Marathi language television

The Marathi language television industry was started in India in 1984. Although earlier confined to a half an hour slot in the national television Doordarshan, the industry has now expanded with many commercial TV channels currently on air. Various dedicated categories like news and movies have been added and have considerably expanded the horizon of Marathi TV entertainment.

History

Slot Programming (1984 - 1998)

Marathi Programming on TV started in 1972 on the state-owned Doordarshan channel. Originally confined to a half-an-hour slot, it remained a Doordarshan programme till 1998, when it was increased to a three hour slot a day.

First TV Channel (1998 - 1999)

In 1998, Doordarshan started a full-blown Marathi channel 24-hrs a day. It was called DD-Sahyadri.

Advent Of The Private Channels (1999 - 2001)

On 15 August 1999, Zee Network launched Zee Marathi. after some month changed in Alpha Marathi, and later renamed to Zee Marathi, which saw the industry standards increasing.

Zee Marathi was an instant and a phenomenal success, for it addressed a cross section of the Marathi diaspora, unlike Doordarshan which aired programmes in pigeonhole categories: Agriculture, Medicine, government propaganda, which indeed didn't cater to the entertainment requirements of the mainstream urban audience.

Peak Period (2001 - 2002)

This period saw many new channels being launched including ETV's ETV Marathi, Prabhat TV and Tara Marathi. Apart from these, many other regional and local Marathi channels were launched.

Stability (2002 - 2006)

Since 2002, both Prabhat TV and Tara were shut down. Other three channels, DD-Sahyadri, Zee Marathi and Etv Marathi, stabilised.

ETV Marathi (2000)

ETV Marathi started in 2000 from Hyderabad based Mr. Ramojirao & his Entertainment Mediya group.

Mi Marathi (2007)

Mi Marathi started in 2007 from Mumbai based Shri Adhikari Brothers launched a free-to-air infotainment channel Mi Marathi. Its title song became popular in no time.

News Boom (2007)

Marathi got its first round-the-clock news channel in the form of Zee 24 Taas in the year 2007.

STAR TV launched its Marathi News channel Star Majha in June 2007.

IBN & Lokmat Marathi NEWS Paper Group's IBN Lokmat was launched in 2008.

SAAM TV (2008)

SAAM TV Marathi started in 2008 from Pune based Media group Sakal This channel is now available on DTH network of the newly launched Videocon d2h, India's telecom giant's Airtel digital TV and Dish TV from the Zee Network. It also has presence on BSNL IPTV, MTNL IPTV and Watchindia.tv as well.

Star Pravah (2008)

Star TV started its GEC Star Pravah in 2008 with flagship serial Raja Shivachhatrapati on the life of Shivaji- the founder of the erstwhile Maratha Empire. Star Pravah is quickly gaining popularity.

Cinema Channel (2007)

Marathi got its first round-the-clock Marathi movie channel in the form of Zee Talkies in the November 2007.

Music Channel (2011)

9X Jhakaas is the first 24-hour Marathi Music TV channel from India. 9X Jhakaas was launched on 31 October, 2011.

Historical interest

Prabhat: Marathi film star, Ajinkya Deo, who is also the 'Executive Director' of Prabhat Entertainment TV channel. The channel was financed partially by an NRI. It was closed in 2002.

Tara Marathi: Launched in March 2002, closed in 2003.

This is a list of Marathi language television channels in India.

Music Channal maharastra"s 1st marathi music channal in india in inx media groups 9x jhakaas the channal is showing new songs in 24*7

DTH availability legend

• TS: Tata Sky ^[1]
• BG: Big TV ^[2]
• VD: Videocon D2H^[3]
• AT: Airtel Digital TV ^[4]
• SN: Sun Direct ^[5]
• DS: Dish TV ^[6]
• DD: DD Direct Plus ^[7]
• ALL: All the above service providers (excluding DD)

Entertainment Channels

• Zee Marathi - ALL
• Star Pravah - ALL
• ETV Marathi - ALL
• Mi Marathi - ALL
• Doordarshan Sahayadri - ALL
• Saam TV - VD,DS,AT,BG

Infotainment Channels

• History HD - DS, TS , AT
• Discovery - Upcoming
• National Geographic - Upcoming

News Channels

• Star Majha - ALL
• IBN Lokmat - ALL,
• Zee 24 Taas - DS,VD,TS,AT
• Sahara Samay Mumbai (Hindi + Marathi) - None of the above DTH providers

Movie Channels

• Zee Talkies - ALL

Music Channels

• 9x Jhakaas - First Marathi music channel
• Sangeet Marathi - Upcoming channel from Media worldwide group

Kids Channels

• Cartoon Network - Upcoming
• Disney - Upcoming

Radio Channels

• Akashvani Marathi (SW/AM) ^[8]
• Akashvani Mumbai GOLD (100.7 FM)
• Akashvani Mumbai Rainbow (107.1 FM)
• AAPLE FM 91.9 SANGLI MIRAJ
• Green FM 904 marathi 24 hrs for sangli & miraj City only
• Radio Dhamaka 97.5 FM
• Radio Amcha Baana 96.4 FM
• Radio Lavangi Mirchi 98.4 FM It's 24 hrs Marathi Radio Channel from Radio Mirchi 98.3FM
• Zakkaaas Fm 103.5 FM Ekdum Zakkass

Reference

1. ^ "DTH India, Tata Sky DTH India, Direct-to-Home (DTH)". Tatasky.com. http://www.tatasky.com. Retrieved 2010-09-07. 
2. ^ "relianceglobalcom". Bigtv.co.in. http://www.bigtv.co.in. Retrieved 2010-09-07. 
3. ^ http://www.d2h.com
4. ^ "DTH India, DTH TV Services, Direct to Home, digital TV India: Airtel". Airtel.in. http://www.airtel.in/digitaltv. Retrieved 2010-09-07. 
5. ^ "Sun Direct DTH Service". Sundirect.in. http://www.sundirect.in. Retrieved 2010-09-07. 
6. ^ "DishTV India - First DTH TV, Satellite TV, Digital Picture and DTH Services in India". Dishtv.in. http://www.dishtv.in. Retrieved 2010-09-07. 
7. ^ "What is DD DIRECT+ ?". www.ddinews.com. 2004-12-16. http://www.ddinews.gov.in/DTH/DDDIRECT. Retrieved 2010-09-07. 
8. ^ "AIR : Frequency Schedule : West Region Services". Allindiaradio.org. 2010-03-28. http://www.allindiaradio.org/schedule/freq_wr.html. Retrieved 2010-09-07. 

See also

• List of television stations based in Mumbai

External links

• Zee Marathi's , Zee Talkies & Zee 24 Taas official site