DD Podhigai gets renamed as DD Tamil along with the launch of its HD variant

Doordarshan’s (DD) Tamil television broadcaster DD Podhigai was rechristened as DD Tamil on 19th January with the launch of the HD variant, DD Tamil HD. The brand new logo of the channel was unveiled during the inaugural session of Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG), 2024 by our honourable Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

The channel’s new logo includes elements of its parent channel DD National and is DD’s first regional HD channel to launch

The relabeling of the channel was earlier anticipated to happen on 15th January 2024, but with a slight delay took place on 19th January. Renamed as DD Tamil with the tagline Puthiya Ennankal Puthiya Vannankal, the channel’s new logo has elements of saffron and white and the logo design is in a similar pattern to that of DD National’s present logo. Additionally, the word ‘DD’ has been incorporated preceding the word ‘Tamil’. DD National was also revamped with a new logo on 14 August 2023.

DD Tamil HD becomes the network’s fifth HD channel after DD National HD, DD News HD, DD India HD and DD Sports HD. Additionally, the launch of DD Tamil HD becomes Doordarshan’s first regional HD channel. Along with the revamp, DD Tamil has also launched three new shows: Budget Kudumbam, Thayamma Kudumbathar and Shakthi IPS telecasting at 8:00 PM, 8:30 PM and 9:00 PM, respectively.

Doordarshan made its foray into Tamil television broadcasting in the year 1975

With the launch of Madras Television Centre (also known as Doordarshan Kendra Chennai, DD Madras and DD Chennai) on 15th August 1975, Prasar Bharati’s Doordarshan entered into South Indian television broadcasting and was the first South Indian TV channel to be launched. This channel was dedicated to both radio as well as for television content. Further, the successor channel Doordarshan 2 or DD 2 was launched on 1st June 1988 and was committed to be an entertainment channel.

Eventually, Doordarshan Kendra Chennai launched Doordarshan 5 or DD 5, the regional satellite network on 15th April 1993. The channel was ultimately renamed after seven years on 15th January 2000 as DD Podhigai. DD Podhigai had a major change in its logo containing elements of navy blue and red colour on 17th November 2021 in a similar pattern to that of its sister channels namely, DD Chandana, DD Malayalam, DD Saptagiri and DD Yadagiri. All these channels had their logo position switched from the top right corner to the bottom right corner.

With the revamp of DD Podhigai to DD Tamil, the channel has switched back to positioning its logo back to the top right corner. Though the logo has changed, there is no profound difference in the channel’s graphics except for the graphics containing a blend of orange and yellow colours, which are viewed during the telecast of daily news. Also, the launch of DD Tamil HD marked the network’s entry to launch a regional HD channel. Currently, DD Tamil HD is not available on any of the major DTH platforms and MSOs (including the network’s own DTH platform DD Free Dish) and is expected to be available soon.