India’s Hindi news channels used to be a short list. One national feed per network, a handful of marquee names. Today the same networks run a parallel layer of state-specific channels: a separate MP and Chhattisgarh feed, a separate Rajasthan feed, a separate Bihar-Jharkhand feed, a separate UP-Uttarakhand feed, a separate Delhi-NCR Haryana feed. The national channel is now the top of a stack rather than the whole product.
The shift has been steady since the early 2010s and the directory has now grown long enough that a reader in Bhopal, Jaipur or Lucknow can choose between four or five regional feeds on the same cable plan. The Hindi news tier has become state-by-state, and Marathi news has stayed one tier over a single state. The pattern underneath that split is what this piece maps.
How Hindi News Came to Run State by State
The current rosters sit on a public list maintained on Wikipedia. The regional Hindi channel list carries five distinct state pairs, plus a defunct Sahara Samay quartet that ran through the late 2010s. For Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh the active set is Zee Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh (Zee MPCG), News18 Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh, NDTV Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh and India News Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh. For Rajasthan the active set mirrors it: Zee Rajasthan, News18 Rajasthan, NDTV Rajasthan and India News Rajasthan.
The same template repeats for UP-Uttarakhand, Bihar-Jharkhand and Delhi-NCR Haryana. Every major national network has paired its flagship channel with a parallel regional channel for each of these state markets. The channel positions itself as a state partner rather than a national extension.
What changed is the audience target. National Hindi news feeds optimised for politics out of Delhi and breaking news from across the country. State-specific feeds optimise for the state capital, district-level crime, the local MLA, the state cabinet’s daily bulletin and the regional sports beat. The hyper-local pitch is now standard.
The table below maps the active channels against the state pairs they serve, drawn from the public directory of Indian-language TV news channels.
| State pair | Network | Channel |
|---|---|---|
| Madhya Pradesh / Chhattisgarh | Zee Media | Zee Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh |
| Madhya Pradesh / Chhattisgarh | Network18 | News18 Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh |
| Madhya Pradesh / Chhattisgarh | NDTV | NDTV Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh |
| Madhya Pradesh / Chhattisgarh | ITV Network | India News Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh |
| Rajasthan | Zee Media | Zee Rajasthan |
| Rajasthan | Network18 | News18 Rajasthan |
| Rajasthan | NDTV | NDTV Rajasthan |
| Rajasthan | ITV Network | India News Rajasthan |
the full directory of Indian-language TV news channels also carries the parallel rosters for UP-Uttarakhand, Bihar-Jharkhand and Delhi-NCR Haryana, where the same four-network pattern shows up. Hindi news in the heartland now behaves like a portfolio, not a single feed.
Inside the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Play
MP and Chhattisgarh together form the largest state pair in this regional tier by population, and the networks that built early leads there have stayed ahead. Zee Media’s MPCG channel, branded Zee MPCG, has been the longest in the market and holds the position of incumbent. NDTV entered the same market on 21 August 2023, when it launched NDTV Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh alongside its website mpcg.ndtv.in, framing the move as a regional layer on top of NDTV’s national journalism.
The active channels serving MP and Chhattisgarh are:
- Zee Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh (Zee Media): the established leader of the state pair, positioning itself around district-level coverage and what the network describes as the voice of both states.
- News18 Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh (Network18): part of the Network18 cluster, pitched at the same hyper-local audience as Zee MPCG.
- NDTV Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh (NDTV): the entrant of August 2023, framing itself around NDTV’s national journalism brand.
- India News Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh (ITV Network): a smaller-budget regional feed covering the same state pair.
NDTV’s launch rationale was spelled out by its then executive editor, Sanjay Pugalia, in the August 2023 launch announcement with NDTV’s executive quotes. His line: “Our decision to go regional stems from our desire to provide hyper-local, relevant news to people living in these states, towns and villages. We’ll carry NDTV’s legacy of trust to MP-Chhattisgarh, and we’ll give the people of MP-Chhattisgarh news that matters to them.” NDTV’s co-executive director Senthil Chengalvarayan added: “NDTV’s regional channels are committed to bringing news you can trust, and carrying forward NDTV’s legacy of 35 years to the people of MP and Chhattisgarh.” Both quotes are verbatim from the launch press release. The pitch is trust, not novelty.
Rajasthan: The Heartland Mirror
Rajasthan is the closest mirror to the MP-Chhattisgarh pair in this tier. The same four networks run parallel Rajasthan feeds: Zee Rajasthan, News18 Rajasthan, NDTV Rajasthan and India News Rajasthan. The launch calendar has lagged the MP-Chhattisgarh layer by a few years, but the audience logic is identical: a state capital beat, a Jaipur-and-Ajmer district coverage loop, and a channel positioning aimed at the local MLA and the state cabinet.
Stats snapshot for the Rajasthan regional feed layer:
- 4 active regional Hindi news channels dedicated to Rajasthan.
- 4 matching channels for MP-Chhattisgarh, the closest state pair in this tier.
- 2 major networks (Zee Media, Network18) maintain named channel editors specifically for the Rajasthan feed, per the corporate directory.
Per the official corporate directory of the Zee news network, Zee Rajasthan describes itself as the voice of the people of the state, with news coverage “supported by an extensive network of news bureaus, news representatives and informers across Rajasthan.” The corporate framing matches the one used for Zee MPCG: hyperlocal, district-deep, voice of the state. The Rajasthan feed is not a Jaipur-only product; it is a state-wide network of bureaus wearing a Jaipur byline.
Marathi: A Language Tier, Not a State Channel
Marathi sits one layer over the Hindi regional model and behaves differently. The directory lists seven active Marathi news channels: ABP Majha, Jai Maharashtra, NDTV Marathi, News18 Marathi, Saam TV, TV9 Marathi and Zee 24 Taas. All seven serve Maharashtra as a single state, with Mumbai as the centre of gravity. No network has split Marathi news into a Vidarbha channel, a Marathwada channel or a Konkan channel.
The numbered list below shows the roster as carried by the public directory:
- ABP Majha: a long-standing Marathi brand headquartered in Mumbai.
- Zee 24 Taas: per Zee Media’s own directory, “the first 24 hrs Marathi news channel that ensured that Maharashtra gets a voice that speaks the truth.”
- News18 Marathi: Network18’s Marathi feed, part of the same cluster as News18 Hindi regional channels.
- NDTV Marathi: NDTV’s Marathi language entry.
- TV9 Marathi: the TV9 network’s Marathi feed.
- Saam TV: a Marathi news brand owned by the Sakal media group.
- Jai Maharashtra: a smaller Marathi news channel.
Marathi news works as a single language tier serving one state. Hindi regional news works as a fragmented layer serving state pairs. The two formats compete for the same kind of budget from the same advertisers, and the structural difference shapes everything from bureau count to ad rates.
What “Hyper-Local” Looks Like on the Ground
The regional feeds do not run like the national feeds. The national channel cycles through Delhi politics, Parliament, the Prime Minister’s schedule and a small handful of metros. The regional feed cycles through the state capital’s daily press briefing, district crime beats, local election coverage, mandis, the state cabinet’s decisions and a high volume of district-level human-interest stories. The two products share a network logo and a corporate parent; the daily programme grid barely overlaps.
The NDTV Pugalia quote at the channel’s August 2023 launch captures the pitch: news “from these states, towns and villages,” not from Bhopal and Raipur alone. NDTV said its focus on ground reports would give the public “that much needed voice,” per the same launch press release.
The brand sees itself as the voice of the people. By raising the concerns of the local population, the channel aims to keep the government accountable for its actions. The news programming comprises half hour shows and smaller news bulletins covering developments of public interest – from the capital city right down to small towns and even villages. The news coverage is supported by an extensive network of news bureaus, news representatives and informers across Rajasthan. ZEE Rajasthan has deep dived into hyperlocal coverage which is resonating well with our audience.
That passage, carried in the official corporate directory of the Zee news network, is the operating manual the regional feeds share. Bureau count, district-level beat reporters, half-hour local shows and a parallel web-and-app product for the same state pair. The same paragraph in Zee Media’s directory applies to Zee MPCG and to every other Zee regional channel in the lineup.
The Numbers Behind the MPCG Bet
The most concrete market signal in this regional tier comes from Zee MPCG itself. Per the network’s corporate directory, Zee MPCG has held the position of leader in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for the stated period.
Stats snapshot, drawn from the corporate directory:
- more than 50% market share in the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh news channel market.
- 5 years that share position has been held, per Zee Media’s own channel page.
- 1 named channel editor, Mr. Mohit Sinha, responsible for the MPCG feed.
Zee Media’s channel page describes the Zee MPCG offering as “detail-oriented coverages” that provide “relevant information to its viewers” and push authorities to act in the interest of people, holding true to its tagline “Aapki Aawaz, Aapka Bharosa.” The same corporate source attributes the leader position to Zee MPCG’s state-wide bureau depth. The market-share figure is the network’s own claim, not an independent measurement, but it is the clearest single number on the regional tier.
For comparison, Zee MPCG’s live news feed for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh is one of several feeds a viewer in Bhopal or Raipur can pick from a single DTH bouquet. The Zee feed, the News18 feed, the NDTV feed and the India News feed all sit in the same channel-number band.
The Costs of Going State-Wise
Running four parallel state-pair channels instead of one national feed multiplies costs across bureaus, journalists, transmission and ad-sales overhead. Each regional channel needs its own control room feed, its own political desk, its own crime desk and its own district reporting network. Zee Media, Network18, NDTV and ITV Network each carry that overhead four or five times over. The format only pays back if advertisers find state-specific audiences valuable enough to pay premium rates for state-by-state targeting, and if the regional feed attracts a viewing share the national channel could not.
The structural risk sits in churn. The defunct Sahara Samay quartet ran the same template in the late 2010s and is no longer on the active directory. The current four-network regional layer has to clear a higher bar than those earlier experiments. NDTV’s entry in August 2023 is the most recent data point and the cleanest test case: a national network entering an incumbent-led state-pair market, betting that a legacy brand can be converted into a regional lead.
NDTV’s Pugalia framed the regional push as a legacy exercise, saying the channels would carry forward NDTV’s legacy of 35 years to the people of MP and Chhattisgarh. How many of these state channels survive another five years is the open question; the Sahara Samay quartet is the most recent reminder that regional feed layers can clear out faster than they were built.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Hindi news channels cover Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh?
The active regional Hindi news channels covering Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are Zee Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh, News18 Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh, NDTV Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh and India News Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh, per the public directory of Indian news channels.
Which Hindi news channel is dedicated to Rajasthan?
Rajasthan has four active regional Hindi news channels: Zee Rajasthan, News18 Rajasthan, NDTV Rajasthan and India News Rajasthan. Each is owned by the same parent networks that run the parallel MP-Chhattisgarh feeds.
Why are Hindi news channels split state by state?
Per NDTV executive editor Sanjay Pugalia’s launch-day statement in August 2023, the regional layer exists to provide hyper-local, relevant news to people living in these states, towns and villages, rather than news filtered through the Delhi national desk.
Are Marathi news channels also split by state?
No. Marathi news channels serve Maharashtra as a single state through a single language tier. The active Marathi roster includes ABP Majha, Zee 24 Taas, News18 Marathi, NDTV Marathi, TV9 Marathi, Saam TV and Jai Maharashtra.
