NDTV was founded in 1984, by the journalist Radhika Roy and the economist Prannoy Roy, a husband and wife duo from the city of Kolkata in the state of West Bengal. It began as a production house for news segments for the public broadcaster Doordarshan and international satellite channels when television broadcasting was a state monopoly and transitioned into the first independent news network in India. The company launched the first 24x7 news channel in partnership with Star India in 1998.