Less than six months after Prasar Bharati shut down its Doordarshan News channel due to lack of viewership, the pubcaster is contemplating reviving it. 

This was confirmed to indiantelevision.com by a senior Prasar Bharati official today. It needs noting that when DD News closed down on 26 January after 18 months on air, there were simply no takers for the channel despite the increased interest in news post-11 September. The idea then was to devote more time on DD1 to news and current affairs.

What seems to have brought around this turnaround in thinking seems to have been the communal strife that Gujarat state witnessed as well as the ongoing tensions with neighbouring Pakistan. The private news channels have gone from strength to strength following these events with blanket coverage of the events. 

The government appears to have come round to the view that a dedicated news channel is an absolute must in these times of uncertainty to work as a vehicle to better represent the government's side of the story.

Word of a rethink on DD News comes at a time when Doordarshan is working overtime to spruce up its new presentation team with the help of the BBC and there is a spurt of interest among private players to launch news channels.