DD Malayalam

Doordarshan Malayalam

Type	Broadcast television network
Country	India
Availability	India and parts of Asia, China and Gulf Countries.
Founded	by Govt. of India
Headquarters	Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India,
Owner	Prasar Bharati
Launch date	1985
Former names	Doordarshan Kendra Thiruvanthapuram
Official website	/ www.ddktvm.gov.in

DD Malayalam is a Malayalam language television channel operated by India's national broadcaster Doordarshan. It is one of the 11 Indian regional language channels operated by Doordarshan. DD Malayalam is broadcast from Thiruvanthapuram, Kerala.

The channel is broadcast through satellite in the name DD Malayalam and through terrestrial in the name DD Keralam. The channel has its main studio in Thiruvanthapuram and an auxiliary studio in Thrissur. In terrestrial mode, DD Malayalam is available to 99.2%^{[citation needed]} of the population of Kerala. The satellite broadcast was started in 1994. It is also received in 64 countries spread over the continents of Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia and America. Some of the outstanding professionals in the field of film and TV production have been associated with Doordarshan Kendra Thiruvananthapuram.

History

The legacy and the decline

DD Malayalam is the first television station in the Malayalam language. In the early years of monopoly, until the 1990s, the station bradcasted several public interest programs funded by the government of India. The station was instrumental in popularizing many public interest campaigns for the government, like educating the people about the need for vaccinations, etc. Later, by the end of 1990s, amidst a flood of private owned and ad funded channels, Doordarshan lost its grounds and started competing with the private channels. This led to a surge of popular programs like mega serials. When the competition moved on to live-phone-in programs and reality shows (predominantly music competitions), Doordarshan gave up. At this point the DD Malayalam channel tried to sustain its position by claiming a 'most-trusted' news broadcast. But this too failed soon as the private owned news channels flooded the competition with all day live news and flash news. Now the channel sustains a nominal presence only due to its capabality for terrestrial transmission, which is available without a cable provider.

Programs

DD Malayalam has entertainment serials, infotainment programmes, news & current affairs, social programmes and film programmes as its major content. DD Malayalam news Varthakal from its inception in 1985 was popular among the viewers for the style of presentation and clarity of content.

See also

• List of programs broadcast by DD National
• All India Radio
• Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
• DD Direct Plus
• List of South Asian television channels by country
• Media in Chennai

External links

• Doordarshan Official Internet site
• Doordarshan news site
• DD Malayalam
• An article at PFC
• Media World Asia