The Prasar Bharti brought eleven more state Doordarshan (DD) channels, including five channels of north-eastern states, on the satellite footprint of India through DD Free Dish in a bid to reach out to the northeastern part of the country, reports Live Mint.

It is for the first time that the states of Chhattisgarh, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Uttarakhand have got their own DD channel on a satellite network through DD Free Dish, Mint cited a statement of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) as saying.

“These state channels represent the regional aspirations of the local population. Providing a satellite network for these channels through DD Free Dish will not only increase the visibility of these channels in the regions but also give them an all-India presence. The increased accessibility to regional broadcast will help promote regional culture and give opportunities to local talent as well," the statement added.

According to the report, Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier last month had launched DD Arun Prabha, a 24x7 Doordarshan satellite channel for Arunachal Pradesh and laid the foundation stone of a permanent campus of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), the first in northeast India, in the state.