In a notification issued on 31 January 2025 (Friday), the Indian government’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) made the carrying of several government-owned channels — both Doordarshan and Sansad TV channels — mandatory on all major TV platforms. Six of these channels are high-definition: DD National HD, DD Sports HD, DD News HD (Hindi news) and DD India HD (English news), in addition to the parliamentary channels Sansad TV 1 HD and Sansad TV 2 HD plus their corresponding SD feeds.
As a consequence, several pay DTH platforms added Sansad TV 1 HD on 31 January with immediate effect. After Sansad TV — which was launched in September 2021, replacing Lok Sabha TV and Rajya Sabha TV — split into two channels in May 2024, the existing Sansad TV HD became Sansad TV 2 HD (and remains available on all pay DTHs) but only Tata Play added the new Sansad TV 1 HD channel. It is only now that other DTHs have also added Sansad TV 1 HD, but Sun Direct is an exception, as it has not complied with MIB’s directive.
Moreover, on 1 February 2025 (Saturday), Airtel Digital TV added the four Doordarshan HD channels mentioned above. It’s impressive that the government operates four national (Hindi and/or English) news and parliamentary channels — DD News, DD India, Sansad TV 1 and Sansad TV 2 — all with both SD and HD versions, whereas most private news broadcasters do not have HD channels. The only private HD news channels in India are Aaj Tak HD, Times Now Navbharat HD and India TV Speed News HD (which was launched in late 2024) in Hindi, and Times Now World and CNBC-TV18 Prime HD in English.
Below are the details of the channel numbers of Doordarshan’s HD channels, as well as Sansad TV 1 and 2 HD, on pay DTH platforms with the new additions marked with an asterisk (*). Some channels on Dish TV (NSS6/SES8 satellites for non-South Indian customers) are placed in the four-digit 40xx LCN series as they are shared from DD Free Dish. (DD Sports HD, launched in September 2023, is no longer available on Dish TV NSS6/SES8 after it was replaced by DD News HD in early 2024.) However, note that DD Tamil HD, launched in January 2024 as Doordarshan’s first regional HD channel, is still not carried by any DTH platform.
| Channel | Tata Play | Airtel Digital TV | Dish TV (NSS6/SES8) | d2h and Dish TV ST2 | Sun Direct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DD National HD | 196 | 153* | 698 | — | — |
| DD Sports HD | 452 | 302* | — | — | — |
| DD News HD | 501 | 372* | 4033 (from DDFD) | — | — |
| DD India HD | 621 | 401* | 4035 (from DDFD) | — | — |
| Sansad TV 1 HD | 596 | 375* | 694* | 755* | — |
| Sansad TV 2 HD | 597 | 383 | 697 | 757 | 961 |
| DD Tamil HD | — | — | — | — | — |
| Total | 6 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
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