DD Free Dish: complete channel list 2022 and how to tune your old set-top box

DD Free Dish has become a lifeline of sorts for those wanting to consume TV channels for free in India. During the pandemic, the vast network of channels are not only keeping Indians informed and delivering general entertainment content, but are also helping education reach those with no broadband connectivity.

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India has seen a huge revamp in the way television channels are broadcasted to end consumers. Earlier this year, TRAI introduced new rules that brought DTH channels to consumers at much cheaper rates than before. While channels now come with a fixed Network Capacity Fee (NCF) and à la carte channels, Doordarshan remains a different beast.

To the uninitiated, Doordarshan is a public service broadcaster owned by the Broadcasting Ministry of India. Alongside All India Radio, Doordarshan forms one of the two divisions of Prasar Bharti. Established on September 15th 1959, Doordarshan is one of India’s largest broadcasting organisations in studio and transmitter infrastructure.

DD Free Dish: what is it?

As mentioned earlier, DD Free Dish is India’s only free Direct-To-Home service. At the time of its launch in December 2004, it offered only 33 channels. At present, the service offers 104 SDTV channels along with 40 Radio channels. It is available in Ku-Band on GSAT-15 (at 93.5°E). The DTH signals can be received through a small sized dish receive system, also known as Set-top Box and Dish of size around 60 to 90cm in diameter.

DD Free Dish channel list

LordDD Free Dish is a free Direct–to-Home service that was previously know as DD Direct+Doordarshan operates a total of 21 channels and has 46 studios. It has two all-India channels in the form of DD National and DD News. It also operates 17 regional satellite channels, 11 state networks, an international channel called DD India, a sports channel called DD Sports, DD Bharati, DD Urudu and DD Kisan.

While it has an expansive network of regional channels, Doordarshan also has a free-to-air satellite television provider called DD Free Dish. Previously known as DD Direct Plus, it is estimated to serve approximately 50 million Indian households. In other words, DD Free Dish accounts for around 25 percent of total TV households in the country. It offers a national, parliamentary, regional and state network of TV channels.

DD National channel list

1. DD National
2. DD Retro
3. DD Kisan
4. DD News
5. DD India
6. DD Sports
7. DD Bharati
8. DD Urdu

DD Parliamentary channel list

1. Lok Sabha TV
2. Rajya Sabha TV

Doordarshan Regional channel list

1. DD Assam (Assamese)
2. DD Bangla (Bengali)
3. DD Chandana (Kannada)
4. DD Girnar (Gujarati)
5. DD Kashir (Kashmiri and Urdu)
6. DD Malayalam (Malayalam)
7. DD Odia (Odia)
8. DD Podhigai (Tamil)
9. DD Punjabi (Punjabi)
10. DD Sahyadri (Marathi)
11. DD Saptagiri (Telugu)
12. DD Yadagiri (Telugu)
13. DD Arun Prabha (Hindi and English)
14. DD Bihar (Hindi and Bihari)
15. DD Madhya Pradesh (Hindi)
16. DD Rajasthan (Hindi and Rajasthani)
17. DD Uttar Pradesh (Hindi)

DD State Network channel list

1. DD Chhattisgarh (Hindi)
2. DD Jharkhand (Hindi)
3. DD Uttarakhand (Hindi)
4. DD Manipur (Manipuri)
5. DD Meghalaya (Khasi and Garo)
6. DD Mizoram (Mizo)
7. DD Nagaland (English)
8. DD Tripura (Bengali and Kokborok)

Hindi General Entertainment channel list

1. Colors Rishtey
2. Zee Anmol
3. Big Magic
4. Dangal TV
5. Shemaroo TV
6. Sony Pal
7. Star Utsav
8. Star Utsav Movies
9. Sony Wah
10. Filmachi
11. Manoranjan Grand
12. The Q
13. Azaad

Youth-oriented General Entertainment channel list

1. Zing

Hindi Music channel list

1. MTV Beats
2. B4U Music
3. 9XM
4. Mastiii

Hindi-language Movies channel list

1. ABZY Dhakad
2. ABZY Movies
3. ABZY Cool
4. B4U Kadak
5. B4U Movies
6. Dhinchaak
7. Enterr10 Movies
8. Maha Movie
9. Manoranjan TV
10. Movie Plus
11. Rishtey Cineplex
12. Surya Cinema
13. Zee Anmol Cinema
14. Cineplex Bollywood
15. BFlix Movies
16. Dhinchaak 2

Hindi-language News channel list

1. Aaj Tak
2. Aajtak Tez
3. ABP News
4. India TV
5. NDTV India
6. News 24
7. News Nation
8. News18 India
9. Republic Bharat
10. TV9 Bharatvarsh
11. Zee Hindustan
12. Zee News

Devotional channel list

1. Sadhana Bhakti
2. Lord Buddha TV
3. Aastha TV
4. Sadhana TV
5. Sanskar TV

Bhojpuri channel list

1. B4U Bhojpuri (Movies)
2. Bhojpuri Cinema (Movies)
3. Big Ganga (General Entertainment)
4. Dabangg (Movies)
5. Surya Bhojpuri (Movies)
6. Zee Biskope (Movies)

Marathi channel list

1. Fakt Marathi (General Entertainment)
2. Shemaroo Marathibana (Movies)
3. Zee Chitra Mandir (Movies)

Punjabi channel list

1. Maha Punjabi (Music and Movies)
2. Manoranjan Movies (Movies)
3. Zee Punjabi – (General Entertainment)

DD Free Dish: MPEG-4 streaming

DD Free Dish has been expanding from time to time. It has expanded to present capacity with the introduction of MPEG-4, DVB-S2 stream. It also has plans to add HD channels in the bouquet of DD Free Dish soon. Prasar Bharati also plans to expand the 80 MPEG-2 streams to MPEG-4 in phased manner.

It is different from other DTH operators because they provide paid service. The DTH operators charge customers because they need to uplink the encrypted TV signals to the satellite and the signals are received by subscribers through a receiving system. DD Free Dish works similarly but in this case, customers have to make only a one-time investment to purchase the dish receive system including the set-top box and dish antenna with LNB.

Doordarshan and its enormous presence

Doordarshan provides television, radio, online and mobile service throughout the metropolitan and regional India. It also provides service overseas through the Indian Network and IRadio India. From an experimental broadcaster, Doordarshan has come a long way. While rules have evolved, new players have come along, Doordarshan is still watched by a large section of the country.

If you are wondering for the reason then it is the simple fact that Doordarshan, also called DD, continues to offer free-to-air channels. Whether it is Krishi Darshan or news bulletin in your local language, Doordarshan has you covered with a wide array of channels spanning multiple Indian languages.

While it started in 1959, Doordarshan extended television service to Mumbai (then Bombay) and Amritsar only in 1972. Only seven Indian cities had television service until 1975, states a Wikipedia entry. Doordarshan for a long time remained the country’s sole television provider, giving it an enormous advantage.

How to tune your old DD Free Dish set-top box

DD Free Dish transport streams and their respective frequencies, symbol rate and polarization

1. Satellite Name

Step 1: Go to the Installation menu or visit the setup menu using the remote control.
Step 2: Select Satellite Edit menu.
Step 3: Select Add New Satellite menu.
Step 4: Select Sat Name Edit menu.
Step 5: Enter Satellite Name as GSAT-15.
Step 6: Enter Satellite Longitude as 93.5°E
Step 7: Press Exit.

2. LNB Configuration

Step 1: Go to LNB configuration and ensure that the satellite is selected as GSAT-15.
Step 2: Set LNB Types as Universal.
Step 3: Set LNB Power On.
Step 4: Press Exit.

3. Transport streams of Transponder (TP) Edit

Step 1: Go to Transponder (TP) Edit menu and once again ensure that the satellite selected is GSAT-15.
Step 2: Select Add New TP menu.
Step 3: Select TP frequency as 11,090MHz.
Step 4: Select Symbol rate as 29,500Ksps.
Step 5: Select Polarization as Vertical.
Step 6: Set 22K as OFF
Step 7: Set Disc. Equal to OFF
Step 8: Select Scan as FTA.
Step 9: Press OK

Once you have entered these values in your old set-top box, now go to Search and press Ok. This will add the new 16 TV and 6 Radio services and you can add other four Transport streams by entering respective frequencies, symbol rate and polarization.

DD Free Dish FAQs

Is Star Sports available on DD Free Dish?

Unfortunately, DD Free Dish doesn’t have any Star Network channels. This means DD Free Dish doesn’t have the Star Sports channels available for its users.

Is DD Dish free of cost?

Yes, DD Free Dish is free of cost in the sense that there’s no monthly payment involved. However, in order to get access to DD Free Dish, user need to invest in one-time DD Dish system kit. This include DD Free Dish DTH antenna, DD Free Dish STB, DD Free Dish coaxial cable, and DD Free Dish RG6 connectors. The initial cost for a good and branded kits is somewhere in the range of Rs 2,500.

How can I buy DD Free Dish?

You can buy DD Free Dish kit from any electronics shop in the nearest market. There are two types of STB available for DD Free Dish in market – one that’s approved by Prasar Bharti and the second is any free-to-air set-top box.

How can I watch paid channels on DD free dish?

You can’t watch paid channels on DD Free Dish because it doesn’t have the range of frequencies to connect to their satellite.