Sidharth TV

About Sidharth TV

Sidharth TV is an Odia-language general entertainment channel based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, and the flagship channel of the Sidharth TV Network. Launched on 15 May 2021, it is owned by Sitaram Agrawal and Namita Agrawal, the media entrepreneurs who earlier founded Sarthak TV in 2010 and sold it to the Zee group in 2015, after which it became Zee Sarthak. Sidharth TV features daily soaps, reality shows, Odia movies and musical programmes, and anchors a four-channel network that also includes the movies-and-music channel Sidharth Gold, the devotional channel Sidharth Bhakti and the Lord Jagannath–dedicated channel Jay Jagannath TV, alongside the FM radio station 91.9 Sidharth FM.

History

The story of Sidharth TV begins with its founders' long history in Odia media. Sitaram Agrawal, an expert sound engineer by training, built his early career around a music business. In 1983 he began producing value-based music audios under the brand JE Cassettes, and in 1999 he launched Sarthak Music, a pioneer of the music-video era in Odisha that went on to build one of the largest repositories of Odia music — described in industry profiles as holding as much as 80 percent of the Odia music library. His film production venture produced more than 40 Odia titles, several of them blockbuster hits.

In 2010 Agrawal founded Sarthak TV, an Odia general entertainment channel that became the number one GEC in the language within about three years, beating established rivals. In 2015 he sold Sarthak TV to Zee Entertainment Enterprises in a deal reported at Rs 115 crore; Zee later rebranded it as Zee Sarthak in 2017, and it remains the number two Odia GEC after Tarang TV. Agrawal has said he would never have sold Sarthak TV had his financial partner not insisted. After the sale, the music business remained, and with the arrival of digital video in 2016 he used the medium to build the Sidharth brand — "Sarthak" and "Sidharth" are the names of his twin sons. Digital became his launch pad back into television: the group built a large YouTube presence, with trade reports crediting it with more than 20 million subscribers across its devotional, music and entertainment channels, before returning to satellite television in 2021.

Launch

Sidharth TV was launched on 15 May 2021, the auspicious day of Akshaya Tritiya, alongside its sister channel Sidharth Gold. The group's first satellite channel, the devotional Sidharth Bhakti, had gone on air earlier, on 1 April 2021. At launch, Sidharth TV announced an aggressive content slate: two reality shows, "Mun Be Namita Agarwal Hebi" and "Raja Sundari," more than 50 world television premieres of high-budget Odia movies, and more than 100 all-time popular jatras (traditional Odia stage plays). Two mega serials — one with a tantalising storyline and another with a star-studded cast — were announced to follow soon. To mark the Odia festival of Raja in June 2021, the network aired four blockbuster high-budget movies as consecutive world television premieres from 13 to 16 June, a programming blitz the trade press dubbed a "Raja Bonanza."

Ownership

Sidharth TV is owned by Sitaram Agrawal and Namita Agrawal and operated by the parent company Sidharth TV Network. Namita Agrawal is a well-known playback singer and a household name across Odisha, while Sitaram Agrawal is regarded as a stalwart of the entertainment business across television, FM radio, music and films. The network is headquartered in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The channel is described in industry references as a premium subscription-based (pay) channel, part of a bouquet alongside its sister channels.

Programming

As a general entertainment channel, Sidharth TV carries daily soaps, reality shows, Odia movies, musical shows and jatras. Serials associated with the channel include "Mangula Kanya," "Aparajita" and "Sampurna Laxmi," the last of them based on the deeply rooted traditions of Odisha, alongside later daily soaps such as "Maya O Mamata," "Sunayana," "Bhagya Kheluchi Sindura Khela" and "Tu Mo Kedara Mu To Gouri." Reality programming includes the talent-hunt show "Tike Dance Tike Acting," judged by cine stars and running into multiple seasons, and the singing reality format "Odisha Ra Nua Swara," alongside the launch-era shows "Mun Be Namita Agarwal Hebi" and "Raja Sundari." The channel's movie blocks include the "Matinee Super Noon Show," the "Saturday Night Show" and the "Sunday Maha Movie," plus a dedicated jatra strand, "Jatra Agana."

Sister Channels and Radio

Sidharth TV is the flagship of a wider media group. Sidharth Gold, launched the same day, is the network's movies, music and jatra channel. Sidharth Bhakti is the devotional channel, and Jay Jagannath TV, launched on 1 June 2022, is a channel dedicated entirely to Lord Jagannath of Puri — described as Odisha's first ad-free television channel — which received a Hindi-language version in 2026. The group's radio arm is 91.9 Sidharth FM, broadcasting from Cuttack (with a presence in the Bhubaneswar–Cuttack twin city and Rourkela), which began life as 91.9 Sarthak FM on 29 April 2017 and was renamed Sidharth FM on 1 September 2021. The station plays Odia songs around the clock and releases a new song every day.

Distribution

Distribution was the network's biggest early challenge. Trade forums in 2021 and 2022 repeatedly noted that the Sidharth channels had poor carriage on major DTH platforms, with the network asking viewers to request the channels from their cable and DTH operators. Over time carriage improved: Sidharth TV and Sidharth Bhakti were added by Airtel Digital TV in May 2022, and the full set of Sidharth channels arrived on Dish TV around 1 June 2022, coinciding with the launch of Jay Jagannath TV.

Sales and Advertising

The network professionalised its advertising sales early. In 2022, Sidharth TV Network gave the mandate for its sales operations to Whitepixel and GapBox. Announcing the tie-up, the network's head of operations Bibhuti Bhusan Mishra noted the group's nearly four-decade history of creating content for Odia audiences, from Sarthak TV to a strong digital presence, and said the group aimed to bring the best in entertainment, cinema and devotional content to Odia viewers. The network's head of sales, Rabindranath Padhy, pointed to the channel's popular serials and reality shows as evidence that it understood the pulse of the Odia market.

Market Position

Sidharth TV entered an Odia GEC market dominated by Tarang TV of the Ortel group and Zee Sarthak. Its founder's pedigree — the man who built Sarthak TV into the number one Odia GEC in three years — gave the launch unusual credibility, and trade coverage has identified Sidharth TV as one of the channels reshaping competition in Odisha alongside Star Kiran, the 2022 entrant from Disney Star. In a 2022 interview, Sitaram Agrawal argued there was an oversupply of channels merely replicating Hindi GECs in Odisha, positioning his network's deep library of Odia music, films and devotional content — built over four decades — as its differentiator. Odisha's entertainment preferences, industry observers note, are dominated by the state's rich musical and religious traditions, with devotional programmes, talent-hunt shows and culturally rooted serials among the most demanded genres.

Digital Presence

Before its satellite launch, the Sidharth brand was built substantially on digital platforms. Trade reports credit the group with more than 20 million subscribers across its YouTube channels spanning devotion, music and entertainment, and the network launched a digital Bengali music channel, "Siddharth Bangla," in 2019. The network maintains an official website with pages for each of its channels, and its channels stream content through digital and social platforms.

Official Website

The official website of the Sidharth TV Network, which carries information on Sidharth TV and its sister channels, is sidharthtvnetwork.com.