DD Bangla is an Indian Bengali-language

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

state-owned television network owned by state-owned broadcaster

Doordarshan Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...

, established on 20 August 1992. It is the successor of Doordarshan Kendra Kolkata, established on 9 August 1975. It broadcasts from

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

Shantiniketan Shantiniketan (IPA: �antiniketɔn is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and ...

and

Jalpaiguri Jalpaiguri (), is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Jalpaiguri district as well as of the Jalpaiguri division of West Bengal, covering the jurisdiction of the five districts of North Bengal. The city is ...

, and is headquartered in Television Centre in

Golf Green Golf Green is a neighbourhood located in the southern part of Kolkata, in West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of Ind ...

, Kolkata.

History

established its first television station in East India in Calcutta on 9 August 1975, on channel 4 in the VHF band. The first known broadcast was of a female presenter greeting viewers with the statement, "Nomoshkar. Today, begins the journey of television in Kolkata." This was said in Bengali. By this year, besides Calcutta, television services were available in Delhi, Bombay, Amritsar, Lucknow, Madras, and Srinagar. It was originally supposed to go operational in 1973-74. Doordarshan Kendra Calcutta was the third Bengali-language television station to be established in the world, after the

Bangladesh Television Bangladesh Television (), commonly known by its acronym BTV (), is the state-owned television network of Bangladesh. The network was originally established as the East Pakistan branch of Pakistan Television Corporation, Pakistan Television in 1 ...

stations established in Dhaka and Natore in 1964 and 1974 respectively, as well as the first in India. The station initially broadcast from the Akashvani Bhavan in Calcutta. Its headquarters were later moved to the Radha Film Studio in

Tollygunge Tollygunge (; nicknamed 'Mini Mumbai' or 'Mini Bombay') is a locality of South Kolkata, in West Bengal, India. It is known for being the center of Indian Bengali-language cinema, with filming locations used for other regional Indian films. G ...

. It was later moved again to a new headquarter building called Television Centre, in the Golf Green neighbourhood on 1 July 1986. Colour broadcasts commenced on 6 June 1983. On 30 October 1987, Doordarshan Kendra Calcutta broadcast a documentary on Bengali poet

Sukumar Ray Sukumar Ray (; 30 October 1887 – 10 September 1923) was a Bengali writer and poet from British India. He is remembered mainly for his writings for children. He was the son of children's story writer Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury and the fat ...

, produced by his son

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligraphy, calligrapher, and composer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influ ...

, as well as the state government of West Bengal. The station also began broadcasting during morning hours on 4 September 1988. Doordarshan Kendra Calcutta or DD-7 was rebranded as DD Bangla on 20 August 1992. The Regional Language Satellite Service was also introduced on that day, enabling DD Bangla to be broadcast on cable and satellite television. Television stations were established in

on 8 September 1996, and

on 24 September 1998. After digitalizing its studios in 2001, Doordarshan Kendra Kolkata began broadcasting on digital terrestrial television in January 2003. Digital satellite uplinking was commenced in April 2004. Broadcasts in high-definition began on 15 April 2013.

Programming

The programming of DD Bangla consists of soap operas,

infotainment Infotainment (a portmanteau of ''information'' and ''entertainment''), also called soft news as a way to distinguish it from serious journalism or hard news, is a type of media, usually television or online, that provides a combination of inform ...

series, news and current affairs, social programs and films. It mainly broadcasts programming in Bengali, as well as in Hindi, Nepali, Santali, and Urdu. Programs broadcast by the channel include ''Bibaho Obhijan'', ''Camera Cholche'', ''Rongo Tamaasha'', ''Eto Sur Ar Eto Gaan'', ''Madhyamik classes'' among others.

References

External links

Doordarshan Official Internet site

Doordarshan news site

An article at PFC
{{Terrestrial television channels of India Bengali-language television channels in India Foreign television channels broadcasting in the United Kingdom Television stations in Kolkata Television channels and stations established in 1975 Direct broadcast satellite services Indian direct broadcast satellite services Doordarshan 1975 establishments in West Bengal

History

Programming

See also

References

External links