There are currently 900 permitted private satellite television channels in India as of February 2021. Numerous regional channels are available throughout India, often distributed according to languages.
Asian Television Network (ATN) is a publicly traded Canadian broadcasting company, with 54 television channels in 9 languages, serving the South Asian cultural communities in Canada. ATN operates a South Asian Radio service on XM, available in Canada and the United States. Headquartered in Markham, Ontario, the company has been in operation since 1997, and is headed by Indo-Canadian broadcaster Shan Chandrasekar.
The television industry in India is very diverse and produces thousands of programmes in many Indian languages. Nearly 87% Indian households own a television. As of 2016, the country had over 900 channels of which 184 were pay channels. National channels operate in Hindi and English, in addition to channels in several other languages including Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Assamese, Gujarati, Urdu, Bhojpuri, Kashmiri, Konkani and Haryanvi, among others. The Hindi, Telugu and Tamil language television industries are by far the largest television industries in India.
Ramoji Group is an Indian conglomerate founded by Ramoji Rao and headquartered in Hyderabad, India. Its businesses cover television and newspaper media, film production, financial services, retail, education and hospitality. In 1996, one of its businesses, Ramoji Film City, was recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest film studio complex in the world.
DD Free Dish is an Indian State-owned free-to-air satellite television provider owned and operated by Public Service Broadcaster Prasar Bharati. It was launched in December, 2004. In March 2022, It has a reach of over 43 million households which is more than 25% of the total TV households in the country. DD Free Dish earns by selling slots to private broadcasters through e-auction.
TV18 Broadcast Limited was an Indian television company based in Mumbai and owned by Network18 Group. TV18 owned and operates various national channels in separate partnerships with NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN-News18). In December 2023, it merged with its parent company Network18 Group.
Tara Newz was an Indian Bengali-language satellite and cable 24-hour news and current affairs television channel owned by the Saradha Group, a chit fund company. It was launched on 21 February 2005, airing regional news coverages, after being split from Tara Bangla, which was launched on 28 April 2000. Tara Newz was targeted to Bengali-speaking audiences in both India and Bangladesh. It is broadcast from Tara's headquarters in Salt Lake, Kolkata. Due to financial reasons, the channel was shut down in 2013.
Gemini TV is an Indian Telugu language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Sun TV Network. It is the first satellite TV channel in Telugu. It was launched on 9 February 1995 by the Gemini Group of Hyderabad, in association with Sun TV Network. In 1996-97, Sun TV Network acquired a controlling interest in the channel. The channel's programming consists of serials, films, film-based programs and game shows alongside some reality shows. Gemini TV HD was launched on 11 December 2011.
TV9 Telugu is an Indian Telugu-language 24-hour news channel focusing on the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It formally launched on 1 February 2004 with a 15-day trial run before the formal launch. It is headquartered in Hyderabad. Along with its rival ETV2, it is the oldest 24-hour news channel in Telugu.
ETV is an Indian Telugu-language general entertainment pay television channel. The channel was launched on 27 August 1995 focusing on the state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a part of the ETV Network owned by Ramoji Group. It is the second oldest Telugu satellite channel after Gemini TV. It is also one of the earliest private satellite channels in South India.
Viacom18 Media Private Limited is an Indian Media Conglomerate based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Founded in 2007 by the MTV Networks Europe division, it later became a joint venture between Network18 Group and Viacom in 2014, with TV18 becoming the majority shareholder in the company in January 2018 and Bodhi Tree Systems currently owning minority stakes. The company owns and operates various channels, as well as content production studios in India.
Colors Bangla is an Indian general entertainment pay television channel owned by Network18 Group and operated by Disney Star broadcasting in Bengali language. It was launched in 2000 as ETV Bangla, owned by the Hyderabad-based ETV Network. It was later sold to TV18 and was rebranded to Colors Bangla.
ETV Bal Bharat is a children's pay television channel owned by the Hyderabad-based ETV Network airing animated programming. The network was launched on 27 April 2021, initially with channels in twelve distinct languages.
ETV Andhra Pradesh is an Indian Telugu-language 24-hour news channel focusing on the state of Andhra Pradesh. The channel was launched by the media conglomerate ETV Network owned by Ramoji Group on 28 December 2003 as ETV2. Along with its rival TV9 Telugu, it is the oldest 24-hour news channel in Telugu. In May 2014, after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the channel was renamed as ETV Andhra Pradesh, while the then recently launched ETV3 channel was renamed as ETV Telangana.
