Aaj Tak is a 24-hour Hindi news television channel owned by TV Today Network. Aaj Tak loosely translates as "Till Today" or "Up to the Minute". Aaj Tak initially began as a news bulletin on a public television station in India and turned to an independent channel after the carrier did not renew its contract. In India, Aaj Tak is free-to-air. In 2006 it began offering a pay channel to international markets."AAJ TAK was launched in December 2000 as a 24-hour Hindi news channel, which covers India with insight, courage and plenty of local flavour. Within six months of its launch, AAJ TAK emerged as India’s number one news channel. And within eleven months, it was awarded the best news channel by the India Television Academy. Two years on, it bagged the Indian Television academy’s award for being “The Best News Channel” again, and added the RAPA award for “Best Advertising Campaign”. Beginning with an impressive connectivity of 5.2 million homes at the time of launch, AAJ TAK today boasts of a reach of over 30 million homes and a channel share of more than 55% among the news channels. Its unique style of passionate story telling and live coverage has become its hallmark.