Doordarshan

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This article is about the Indian public broadcaster. For the terrestrial television channel, see DD National.

Doordarshan
TypeBroadcast, radio, television network and online
Country
India
AvailabilityNationwide
Mottoसत्यम शिवम सुंदरम[clarification needed]
HeadquartersNew Delhi, Delhi
OwnerPrasar Bharati
Launch date
15 September 1959; 64 years ago (1959-09-15)
Former names
All India Radio
Picture format
480i (16:9 SDTV)
720p (HDTV)
Official website
www.ddindia.gov.in

Doordarshan (Hindi: दूरदर्शन, often abbreviated DD) is an autonomous[clarification needed] Government of India founded public service broadcaster and a division of Prasar Bharati. It is one of India's largest broadcasting organisations in terms of studio and transmitter infrastructure, having been established on 15 September 1959.[citation needed] Recently,[when?] it has also started broadcasting on digital terrestrial transmitters. DD provides television, radio, online and mobile services throughout metropolitan and regional India, as well as overseas, through the Indian Network and Radio India.

For the 2012 Summer Olympics, live telecasts of the opening and closing ceremonies of the games were broadcast on its national channel. DD Sports provided round-the-clock coverage of sport events.[1]

Beginning

Doordarshan had a modest beginning as an experimental telecast starting in Delhi on 15 September 1959, with a small transmitter and a makeshift studio. Regular daily transmission started in 1965 as a part of All India Radio. Doordarshan began a five-minute news bulletin in the same year. Pratima Puri was the first newsreader. Salma Sultan joined Doordarshan in 1967, and later became a news anchor. The television service was extended to Bombay (now Mumbai) and Amritsar in 1972.

Up until 1975, only seven Indian cities had a television service and Doordarshan remained the sole provider of television in India. Television services were separated from radio on 1 April 1976.[2] Each office of All India Radio and Doordarshan was placed under the management of two separate Director Generals in New Delhi.

Finally, in 1982, Doordarshan took shape as a National Broadcaster. Krishi Darshan was the first program telecast on Doordarshan. It commenced on 26 January 1967 and is one of the longest running programs on Indian television.[3]

Nationwide transmission

Doordarshan Bhawan, Mandi House, Copernicus Marg, Delhi

National telecasts were introduced in 1982. In the same year, colour TV was introduced to India with the live telecast of the Independence Day speech by the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, on 15 August 1982. This was followed by the 1982 Asian Games held in Delhi. Now more than 90 percent of the Indian population can receive Doordarshan (DD National) programmes through a network of nearly 1,400 terrestrial transmitters. There are about 46 Doordarshan studios producing TV programmes.[citation needed]

Early national programming

Channels

Doordarshan operates 21 channels:

  • Two All India channels (available terrestrially), DD National and DD News[5]
  • 11 regional language satellite channels (RLSC), four state networks (SN), an international channel, a sports channel, DD Sports and two channels Rajya Sabha TV and Lok Sabha TV for live broadcast of parliamentary proceedings.

On DD National aka (DD-1), regional programs and local programs are carried on time-sharing basis. DD News channel, launched on 3 November 2003, which replaced the DD Metro formally known as (DD-2)'entertainment channel, provides 24-hour news service.

The regional languages satellite channels have two components – the regional service for the particular state relayed by all terrestrial transmitters in the state and additional programs in the regional language in prime time and non-prime time available only through cable operators. DD-Sports Channel is exclusively devoted to the broadcasting of sporting events of national and international importance. This is the only sports channel which telecasts rural sports like Kho-Kho, Kabbadi etc. something which private broadcasters will not attempt to telecast as it will not attract any revenue.

List of Doordarshan channels

Closed or renamed Doordarshan channels

Active Doordarshan

It is an interactive service of Tata Sky to show TV channels of Doordarshan which are not available on Tata sky as normal channels. Active Doordarshan channels are DD Kashir, DD Podhigai, DD Malayalam, DD Punjabi, DD Sahyadri, DD Chandana and DD Girnar.

DD has its own DTH service called DD Free Dish.

International broadcasting

DD India is broadcast internationally via satellite. It is available in 146 countries worldwide; however, information on receiving this channel in other countries is not easily available. In the UK, DD India was available through the Eurobird Satellite on the Sky system on Channel 833 (the logo is shown as Rayat TV). The timing and programming of DD-India international is different from that of India. Transmissions via Sky Digital ceased in June 2008 and those via DirecTV in the United States in July 2008.

Criticism

Allegations of the state control

  • Prasar Bharati is parent body of Doordarshan, has all board members appointed by the Government of India acting through the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.[7]
  • It had been actively used especially during the Emergency for government propaganda.[8]
  • During Operation Blue Star in 1984, only government sources were used for reporting the story. Here, Doordarshan was complicit in the production of a video that claimed acts of violence which when investigated by independent journalists were found to be false.[9]
  • In 2004, it censored the airing of a controversial documentary on Jayaprakash Narayan, one of the opposition leaders during the Emergency.[10]
  • When Doordarshan broadcast the 70-minute-long Vijayadashami speech of Mohan Bhagwat, the leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Narendra Modi administration and the BJP were criticized for "misusing" the public broadcaster. While Director General of DD, Archana Datta issued a clarification on speech and said, "Speech was like any other news event therefore we covered it."[11][12][13]

Commercial viability

  • After private television channels were allowed in 1991, Doordarshan has seen a steep decline in viewership in homes, due to general public acceptance of cable and satellite television, which in 2002 was just at 2.38% for DD National.[14]
  • While it earns significant advertising revenue due to the compulsory feed given to it by the highest bidder to national events, including cricket tournaments,[14] there has been a proposal to give it funds by imposing a license fee to own a television in India.[15]

Relaunch of Doordarshan

On 17 November 2014, Doordarshan relaunched with a new theme of pink and purple, accompanied by a new punchline Desh Ka Apna Channel, meaning "the country's own channel". It was announced by Vijayalaxmi Chhabra, Director General, Doordarshan.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Doordarshan to live telecast London Olympics opening and closing ceremonies". The Times of India. 25 July 2012.
  2. ^ Development of Television
  3. ^ Sharmila Mitra Deb, Indian Democracy: Problems and Prospects, Anthem Press, 2009, ISBN 978-81-907570-4-1, the well-known program Krishi Darshan, which started its telecast on January 26, 1967... 'informing' and 'educating' the farmers about improving agricultural productivity
  4. ^ SCREEN, New Delhi, 19 March 1971, & The Sunday Standard, Bombay, 10 June 1973.
  5. ^ http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/irregular-doordarshan-appointments-quashed/article634149.ece
  6. ^ [2]
  7. ^ http://ddbhopal.nic.in/RTI/32.pdf
  8. ^ "Channel war drives DD to shelve bias". New Delhi: The Telegraph. 26 January 2004. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  9. ^ [1] Archived 17 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ Kuldip Nayar Posted: 9 November 2004 at 0012 hrs IST (9 November 2004). "Censoring his own past". Indian Express. Retrieved 29 May 2012.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "Doordarshan telecasts RSS chief's speech live, stirs controversy". The Times of India. 3 October 2014.
  12. ^ Kalbag, Chaitanya (3 October 2014). "A dangerous line was crossed when Doordarshan telecast Bhagwat's speech live". Quartz.
  13. ^ "RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's speech covered just like a news event: Doordarshan". The Indian Express. 3 October 2014.
  14. ^ a b "DD leads viewership sweepstakes &#151 Tops among all homes nationwide, but lowest in C&S". The Hindu Business Line. 23 July 2002. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  15. ^ Himanshi Dhawan (10 July 2007). "Govt mulls 'licence fee' on every colour TV". The Times of India. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  16. ^ "DD National to be relaunched as 'Desh Ka Apna Channel'". 15 November 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Doordarshan.
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