Big Magic

Big Magic is a Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) owned by Zee since 2016, which acquired it from Reliance Broadcast Network (part of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group) alongside Big Ganga. Reliance Broadcast Network had, in turn, acquired Imagine Showbiz from Turner India in 2011 and renamed it to Big Magic.

Following the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s drastic changes in TV channel packaging and pricing in December 2018 and January 2019, several channels from four big Indian broadcasters (Star, Zee, Sony and Viacom18) that had been running on DD Free Dish, the government-owned free-of-cost satellite TV platform, were removed from DD Free Dish on 1 March 2019. These included Hindi GECs such as Star Utsav, Zee Anmol, Sony Pal and Rishtey. However, Big Magic was not removed and continues to run on the platform. Since DD Free Dish commands the highest percentage of TV viewers in India’s Hindi-speaking rural areas, Big Magic, along with the hitherto little-known free-to-air channel Dangal, has become one of the most-watched TV channels in the country.

For the predecessor of Big Magic, see Imagine Showbiz.

Big Magic

2011–2015

2015–present

Zee Magic

2019 (tentative)

Big Magic and Big Ganga were supposed to have been renamed to Zee Magic and Zee Ganga respectively in November 2017, but they were unable to acquire licences from India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting at the time.