DD News is the first and the only terrestrial news channel in the country reaching approximately half of the Indian population. This channel was launched in November 2003 and within a year of its launch; it emerged as a force to reckon within the fiercely competitive business of TV news channels. It replaced the DD Metro Entertainment channel, and provides a 24-Hour news service. It is the undisputed leader in terms of absolute viewer-ship with about 50 per cent share among TV news channels.

The bi-lingual (English and Hindi) DD News follows a half an hour dynamic wheel of programming. Besides round the clock telecast of news bulletins, several programmes covering business, sports, health, art & culture are broadcast regularly. Panel discussions are held on topics of current affairs. The DD News Channel is run by the Doordarshan News Center at the Asian Games Village in New Delhi supported by a network of 23 Regional News Units (RNUs) spread across India.

Doordarshan News gives extensive coverage to all important news events that take place in India and abroad. DD News mounts several informative programmes on the General Budget, demystifying and simplifying the economic terminology for the common people. The Budget speech of the Finance Minister is also telecast live. The visits of foreign dignitaries to India and the visits of Indian leaders abroad are also extensively covered by this news channel. A dedicated Digital Satellite News Gathering System, including hi-tech gadgets like Satellite Phones and Video Phones are available for DD News, which has greatly increased its capacity in giving live inputs from the news spots.

DD News also has a website - www.ddinews.gov.in which, besides streaming bulletins for two hours every day, puts out stories on the various news events throughout the day. On October 23rd, 2003, a month before DD News channel was launched, there was a plea to by a delegation led by the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president, Chaudhary Prem Singh to stop the DD News channel. The delegation protested against the move by Doordarshan to convert its entertainment channel into a 24-hour news channel. The delegation alleged that this move was clearly aimed at making Doordarshan a tool in the hands of the ruling party and misuses its reach during the forthcoming Assembly polls.

On 1st November, The Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati, K.S. Sarma, has said that top television personalities, including Rajat Sharma, Rajeev Malhotra and Nalini Singh, are being contracted to work for the round-the-clock DD News Channel to be launched. The signature tune of the DD was changed and services of top class agencies were hired for transmission.It was also decided to cover 22 per cent of the so far uncovered geographical area of the country through the KU band satellite so as to provide TV viewer ship to the people residing in remote areas.

The newly launched DD News was making waves. In the first week itself, the channel had managed to grab a substantial share of viewers from other Hindi news channels. According to data provided by TAM India, for the week starting November 3, 2003, while Aaj Tak continued to lead with 29 per cent share, DD News had 21 per cent, followed by Star News with 18 per cent, Zee News with 25 per cent, NDTV India and Sahara Samay received 12 per cent and six per cent respectively. When first launched in 2000, DD News was a satellite channel; and its closure almost 18 months after its birth, was assigned to poor visibility in cable homes, because of the reluctance of the cable operators to put the news channels on the prime band. It was said that because DD News was a satellite channel, it could not attain the penetration it deserved.