News 18 J&K-Ladakh-Himachal ( ur, ) is an Indian

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or multichannel video programming distributo ...

that broadcasts in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Network 18 which is owned and operated by

Reliance Industries Reliance Industries Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate company, headquartered in Mumbai. It has diverse businesses including energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles. Reliance is ...

. It was launched on 15 August 2001 by Media Baron Ramoji Rao. It is the first Urdu Language channel of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

History

The Urdu language has long been an integral part of the cultural fabric of India. Some of the

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film industry's legacies come from this language. It is one of the official languages of India.

Establishment

After identifying a lack of a channel that showcased the Urdu language, ETV Network started India's first Urdu language TV channel: ETV Urdu, on 15 August 2001. It now caters to a large section of Urdu speaking population in India. It also aims to target

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

i viewers as Urdu is their national language. It is also available in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

, United States and UK. Main programming includes serials, debates on culturally and socially relevant subjects, dramas, news, religious and other infotainment programs.

Administration

News18 Urdu is India's full-time Urdu News channel which relays news and programs 24 hours a day. It is owned by Network 18 which is owned and operated by

. To cater to the needs of Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states audience, the News 18 management started regional bulletins. {{DEFAULTSORT:News 18 Urdu Television channels and stations established in 2001 Television stations in Hyderabad Urdu-language mass media Urdu-language television channels in India 24-hour television news channels in India