NEW DELHI: The Prasar Bharati Board is inclined towards bifurcation of the Doordarshan News channel into two – one for Hindi and another for English. However, the Board has sought the views of Doordarshan before taking a final decision.

In a recent meeting, Prasar Bharati sources told indiantelevision.com that the Board had felt that having separate Hindi and English news channels would also help to increase its viewership in rural areas for the Hindi channel and in urban or semi-urban areas for the English News as there would be greater variety.

DD News is the country’s only 24-hour terrestrial TV news channel, as all private channels are satellite-based. The Prasar Bharati board approved the proposal to start a 24-hour news channel in place of DD Metro and it was launched on 3 November 2003.

The DD News mobile app for Android[ and Apple was launched on 7 May 2015 by then I&B Minister Arun Jaitley.

Initially Doordarshan had launched a news channel in partnership with CNN, DD CNNi in 1995.

Later DD again launched its DD News channel by replacing DD Metro in 2003 and assured its availability on terrestrial mode. It telecasts news bulletins daily in Hindi, English, Sanskrit, and Urdu, apart from broadcasting for the hearing impaired.

It carries a daily evenig bulletin known as Metro News where Delhi links to news readers in Mumbai, Chennai, and Mumbai to give news from their respective areas.

It also beams a unique bulletin twice a week known as Good News, where it gives news of individuals who take initiative to improve the enviroument and society around them.

Regional news units attached to different Doordarshan Kendras also telecast daily news bulletins in regional languages. News headlines and breaking news updates are regular features.