MUMBAI: Viacom18’s maiden music channel MTV Indies, which recently got replaced by new kid MTV Beats, has been placed on Doordarshan’s Freedish as a free to air (FTA) channel.

MTV Beats has replaced Viacom18’s currently running channel X Zone on the pubcaster’s DTH platform that carries FTA channels and is popular in semi-urban and rural areas of India.

The Hindi music channel will be available on various other DTH platforms and bundled with Viacom18’s offerings as a pay channel.

MTV Beats was conceived and launched recently to replace MTV Indies with an aim to address a mass audience. It will predominantly focus on Bollywood music. MTV Beats is targeted at 15–30-year-olds across urban and rural India.

Viacom18 has also acquired an additional licence to launch MTV Beats HD.