In 1984, the journalist Radhika Roy and her economist husband Prannoy Roy founded New Delhi Television. The company began operation as a production house of news segments for the public broadcaster Doordarshan and international satellite news channels. It was converted into a commercial news network in 1988, and became the first independent television news network in India. Doordarshan allotted a slot to the network to air a weekly broadcast called "The World This Week", it was a news magazine programme commissioned by the director general of the public broadcaster, Bhaskar Ghose and covered international news. The weekly news bulletin was described as an instant hit among its Indian viewers.