MUMBAI: Relaunched fledgling DD News seems determined to fight its way back into the reckoning. And it's not made a bad start either, if statistics provided by the pubcaster (Cable & Satellite Viewers 4 yrs + (03/11/03 - 08/11/03) Monday - Saturday) are anything to go by.

In the first week of its new avatar, DD News claims to have grabbed 26 per cent of market share in Delhi, equalling that of market leader Aaj Tak, among Hindi news channels.

In Chennai, the only place where conditional access is up and running, DD News has ensured a 100 per cent reach, just as the satellite news channels are at zero per cent. In Kolkata, DD News' share is way ahead at 44 per cent, while Aaj Tak, NDTV India, Zee News and Sahara Samay are at 13 per cent each and Star News is further behind at six per cent. Only in Mumbai has DD News been unable to match Aaj Tak's 29 per cent share, currently having eaten into a 13 per cent share (even Zee News is ahead with a 18 per cent share). The rest of Maharashtra (one million plus towns) however bodes well for DD News as the channel has managed a share of 33 per cent as against Aaj Tak's 29 per cent.

The rest of Tamil Nadu has taken well to DD News too, with the channel having garnered a 67 per cent share as against a 33 per cent share commanded by Aaj Tak. So has Bangalore, where Aaj Tak has a three per cent channel share as against DD News' 88 per cent.

Doordarshan's diktat to cable operators to carry the new news channel too seems to have worked well as the channel's reach is comparable to the satellite news channels, if not better. Except for Gujarat, where DD News' reach is lower than that of Aaj Tak, it is more than the reigning news channel in Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata and almost equal to that of Aaj Tak in Mumbai.