecution under Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party.

An estimated 3.6 million gay men live in Germany, a progressive country where gay and lesbian unions have been recognized by the government under life partnerships since 2001.