Doordarshan had a modest beginning with the experimental telecast starting in Delhi in September 1959 with a small transmitter and a makeshift studio. The regular daily transmission started in 1965 as a part of All India Radio. The television service was extended to Mumbai (then Bombay) and Amritsar in 1972. Till 1975, seven Indian cities had television service and Doordarshan remained the only television channel in India. Television services were separated from radio in 1976. Each office of All India Radio and Doordarshan were placed under the management of two separate Director Generals in New Delhi. Finally Doordarshan as a National Broadcaster came into existence.

The 1980's Era!

From this the television reached our house in 1982 Asiad Games when Doordardhan came into existence and showed the opening ceremony,although eighties was the era of Doordardarshan with soaps such as Humlog(1984),Buniyaad(1986-87) mythological dramas like Ramayan(1987-1988) and Mahabharat(1988-89) glued millions to Doordarshan.after this Doordarshan became more experimental and tried shows on various genres likes of detetective shows such as Karamchand and Vyomkesh Bakshi.Chitrahaar used to be very popular those days as well.

The 1990's Era...

The nineties era was marked by launch of private channels and cable television in India.Channels like Zee TV were launched, it was founded in October 1992 .The early shows comprises of Tara , Banegi Apni Baat and others. Zee TV used to come from 7:30 pm till 10 in the night and only later it started coming 24 hours a day. Then arrived Star TV, India's number 1 cable channel from the past few years, Star Plus regularly features the top 40 programmes on cable in India every week. Followed by Sony television and many other private channels!

The era of Soap Operas or Saas-Bahu shows

A soap opera is an ongoing, episodic work of fiction, usually broadcast on television or radio. Programs described as soap operas have existed as an entertainment long enough for audiences to recognize them simply by the term soap.With the introduction of private channels and 24 hours of broadcast, they discovered new term for itself "Saas-Bahu" soaps all thanks to very popular shows such as Kyunki Saas bhi kabhi Bahu thi(started on July 3 2000) , Kahani Ghar Gahr ki and later followed by many other Family centric soaps on various private channels.

The Era of Reality shows!

The reality shows which are hardly real now started way back in late nineties with SRGMPA a singing reality show, a novice step to bring talented and budding singers at a platform and showcase their talent! SRGMPA had given us many talented singers and musician. The trend did not stop here as Indian Idol which was launched in the year 2004 caught the attention of Indian public and brought TRP, money ,fame and viewers .Many shows joined this bandwagon and now we have several such shows running on various channels .With the success of singing reality shows, the Dancing reality shows came into existence as well and caught many eyeballs since then, the trend which was started by Nach Bailye.