Doordarshan

Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; lit. 'distant vision, television') is an Indian state-owned public television broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. As one of India's largest broadcasting organisations in studio and transmitter infrastructure, it was established on 15 September 1959. Doordarshan, which also broadcasts on digital terrestrial transmitters, provides television, radio, online and mobile services throughout metropolitan and regional India and overseas.

Beginnings


The channel began modestly as an experimental broadcaster in Delhi on 15 September 1959, with a small transmitter and a makeshift studio. Regular daily transmission started in 1965 as part of All India Radio, with a five-minute news bulletin read by Pratima Puri. Salma Sultan joined Doordarshan in 1967, and became a news anchor. Later Gitanjali Aiyar, Neethi Ravindran, and Rini Simon became popular news anchors in the '70s.

Krishi Darshan debuted on Doordarshan on 26 January 1967, and is the Indian television's longest-running programme.

Television service was extended to Bombay (now Mumbai) and Amritsar in 1972. Until 1975, only seven Indian cities had television service, and Doordarshan was the country's sole television provider.

Television service was separated from radio on 1 April 1976. The All India Radio and Doordarshan were placed under the management of separate directors-general in New Delhi. In 1982, Doordarshan became a national broadcaster.

Nationwide transmission
National telecasts (DD National) were introduced in 1982. Colour television began in India with the live telecast of the Independence Day speech by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 15 August of that year, followed by the colour telecast of the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi. Two years later, Doordarshan as a TV network finally took shape: the then sole TV channel was split into the nationally aired DD-1 and city channel DD-2, later rebranded in 1993 as DD National and DD Metro to catch up with the then newly privatised TV industry.

Live telecasts of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics were broadcast on its national channel, and DD Sports provided round-the-clock coverage.

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"). Doordarshan transmitted over a network of nearly 1,400 terrestrial transmitters in 2017, with 46 studios producing TV programmes. After the introduction of the private channels, Doordarshan is struggling to keep its position in the television space. Currently Doordarshan is trying to improve its studios and programmes while its primary aim is to serve the country.

Channels
Doordarshan operates 46 studios and 33 television channels, including the two pan-India channels (DD National and DD News), 17 regional satellite channels, 11 state networks, an international channel (DD India), a sports channel (DD Sports), DD Bharati, DD Urdu as the cultural and informative channels and an agricultural channel, DD Kisan. On DD National (formerly DD-1), regional and local programs are carried on a time-sharing basis for terrestrial broadcasting only. DD News was launched on 3 November 2003 by replacing DD Metro (formerly known as the DD-2 entertainment channel), which provides 24-hour news. These channels are relayed by all terrestrial transmitters in India. The regional-language satellite channels have two components: a regional service for a particular state (relayed by all terrestrial transmitters in the state), and additional programs in the regional language available through cable operators and DTH operators. DD Sports broadcasts sporting events of national and international importance. It is the only sports channel which telecasts rural sports such as kho-kho and kabbadi.

A new regional channel, DD Arunprabha (a 24/7 satellite television channel focusing on the North Eastern region) was scheduled to begin its broadcasting on 15 February 2018; however, its launch was placed on hold. DD Arunprabha was launched on 9 February 2019.

On 9 March 2019, Prasar Bharati brought 11 more state DD channels to the satellite footprint of India through DD Free Dish. This includes 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, consisting of soap operas, infotainment series, news and current affairs, social programs and films in Bangla in its programming.

On 13 April 2020, DD Retro was launched by Prasar Bharati and showed old classic Hindi serials of Doordarshan. The service, however, shortly ceased its operations on 1 April 2023, due to the low viewership.

International broadcasting
The DD India satellite channel has been broadcast in 146 countries. In the United Kingdom, it was available through the Eurobird satellite on the Sky system's channel 833; its logo was Rayat TV. Transmission via Sky Digital ended in June 2008, and via DirecTV in the United States the following month.

Record viewership during the pandemic
Ramayan on DD National created a world record by becoming the highest-viewed entertainment programme globally. The 9 pm show on 16 April 2020 was watched by 77 million viewers. The show managed to reach more than 285 million viewers through the length of the broadcast. As a broadcasting response to the nationwide lockdown, apart from Ramayan, many other nostalgia shows were broadcast on DD network. These included Mahabharat, Chanakya, Shri Krishna, Malgudi Days,Byomkesh Bakshi and Shaktimaan. In light of increasing public demand for such content, Prasar Bharati launched ‘DD Retro’ as a full-time channel dedicated to the same. The channel started garnering viewership of almost 5 crore (50 million) within five weeks of its launch. Delivering on its mandate of public messaging, the DD network, through COVID-focused awareness messages and shows, reached more than 400 million viewers during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020.

Criticisms
Prasar Bharati is Doordarshan's parent body, and its board members are appointed by the Government of India through the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

Doordarshan has been used, especially during the Emergency, to disseminate government propaganda. During Operation Blue Star in 1984, only government sources were used to report the story. Doordarshan was complicit in the production of a video claiming 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, when Doordarshan broadcast a 70-minute Vijayadashami speech by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Mohan Bhagwat, the Narendra Modi administration and the BJP were criticised for "misusing" the public broadcaster. According to DD director-general Archana Datta, 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 it 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 it by imposing a licence fee to own 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.