DD National

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DD National
Dd national.jpg
DD National's logo
Launched September 15, 1959 (in India)
May 17, 1971 (in Middle East)
Owned by Doordarshan
Picture format 16:9 576i (SDTV)
16:9 1080i (HDTV)
Country  India
Language Hindi and English
Broadcast area India
Headquarters New Delhi, Delhi, India
Sister channel(s) DD India
DD News
DD Sports
DD Bharati
DD Metro
Website ddindia.gov.in
Availability
Terrestrial
Analogue VHF band
Satellite
Dish TV Channel 115
Tata Sky Channel 101
Big TV Channel 205
Airtel Digital TV Channel 114
Sun Direct DTH Channel 310
DD Direct Plus Channel 1
Videocon d2h Channel 135
Cignal Digital TV Channel TBA
Cable
SkyCable Philippines Coming Soon
Cablelink Philippines Channel 71
Global Destiny Cable Philippines Channel 91

DD National (DD1) is a state-owned general interest terrestrial television channel in India. It is the flagship channel of Doordarshan, the Indian public service broadcasting corporation, and the most widely available terrestrial television channel in India.[1]

Unlike the BBC, DD National doesn't have editorial independence and is controlled by the state and the ruling political party.[2]

DD National available in terrestrial mode from 5.30 am till midnight. In the satellite mode, DD National is available round the clock. Major events like Republic Day Parade, Independence Day Celebrations, National Award Presentation ceremonies, President and Prime Minister’s addresses to the Nation, President’s address to the joint session of Parliament, important Parliamentary debates, Railway and General Budget presentations, Question Hour in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Election results and analysis, swearing-in ceremonies, President and Prime Minister’s visits abroad and visits of important foreign dignitaries to India are covered live on DD National. Important sports events like Olympics, Asian Games, Cricket Tests and One Day Internationals involving India and other important sporting encounters are also telecast live. [3]

The education component is drawn from the contributions from varied sources such as Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), University Grants Commission (UGC), Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET) and State Institutes of Education Technology (SIET).[3]

Contents

History [edit]

The channel began broadcast on an experimental basis on September 15, 1959 from a makeshift studio at Akashvani Bhavan in New Delhi as part of All India Radio. It started with 20 television receivers in and around Delhi and transmitted one hour educational and developmental programs twice a week. Regular daily transmission started in 1965. In 1976, the Indian government constituted "Doordarshan", the public television broadcaster, as a separate department under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

In 1982, all of Doordarshan's regional stations were networked using INSAT 1A and a national feed called National Programme was introduced. Later that year, Delhi played host to Asian Games which were covered by the channel. To increase the channel's reach, the government launched a program to set up low and high power transmitters that would pick-up the satellite distributed signals and re-transmit them to surrounding areas. By 1983, television signals were available to 28% of the Indian population. Fueled by the success of the channel's commercialization and increased revenue from advertising, the channel's reach and popularity continued to grow and in 1990, the channel reached more than 90% of the Indian population.[4]

Programming [edit]

For the first few years after its inception, the channel only aired educational and informative programs with news being one of the biggest draws. Once the national feed started in 1982, the channel started airing regional and local shows on time-sharing basis. For most Indian states, this meant one national and one local news telecast. The channel soon started airing entertainment shows and the popularity of some of the earliest series such as Hum Log, film-based shows such as Chitrahaar and Hindi movies resulted in a gradual increase in entertainment and commercial programming. Rangoli is the oldest programme on DD National, dedicated to Classic Hindi songs.

Until the mid-80s, channel transmission was limited to evenings only. On February 11, 1987, the channel introduced morning transmission with a two hour telecast. This included ten minute news bulletins in Hindi and English apart from other short shows. On January 1, 1989, afternoon transmission, aimed at housewives and children, was launched.[5]

The channel's educational programming includes distance learning shows for UGC and IGNOU as well as learning shows for kids sponsored by NCERT.

Since late-90s, the channel broadcasts from 4:30 am IST till 2:00 am terrestrially while the satellite feed is available 24 hours a day.

Shows [edit]

For further information: List of programs broadcast by DD National

  • VANDE MATARAM
  • IGNOU
  • KRISHI DARSHAN
  • SANSKRIT SAMACHAR
  • SAMACHAR (30-minute early-evening national news in Hindi)
  • NEWS (30-minute late-evening national news in English)
  • NEWS FOR HEARING IMPAIRED
  • RAMAYAN
  • NEWS DIGEST (five-minute hourly news update in English and Hindi)
  • SUPRABHAT
  • BASED A NOVEL BY RABINDRANATH TAGORE -GORA
  • NATIONAL PROGRAMME OF MUSIC
  • NATIONAL PROGRAMME OF DANCE
  • EK KIRAN ROSHNI KI
  • BYOMKESH BAKSHI
  • TEHREER MUNSHI PREM CHAND KI
  • SCIENCE MAGAZINE (DW TV) -MANTHAN
  • GALI GALI SIM SIM
  • FRIDAY HOUSEFUL AND SATURDAY JUBILEE
  • CHITRAHAAR
  • BIOSCOPE: SERIALIZED FEATURE FILM
  • GYAN DARSHAN

Prasar Bharati Board [edit]

Chairman Mrinal Pande

Chief Executive Officer Jawahar Sircar

Member (Personnel) V.A.M. Hussain

Member (Financel) A.K. jain

Part-time Members

Dr.Sunil Kapoor Suman Dubey Vikram Kaushik Prof. S.K. Barua Representative of Ministry of Information & Broadcasting

Rajiv Takru, Additional Secretary

Ex-Officio Members Tripurari Sharan, DG, Doordarshan L.D. Mandloi, DG, All India Radio

Sports broadcasting [edit]

Important sports events like Olympics, Asian Games, Cricket Tests and One Day Internationals involving India and other important sporting encounters are also telecast live. [3]

According to the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007, it is mandatory for the rights holder of any sporting event of national importance to share the feed with the public broadcaster.[6]

Usually, all One Day and Twenty20 international cricket matches involving and hosted by India are shown live in DD National.

Editorial independence [edit]

The idea of autonomy for the government controlled Doordarshan was first mooted when the Janata Party came to power in 1977 in the aftermath of Emergency when the Doordarshan ended up as the government's mouthpiece. The idea was revived when the Janata Dal took office in 1989. The following Congress and non-Congress governments showed no interest in the autonomy despite making politically correct noises about autonomy.[2]

Financial problems [edit]

Prasar Bharati, the broadcasting corporation of India, is currently facing severe financial problems.[7] According to an estimate, the public broadcaster has been running into losses for years and it has now attained alarming proportion. The Rajya Sabha was told in 2012 that Prasar Bharati’s accumulated losses since 2009 were Rs 4,224.55 crore.[8]

Doordarshan has 92 per cent coverage of India through its terrestrial network with a viewership of about 2.5 crore people. However, it has only less than 10 per cent share of the Rs 15,000 crore earned by broadcasters in India annually. Further, the broadcasting network is seen only good for products targeting the rural market in India, thus narrowing its scope among middle-class media planners and advertisers.[8]

References [edit]

  1. ^ "India's largest terrestrial network". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2007-04-06. Retrieved 2007-07-22. 
  2. ^ a b "Rediff On The NeT: Autonomy appears a pipe dream for Doordarshan". Rediff.com. 1999-02-11. Retrieved 2013-04-10. 
  3. ^ a b c "Child Page". www.ddindia.com. Retrieved 2013-04-10. 
  4. ^ "DD National - early years". Museum.tv. Retrieved 2007-07-22. 
  5. ^ "DD National - evoltution of programming". Tribune India. Retrieved 2007-07-25. 
  6. ^ "ESPN to sell ads on Doordarshan for India-Pakistan cricket series - Economic Times". Articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com. 2012-12-18. Retrieved 2013-04-10. 
  7. ^ PTI Jan 2, 2013, 01.01PM IST. "Digitisation, FDI in broadcasting issues highlights of I&B Ministry in 2012 - Economic Times". Economictimes.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2013-04-10. 
  8. ^ a b "Vivid: Doordarshan has come a long way". Exchange4media.mobi. 2013-01-02. Retrieved 2013-04-10. 

See also [edit]

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