Colors Odia Channel Shut Down: The Odia entertainment channel Colors Odia has been shut down. The channel was broadcast in Odia language under Viacom18, a company under Reliance Industries. However, due to its inability to perform well, the decision was made to discontinue it. This step was taken following the merger of Viacom18 with another media company, Disney Star.
The Colors Odia office was operating from Kharavela Nagar in Bhubaneswar, with around 15 employees working there. However, before announcing the shutdown, the company instructed the employees to resign. As a result, the employees resigned and stopped coming to the office from February 27. Following this, all office assets were moved to Kolkata.
Not just Colors Odia, but another Odia entertainment channel under the company, Star Kiran HD, has also been announced for shutdown. Although this channel had acquired a license, it never started broadcasting in Odisha and has now been discontinued. Currently, only Star Kiran (SD) is being aired in Odia, but its future remains uncertain as the company’s Bhubaneswar office has been closed for a long time. Now the channel operates from Kolkata.
The renowned Indian entertainment companies Disney Star and Viacom18 have merged and are now operating under the brand JioStar. As a result, JioStar has shut down multiple channels under these two major companies. Reports suggest that, along with the two Odia channels, the company has shut down nine more channels, including..
- Comedy Central
- Vh1
- Vh1 HD
- MTV Beats
- MTV Beats HD
- Comedy Central HD
- Bindass
- Colors Odia
- Star Kiran HD
Along with the shutdown announcement, JioStar has also announced the launch of eight new sports channels, including:
- Star Sports 2 Kannada
- Star Sports 2 Telugu
- Star Sports 2 Telugu HD
- Star Sports 2 Tamil
- Star Sports 2 Tamil HD
- Star Sports Khel
- Star Sports 2 Hindi
- Star Sports 2 Hindi HD
Earlier, the Odia entertainment channel Manjari, owned by Eastern Media Group, had also stopped broadcasting. Similarly, the news channel Zee Odisha has also been discontinued. Currently, very few entertainment and news channels are being broadcast in Odia, and most of them are struggling. As a result, it is becoming evident that the TV media industry in Odisha is facing a serious crisis.
