Tara Muzik

Not to be confused with Tara Music.

Tara Muzik was an Indian Bengali-language satellite and cable music-oriented television channel owned by the Saradha Group, a chit fund company.^[1] It was launched on 21 February 2005, as the first Bengali-language music-oriented channel in the world, after being split from Tara Bangla, which was launched on 28 April 2000. Tara Muzik was targeted to Bengali-speaking audiences in both India and Bangladesh.^[2][1] It is broadcast from Tara's headquarters in Salt Lake, Kolkata.^[1] Due to financial reasons, the channel was shut down on 12 May 2013.

Tara Muzik

Country	India
Broadcast area	India Bangladesh
Headquarters	Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Programming
Language(s)	Bengali
Picture format	576i SDTV
Ownership
Owner	Saradha Group
Sister channels	Tara Newz TV Southasia
History
Launched	21 February 2005; 19 years ago (2005-02-21)
Closed	12 May 2013; 11 years ago (2013-05-12)
Links
Website	www.taratv.com

History

In 2000, Doordarshan and later Star TV's former head, Rathikant Basu, established TARA, which stood for Television Aimed at Regional Audiences.^[3] The network comprised four regional television channels in Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, and Marathi languages, all of which besides the Bengali one have shut down because of financial losses.^[4] On 21 February 2005, Tara exited the general entertainment genre due to stiff competition from its rivals, such as ETV Bangla and Alpha Bangla, and split Tara Bangla into two television channels, Tara Newz and Tara Muzik, devoted to news and music programming respectively.^[5] Within less than a month after its launch, Tara Muzik had the second-highest viewership among Bengali-language television channels in India, behind only ETV Bangla.^[6] In 2010, Saradha Group acquired the two channels from Broadcast Worldwide, which owned the Tara television network.^[1]

Financial crisis and shutdown

In early 2013, Tara Muzik suspended regular programming and began airing repeat telecasts due to financial reasons.^[7] On 14 April 2013, they, along with its sisters, Tara Newz and TV Southasia, were given a closure notice, leading to employees who refused to shut the channels down breaking down on live television.^[7] According to general manager Indrajit Roy, Saradha Group, the owners of the three channels, were no longer willing to fund them. However, Tara Muzik resumed broadcasting as there was a campaign to save the three channels from shutting down, until the channel itself ceased doing so on 12 May 2013.^[8][9] Later, West Bengal's chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, announced to acquire both Tara Muzik and Tara Newz,^[10][11] but a TRAI order banning Indian state governments to acquire television channels halted the acquisition.^[12]

Programming

• Aaj Sakaler Amontrone^[13]
• Amar Rabindranath^[14]
• Amar Shahar^[15]
• Anya Durga^[16]
• Bhalo Achi, Bhalo Theko^[17]
• Doctor Online^[18]
• Ganbhashi Live^[19]
• Hanrir Khabar^[20]
• Live Mon Niye^[21]
• Sab Jane Janata^[22]
• Take a Break Live^[23]

See also

• Tara Newz
• TV Southasia

External links

• Official website

References

1. "Tara News, Muzik, South Asia TV closing down". BDNews24. 17 April 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
2. Saha, Prajjal. "Tara Bangla reborn as Tara Newz, Tara Muzik". Afaqs!. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
3. Parks, Lisa; Kumar, Shanti, eds. (2003). Planet TV: A Global Television Reader (illustrated ed.). NYU Press. p. 343. ISBN 0814766927. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
4. "Tara Marathi Shuts Shop, As Firm Incurs Major Losses". The Financial Express. 2 January 2003. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
5. "Tara exits general entertainment; to launch news, music channels". Indian Television. 9 February 2005. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
6. "Tara Muzik claims second spot in Bengali TV rankings". Indian Television. 6 May 2005. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
7. "Tara channels stay on air". The Times of India. 17 April 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
8. Arshad, Ali (12 May 2013). "Tara Muzik too goes off air". The Indian Express. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
9. বন্ধ হচ্ছে তারার ৩ টিভি চ্যানেল. BDNews24 (in Bengali). 17 April 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
10. "Bengal government to buy two closed Saradha TV channels". Business Standard. 23 May 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
11. তারা মিউজিক ও তারা নিউজ অধিগ্রহণ করছে পশ্চিমবঙ্গ সরকার. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). 25 May 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
12. "To pay off investors, 3 Saradha TV channels to be auctioned". The Indian Express. 14 January 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
13. "Aaj Sakaler Amontrone". TaraTV. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
14. "Amar Rabindranath". TaraTV. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
15. "Aamar Shahar". TaraTV. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
16. "Anya Durga". TaraTV. Archived from the original on 2 July 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
17. "Bhalo Achi, Bhalo Theko..." TaraTV. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
18. "Sab Jane Janata". TaraTV. Archived from the original on 2 July 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
19. "Ganbhashi Live". TaraTV. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
20. "Hanrir Khabar conducted by Chhanda Guha". TaraTV. Archived from the original on 2 July 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
21. "Live Mon Niye". TaraTV. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
22. "Sab Jane Janata". TaraTV. Archived from the original on 2 July 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
23. "Take A Break Live". TaraTV. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2023.