The regional channel war has heated up as more and more players are taking a leap into the wave. India's national broadcaster is not far behind. Doordarshan has seriously decided to tackle private players who are banking on quality and agressive marketing. It is adapting an agressive marketing strategy. DD already has 'Sahyadri', its 24-hour Marathi channel and is set to launch a 24-hour Gujarati channel on 1 May. DD Kannada will be renamed as 'DD Chandan'.

A bouquet of regional channels wil be unveiled for Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar in the coming months.

DD has also decided to take the convergence wave seriously. It is looking to partner with the Ron Victor promoted Homeland Networks which hosts the sites - www.tvofindia.com, www.radioofindia.com and www.pressofindia.com. It is also in talks with Pentafour Software which hosts a broadband portal NumTV.com.