New Delhi: More than two dozen Indian Television channels including news and GEC channels went off air due to a satellite outage because of a radio frequency interference from 6:30 PM IST on February 1.
The list of channels include Angel TV India, Captain TV, Mayam TV, Madha TV, Makkal TV, Kairali TV, Kairali News, We, Moon TV, Puthiya Thalaimurai, Sathiyam TV, Sankara TV, Subhavaartha TV, Tamilan TV, Vasanth TV, Win TV (India), Polimer, Public TV, Captain News, TV 5 News, Polimer News, MK TV (India), Public Music, Kairali Arabia, Public Movies, Mathrubhumi News, and Kappa TV
News Broadcasters Federation, the industry body upholding the editorial principles and business interests of the news channels, is working with relevant stakeholders on a war-footing to ensure the broadcasting services are back at the earliest.
“We assure ardent news channel viewers, advertisers and our distribution partners including local cable TV operators, and Multi-System Operators that we aim to have the service back. We thank PlanetCast Media, Tata Communications, Intelsat and Indian Space Research Organisation in taking up the issue on priority and working on it,” said NBF in a press statement.
Latest update (as on February 2nd morning) from the market revealed that many channels managed to uplink their channels by means of alternative bandwidth arrangement with ISRO. However, smaller broadcast networks in regional markets are still struggling to find a way. PlanetCast Media is trying to help them with other options.
It may be noted that majority of the channels went off-air due this satellite outage are from South Regional market. It majorly involved News Channels in South Region while few GECs were also affected.