ETV Network to shut down ETV Bal Bharat South regional channels

Telugu television industry’s leading broadcaster ETV Network has announced the shutdown of ETV Bal Bharat south regional channels: ETV Bala Bharata Kannada, ETV Bala Bharat Malayalam, ETV Bala Bharat Tamil and ETV Bala Bharat Telugu, channels dedicated to kids’ entertainment, as per the new Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO) document published by the network which will be effective from 1st February 2024.

The broadcaster had previously shut down six ETV Bal Bharat channels namely ETV Balya Bharat Assamese, ETV Balya Bharat Bangla, ETV Bal Bharat Gujarati, ETV Bal Bharat Marathi, ETV Balya Bharat Odia and ETV Bal Bharat Punjabi on April 1st 2022 with the publishing of the respective RIO by the network in January 2022.

ETV Network had launched ETV Bal Bharat in 12 distinct Indian languages

ETV Network launched ETV Bal/Bala/Balya Bharat, channels dedicated to kids’ entertainment in 12 different Indian regional languages on 27th April 2021. The channel was launched in Assamese, Bangla, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu languages respectively. Additionally, ETV Bal Bharat SD and ETV Bal Bharat HD, which comprehended 12 audio feeds of the regional languages were also launched, making it the Indian television industry’s only channels to bear so.

Though the network had launched 14 ETV Bal Bharat channels (ETV Bal Bharat SD and HD comprising 12 audio feeds + 12 ETV Bal Bharat channels launched in respective regional languages), solely ETV Bal Bharat SD with 12 audio feeds was available on major DTHs and MSOs. The other channels as well as the HD variant were not added by the major DTHs and MSOs.

ETV Bal Bharat caters to kids’ content, which is a concoction of dubbed shows and original ones, known as BB Originals.

The launch of ETV Bal Bharat had marked the re-entry of the network into the regional sector

ETV Network had ingressed into the regional sector again with the launch of Bal Bharat channels. The network’s preceding general entertainment channels: ETV Bangla, ETV Gujarati, ETV Kannada, ETV Marathi and ETV Odia were taken over by Viacom18 (a division of TV18 network) in the year 2015 which went on to rebrand under the name Colors similar to Viacom18’s Hindi GEC Colors TV.

In like manner, the network’s News channels: ETV Bihar Jharkhand, ETV News Gujarati, ETV Haryana Himachal Pradesh, ETV News Kannada, ETV Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh, ETV Rajasthan and ETV Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand were taken over by TV18 network and were rebranded under the name News18.

Henceforth, the network will continue to uphold ETV Bal Bharat Hindi, ETV Bal Bharat English, ETV Bal Bharat SD and HD comprising audio feeds despite closing down the South regional channels and other regional channels which were shut down previously.