Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's state-owned

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

television broadcaster A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...

. Established by the

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on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and constitutes one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. Doordarshan, one of India's largest broadcasting organisations in studio and

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infrastructure, delivers television,

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, online, and mobile services across metropolitan and regional India, and internationally. It also broadcasts via digital terrestrial transmitters.

History

Beginnings

The channel began modestly as an experimental broadcaster in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

on 15 September 1959, with a small transmitter and a makeshift studio. Regular daily transmission commenced in 1965 as part of

All India Radio All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's state-owned public broadcasting, public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broa ...

, with a five-minute news bulletin read by Pratima Puri. Salma Sultan joined Doordarshan in 1967 and became a news anchor. Gitanjali Aiyar, Neethi Ravindran, and Rini Simon became popular news anchors in the 1970s. '' Krishi Darshan'', which debuted on Doordarshan on 26 January 1967, is considered Indian television's longest-running programme. Television services were expanded to

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(now Mumbai) and

Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...

in 1972. By 1975, only seven Indian cities had access to television, with Doordarshan being the sole provider in the country. On 1 April 1976, television services were officially separated from radio. All India Radio and Doordarshan were placed under the management of separate Directors-General in New Delhi. In 1982, Doordarshan transitioned into a national broadcaster.

Nationwide transmission

National telecasts (

DD National DD National (formerly DD1) is an Indian state-owned entertainment television channel, founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It is the flagshi ...

) were introduced in 1982. Colour television in India was introduced with the live telecast of Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

's Independence Day speech on 15 August 1982, followed by the colour broadcast of the

1982 Asian Games The 9th Asian Games (), also known as Delhi 1982 (), were held from 19 November to 4 December 1982, in Delhi, India. 74 Asian and Asian Games records were broken at the event. This was also the first Asiad to be held under the aegis of the Olymp ...

held in Delhi. Two years later, Doordarshan evolved into a structured TV network. The sole TV channel was split into DD-1, a nationally broadcast channel, and DD-2, a city-focused channel. In 1993, they were rebranded as DD National and DD Metro to compete with the then-newly privatised television industry. The live telecasts of the opening and closing ceremonies of the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

were aired on Doordarshan's national channel, while DD Sports offered round-the-clock coverage of the event. On 17 November 2014, Doordarshan director-general Vijayalaxmi Chhabra introduced a pink-and-purple colour scheme with a new slogan: ''Desh Ka Apna Channel'' ("The country's own channel"). In 2017, Doordarshan operated a network of nearly 1,400 terrestrial transmitters and had 46 studios producing television programmes. After introducing private channels, Doordarshan has faced challenges in maintaining its position in the television industry. Currently, Doordarshan focuses on improving its studios and programmes, primarily aimed to serve the nation. DD National and DD News—along with 17 regional satellite channels, 11 state networks, an international channel ( DD India), a sports channel (DD Sports), cultural and informative channels like DD Bharati and DD Urdu, and an agricultural channel, DD Kisan. On DD National (formerly DD-1), regional and local programs are aired on a time-sharing basis for terrestrial broadcasting only. DD News, launched on 3 November 2003, replaced DD Metro (formerly DD-2), providing 24-hour news coverage. These channels are relayed through all terrestrial transmitters in India. The regional-language satellite channels consist of two components: a regional service for a specific state (relayed by all terrestrial transmitters in that state) and additional regional-language programs available through cable and DTH operators. DD Sports broadcasts national and international sporting events and is the only channel to air rural sports such as kho-kho and kabaddi. A new regional channel, DD Arunprabha, was initially scheduled to begin broadcasting on 15 February 2018, focusing on the North Eastern region of India as a 24/7 satellite television channel. However, its launch was delayed and eventually took place on 9 February 2019. On 9 March 2019, Prasar Bharati expanded Indian's satellite footprint through DD Free Dish by adding 11 more state DD channels. This included five channels for the North Eastern states: DD Bangla, DD Chhattisgarh, DD Goa, DD Haryana, DD Himachal Pradesh, DD Jharkhand, DD Manipur, DD Meghalaya, DD Mizoram, DD Nagaland, DD Tripura, and DD Uttarakhand. DD Bangla, launched on 9 August 1975, features a programming mix that includes 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, all in Bangla. On 13 April 2020, Prasar Bharati launched DD Retro, a channel dedicated to airing classic

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

serials from Doordarshan. However, the service ceased operations on 1 April 2023 due to low viewership.

Channel list

Doordarshan operates 41 channels, including HD feeds.

National channels (7)

Regional channels (28)

HD channels (6)

Former channels

International broadcasting

The DD India satellite channel has been broadcast in 146 countries. In the

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, it was available through the Eurobird satellite on the Sky system's channel 833, under the logo Rayat TV. However, transmission via Sky Digital ended in June 2008, followed by the termination of its broadcast via

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in the

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the following month.

Record viewership during the pandemic COVID-19

The '' Ramayan'' on DD National set a world record by becoming the highest-viewed entertainment programme globally. The 9:00 p.m. broadcast on 16 April 2020 was watched by 77 million viewers. The show reached over 285 million viewers during its broadcast. In response to the nationwide lockdown, DD network aired several nostalgic shows, including '' Mahabharat'', ''

Chanakya Chanakya (ISO 15919, ISO: ', चाणक्य, ), according to legendary narratives preserved in various traditions dating from the 4th to 11th century CE, was a Brahmin who assisted the first Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya, Chandragup ...

'', '' Shri Krishna'', '' Malgudi Days'', '' Byomkesh Bakshi'', and '' Shaktimaan''. Due to increasing public demand for such content, Prasar Bharati launched DD Retro, a full-time channel dedicated to classic programming. Within five weeks of its launch, DD Retro garnered viewership of nearly 50 million. Additionally, the DD network played a key role in public messaging during the pandemic, reaching over 400 million viewers through COVID-19 awareness messages and shows during the first wave of 2020.

Criticisms

Prasar Bharati is the parent body of Doordarshan, and the

appoints its board members through the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Doordarshan has been used, particularly during the

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

, to disseminate government propaganda. During Operation Blue Star in 1984, only government sources were relied upon for reporting the events. Additionally, Doordarshan was involved in the production of a video that claimed acts of violence, which, when investigated by independent journalists, were found to be false. In 2004, it censored a controversial documentary on Jayaprakash Narayan, an opposition leader during the Emergency. In 2014, Doordarshan broadcast a 70-minute

Vijayadashami Vijayadashami (), more commonly known as Dassahra in Hindi, and also known as Dashāhra or Dashain in Bhojpuri, Maithili and Nepali, is a major Hindu festival celebrated every year at the end of Durga Puja and Navaratri, Navarahtri. It is ob ...

speech by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Mohan Bhagwat, which led to criticism of the Narendra Modi administration and the BJP for "misusing" the public broadcaster. DD Director-General Archana Datta responded, "The speech was like any other news event; therefore, we covered it." Since private television channels were authorised in 1991, Doordarshan has experienced a steep decline in viewership. Although Doordarshan earns significant advertising revenue, due to its compulsory feed from the highest bidder for national events, including cricket matches, there has been a proposal to fund the network by imposing a licence fee for owning a television in India.

Legacy

A film named after the broadcaster, spiritually motivated by the 2003 German film '' Good Bye, Lenin!'', was released in February 2020.

References

External links

Durdarshan official site

Doordarshan news site

DD News
on

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DD News
on

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