Indian Regional Channels broadcast programmes on various state dominant languages. The private regional channels are neither completely entertainment channel nor exclusively news channel. To some extent, these channels follow the format of Doordarshan. Rising advertising revenues and increasing viewership have provided the drive for many big players to enter into the business. Some regional media leaders like ETV, Sun TV, Asianet have a strong grip over the regional market. Moreover, major national networks, like Star Network, Zee Network have also realised the importance of such channels, and thus have launched many regional channels under their banner, showcasing well planned and produced programmes. Other than these, numerous individual local channels have also come up trying to get a piece of the market share.
Zee network has a number of regional channels in Marathi, Punjabi, Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, Urdu, Telugu along with a number of music and movie channels. Star Network entered into Tamil Nadu by launching Star Vijay, one of the most popular regional channels. But now has channels in Bengali, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, and Marathi. Besides that ETV Network, a part of the well-established Ramoji Group, has created 12 dedicated infotainment regional channels. ETV network is the source of rich entertainment of 8 different languages, which include Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, Oriya, Gujarati, Urdu and Hindi. ETV caters to viewers in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh in their local languages.
Every ETV Network channel focuses exclusively on its audience`s unique cultural identity and its distinct socio-political character. Sahara India Pariwar is proud to have five news channels as the bouquet of Sahara Samay. These channels are: Sahara Samay NCR, Sahara Samay Mumbai, Sahara Samay Bihar and Jharkhand, Sahara Samay Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, and Sahara Samay Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand. Sahara Samay has already managed to gain a loyal audience in India since its launch. Even Doordarshan has launched a variety regional news and entertainment channels under its banner. They broadcast only original programmes reaching far and wide into the rural areas of the nation. The Regional service for the particular state are communicated by all terrestrial transmitters in the state and additional programmes in the local languages in prime time and non-prime time are available only through cable operators.
Odisha TV or OTV was the first private regional TV channels in Orissa. It was launched in the year 1997 in the twin cities of Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack and then gradually spread towards all major towns in the state. The purpose of OTV was to give latest infotainment to its viewers. OTV in provided in the twin cities of Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack and also in Paradip, Raurkela and Puri. The USP of OTV is a strong local coverage, in-depth analysis of unfolding events and live telecast from Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack. OTV has a following in other regions of India including the Vizag, Bengaluru, Surat, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai. It has even launched the entertainment sub-brand "OTV Chamatkar," which focuses only on entertainment content and showcases local talent and artists. The entertainment channel would be distributed in 15 major towns by beginning of next year. OTV will now singularly focus on the news content, current affairs, panel discussions and debate. The channel is likely to go satellite by beginning of next year.
ETV Oriya is broadcast nationally. It was launched during January 2002 and has been gradually gaining popularity in the State. This channel has been reaching 36-lakh populations in Orissa as per NRS 2003. ETV Oriya provides a variety of entertainment and news-based programmes. Though the programmes telecast are perceptibly better in terms of content and quality than other local channels, some of them are either rehashes, or dubbed versions of popular Bengali and South Indian serials.
However, critics say that Orissa still has to go a long way in terms of developing superior techniques and quality of production. Orissa`s cable penetration is very low, compared to other states, but according to the last census, the State has had the biggest jump of nearly 65% in both rural and urban areas. Thus more local satellite channels are expected to enter the market and existing channels are planning to expand their reach and enhance the quality of programmes. Due to this channels like ETV Oriya are not selling the channel, but projecting Orissa as a big market to top brands around the country.
Moreover, there are lot more Indian Regional Channels that are available on the DTH (Direct-To-Home) platform. Lately, some of these channels have started showing programmes in HD (High Definition), providing utmost picture clarity and clearer sound. More channels are in provision to provide more HD content and improve the condition of regional language channels in India.