hile Doordarshan (DD) had a channel in almost all the Indian languages, Urdu was the missing link in its bouquet. But with the launch of DD Urdu on India's 60th Independence Day, the bouquet is complete.

To start with, DD Urdu will have a limited transmission of two and a half hours in the evening starting 7.30 pm, with repeat telecasts in the morning at 7.30 am and afternoon at 12.30 pm. Eventually, however, Manish Desai, deputy general manager, Prasar Bharati, says it will be increased to a 24X7 transmission. "As variety was the corner-stone of our plan, we didn't immediately make it a 24X7 channel," he says.... more