The journey of many Indian television channels has been a roller-coaster ride due to various reasons. They have faced a slow death from unsteady subscriber numbers, marginal earnings and failure to cash-in on the advertising potential of the biggest brands at the right moment.
There are many reasons many Indian TV channels closed down:
- Owing to stiff competition and a race fortify the affiliate fees, most channels nowadays go totally free for public view.
- Some are offered for lower prices as per pay-per-view TV bundle prices.
- Many channels simply can’t cope up with the rise in maintenance costs that a running TV channel demands.
- Many new and advanced technologies in broadcasting have arrived, which is not affordable for smaller channels.
Due to this inability to funnel resources, they either get sold to bigger conglomerates or simply shut shop to reduce their deficit.
Here are some popular Indian TV channels that had to pull the plug sooner rather than late due to different reasons mentioned below:
- DD Metro
Facebook.com An iconic channel which once was a sister-channel to Doordarshan National before the advent of DTH channels in India. This channel was closed and diversified into many other channels like DD Kisan, DD Sports, DD News, etc. apart from regional DD channels.
- Cartoon Network
It was shut down due to two major reasons: Turner News Television (TNT) which owned the channel had a brief exit from India. Secondly, the channel was facing major competition from channels with newer content like Nickelodeon, Pogo, Hungama, Toon Disney, Disney Channel, etc. It came back as CN with new shows, but it isn’t popular anymore with kids.
- FX, FX HD and Star Movies Action – Star TV India’s 3 major channels that catered to the English-speaking urban crown were axed in June 2017 owing to lesser viewership and high-running costs. Star India decided to continue with Star World Premiere HD and Star Movies Select HD in order to keep HD channel viewers happy.
- Zindagi TV
Facebook.com This channel was owned by Zee TV India conglomerate from 2014-2017, but had run into controversy owing to the constant India and Pakistan cross-border tensions in 2016-2017. Since it offered mainly Pakistani TV content (apart from Spanish and Brazilian shows) to Indian audiences, it decided to exit the TV channel space and became a part of their Ozee app.
- NDTV Profit – Owing to an ongoing tax evasion case accusation worth over 200 crores, NDTV decided to transfer its business and finance segments on its regular English news channel NDTV 24×7 to cut losses. However, NDTV Prime was continued as a channel for premium users.
- Life Ok – This channel has had the most changes till date! It launched in India as Star One, then it became Life OK and was then owned by 21st-Century Fox. After that, it became Star India for a while and finally in 2017, it currently operates under the Star Bharat identity.
- IBN7 – A Hindi news channel which is now part of the Network 18 group. It is now called as News 18.
- Bindaas Play, UTV Stars and UTV World Movies – Both channels closed down due to limited viewership as compared to UTV’s most famous channels Bindass!
Several new channels launched in India over the years, but most of them had to go through permanent shutdown. Some have even transformed into a new channel with a new name.
Here is a compiled list of the channels that no longer run in India:
ENGLISH GEC
- BBC Entertainment
- Big CBS Prime
- Big CBS Love
- Big CBS Spark
- FOX Crime
- iTV Choice
MUSIC
- YO Music
- CMM Music
- UTV Stars
- Music Express
- MTunes
NEWS & BUSINESS
- NDTV Metro Nation
- YO News
- P7 News
- Hummara X
INTERNATIONAL
- ZEE Next
- ZEE Arabia
- Hallmark
- Zone Reality
- TB6 Mockba
- Space TV
- NRI Standard
KIDS
- Spacetoon Kids
- CBeebies
- ZEE Q
- ANIMAX
- Da Vinci Learning
INFORMATION & LIFESTYLES
- Voyages
- ZEE Trendz
- DD Gyan Darshan 1
- DD Gyan Darshan 2
SPORTS
- ZEE Sports
- Fox Sports News
- Trace Sports Star
- TEN Cricket
- STAR Sports 4
- STAR Sports
SHOPPING/FOOD/EDUCATIONAL
- Shop CJ2
- Naaptol
- Best Deal TV
- Food First
- ZEE Education
- Jiviee Shoppe
HINDI
- Real TV
- Imagine TV
- STAR One
- ZEE Smile
- 9X
- DD 3 Movie Club
- Jhankaar Movies
- ZEE Premier
- Hariyali TV
- TVC Skyshop
TAMIL
- Tamil Thirai TV
- GTV SPV
- G7 SPV
- SS TV
- SS Entertainment
- Jaya TV
- Sun Action
TELUGU
- Asianet Sithara
- Maa Junior
- UTV Action Telugu
- Gemini Action
MALAYALAM
- Asianet Global
- Bharath TV
- MiddleEast Entertainment TV
- Indiavision
- Yes Indiavision
- TV New
- Prabhatham News
- Surya Action
KANNADA
- Asianet Bharathi
- Asianet Kaveri
- Suprabhatha TV
- Shopping Zone Kannada
- Snapdeal Kannada
- Suriyan TV
MARATHI
- Tara Marathi
- DD Marathi
- STV Goa News
- Prabhat TV
- Mi Marathi
- Naaptol Marathi
BENGALI
- Mahuaa Bangla
- Tara Bangla
- Mahuaa Khobor
- Sananda TV
- Focus Bangla
- Tara music
- Ujjain Bangla
- Taaza TV
ORIYA
- Superstar Josh Odia
- Ekamra TV
- STV Samachar
PUNJABI
- ZEE ETC Punjabi
- Get Punjabi
- Big CBS Spark Punjabi
- Tara Punjabi
- Punjab Today
- Punjabi cinema
- Punjab TV
- Lashkara
- Balle Balle
GUJARATI
- ZEE Gujarati
- VTV Gujarati
BHOJPURI/BIHARI
- Purva TV
- Mahuaa TV
URDU
- Husaini Channel
- Peace TV Urdu
- Shifa TV
- Awaam
- Urdu TV
- Paigham TV
- KTN
- ARY QTV
- Voice TV Kashmir
MADHYA PRADESH/CHATTISGARH
- Bansal News
- Khabar Bharti
- D Live
RAJASTHAN
- HBC News Channel
- JAN TV
- JAN TV Plus
- First India Rajasthan
- UTTAR PRADESH/UTTARAKHAND
- ZEE Sangam
- WIN TV UP/Uttarakhand
- Channel C UP/Uttarakhand
- Sea News
- Mahuaa News UP/Uttarakhand
HARYANA/HIMACHAL PRADESH
- Al Tehalaka News
- BBC Haryana
ASSAMESE
- Focus NE
- Focus HiFi
REGIONAL
- Kermit
- ATN
- Gurjari
- De TV
- TMG Enter
- VOI
- VOI Millionaire
- Sur Sangeet
- NEPC
- Vatsa Music
- Play TV
- My TV
- Channel 10
- News Chakra
- News Express
- Splash Channel
- Om TV
- Take Care TV
- Falak TV
- S1 Tadka
- Voi home tv
- Jansandesh
- Jan Sandesh
- Prime News
- Frontier TV
- News Network
- Azad News
- Hummara X
RELIGIOUS
- Ahimsaa
- Jesus TV
Let us know below if you know of any other news channels apart from this list that closed down in India.