Silver
Live TV and the on-demand library in Full HD on one screen.
AED149per year
Was AED 229
- 40,000 live channels with EPG
- 90,000 films & series on demand
- Full HD streams
- 1 device
Gulf time
Kerala is ninety minutes ahead
India keeps GMT+5:30 and the Emirates GMT+4, so everything on Kerala television happens an hour and a half earlier on your clock. The 9pm news in Thiruvananthapuram reaches Dubai at 7:30pm. A serial that starts at 8pm in Thrissur starts at 6:30pm in Abu Dhabi, which is still traffic time for most people.
That gap shapes how Keralites in the Gulf watch. News suits the live broadcast, because it arrives when the working day ends. Serials suit replay, because the first ones of the evening clash with the drive home. Our yearly and lifetime plans carry the Malayalam TV channels on every tier; catch-up comes with Gold 4K and Platinum.
What you get
Malayalam TV channels by category
News from Kerala
Round-the-clock state and district news, debates, and bulletins made for viewers abroad.
Serials and family drama
Prime-time family stories, with catch-up on the two upper tiers.
Films
Mollywood film channels, plus a shelf of Malayalam movies to stream at any hour.
Comedy and reality
Sketch shows, music contests and the weekend reality formats.
Devotional
Temple, church and mosque programming for every faith in the community.
Pravasi news
News made for Keralites abroad
Kerala’s news channels, the busiest of the Malayalam TV channels, know how many of their viewers live in the Gulf. Several run regular pravasi segments: airfare stories before the summer school holidays, visa and labour updates, remittance rates, consular notices and interviews with families from Sharjah to Salalah. Those slots tend to land in the late afternoon or early evening on the UAE clock, which suits anyone coming off a day shift.
For many viewers, these bulletins are the reason to have Malayalam TV channels at all. If news is all you watch, Silver on one screen covers it at AED 149 a year. If the household also wants films and catch-up for serials, Gold 4K is the better fit.
Through the year
Onam, Vishu and the Kerala calendar
Onam
Ten days of specials, film premieres on Thiruvonam and long variety shows. If you work through the festival, replay lets you watch the Thiruvonam special that evening.
Vishu
The morning Vishukkani programmes and new films on the movie channels. With the 90-minute gap, the Kerala morning is already under way before you leave for work.
Christmas and Easter
Church services and carol programmes on the devotional channels, a big draw for Syrian Christian families in the Emirates.
Eid and Ramadan
Mappila songs, special programmes and iftar-time features for Malayali Muslim households.
Election nights
Counting day, watched from the Gulf
When Kerala votes, the Gulf watches. Assembly elections, Lok Sabha polls and even local body results fill the news channels from early morning, with constituency-by-constituency tallies, studio panels and live crosses to counting centres. Counting usually starts at 8am Kerala time, which is 6:30am in the UAE, so trends are already clear by the time most people reach the office.
Election weeks are when Malayalam TV channels are watched live rather than on replay. Pin the news group the night before, leave the phone app signed in for the drive to work, and when you get home, rewind the morning’s swing seats from the guide if your tier keeps catch-up. In a flat where one person wants the tallies and another wants the serial, a second screen keeps the peace.
4 questions
Questions Keralites in the Gulf ask us
Still unsure? Our team replies on WhatsApp 7 days a week.
Ask a questionCan I follow Kerala election results live from Dubai?
The Malayalam TV channels in the news category carry counting-day coverage as it happens. Pin them as favourites before the day so you are not searching while the trends come in.
Are there Malayalam programmes made for people working abroad?
Several Kerala news channels run pravasi segments on airfares, visas, labour rules and community stories. Times vary by channel and season.
Can I watch new Malayalam films after they leave the cinema?
The film channels and the on-demand shelf carry Malayalam cinema, including recent titles once they reach TV windows. We cannot promise a specific film.
Six of us share a room in company accommodation. What is the easiest way for me to watch?
Your own phone with a player app and headphones. It uses one of your plan’s screens and keeps the room quiet after lights out.
Shared rooms
Watching from staff accommodation
A large share of Malayali workers in the Emirates live in company accommodation, often four or six to a room, with one shared TV in the common area or none at all. For them, Malayalam TV channels live on a phone matter more than any lounge setup. A player app, a pair of headphones and the room’s Wi-Fi or a mobile data plan are enough.
Two habits help. On mobile data, pick the Full HD version of a channel rather than 4K, which uses far less. And keep favourites short: the news channel, the serial channel, one film channel. If roommates want to watch together on the common TV, the login works there too, but every screen playing at once counts towards your plan, so a two-screen extra suits a pair of friends who split the cost.
Families who later move into their own flat simply sign in on the new TV and find the same Malayalam TV channels waiting. The same login follows you from bed space to villa.
Which tier
Silver, Gold 4K or Platinum for a Kerala household
Most Malayalam TV channels broadcast in HD rather than 4K, so Silver’s Full HD already shows them at their best. The question is less about picture and more about time. If someone in the house misses the evening serials because of a shift pattern, Gold 4K’s three days of catch-up pay for themselves within a week. Its bigger film library and the 4K sport channels keep the cricket fans happy too.
Platinum Lifetime is the long-stay option. You pay once, and during Onam week the grandparents’ room, the children’s tablet and the lounge can each play a different channel, with a week of catch-up behind them. Visiting parents on a long visa are the usual reason a Kerala family moves up a tier.
Line-ups
What we will and will not promise
Line-ups change. Any of the Malayalam TV channels may move to a new feed, lose its guide data for a week or gain a sharper version, which is why we describe the group by category rather than printing a list of names. We tell you what is on today, not what a brochure said last year.
If two or three channels decide it for you, ask on WhatsApp before you pay and we check the current South Asian section. For the wider Indian and Pakistani picture, see our guide to desi channels on any box; Tamil-speaking friends have their own page on Tamil serials and news in the UAE.