The channel, which was first announced in September, features programming designed to not only attract the country's lesbian and gay population, but also the trend-savvy straight audience.

A diverse schedule teams documentaries with camp cult shows, including "Wonder Woman," and comedians French and Saunders with late-night gay porn.

It is thought that the new channel is not only evidence of the "pink pound" explosion, but also a change of attitudes in the country.

Speaking at the launch, president and founder Pascal Houzelot said that the channel was arriving at "the right moment."

"There's an evident change in mentalities. … In France, we can clearly say that gays have gone from the era of tolerance to the era of legality, which simply means equality," he said.

The channel has received backing from three of the country's main TV channels, as well as the government's culture minister, who attended Monday night's party.

"I hope that PinkTV becomes a broad space of freedom and culture, allowing all of our fellow citizens live their freedom and respect one another," the BBC reports Culture and Communications Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres as saying at the party.

Those wishing to subscribe to the channel will pay 9 euros a month. Backers have already suggested that they would need 180,000 subscribers within two years and that they predict the majority of those will come from Paris or its suburbs.

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