Radio and Television

50 years of Indian Television
India witnessed its first television clipping 50 years ago. Since then, rest is history. Today India is amongst the world’s biggest television markets. Approximately half of all Indian households own a television today. From a single television channel, over 300 satellite TV channels are broadcasted today.

Beginning: Doordarshan had a modest beginning with the experimental telecast starting in Delhi on 15 September 1959 with a small transmitter and a makeshift studio. The regular daily transmission started in 1965 as a part of All India Radio. The television service was extended to Bombay and Amritsar in 1972. Till 1975, seven Indian cities had television service and Doordarshan remained the only television channel. Television services were separated from radio in 1976. Each office of All India Radio and Doordarshan were placed under the management of two separate Director Generals in New Delhi. Finally Doordarshan as a National Broadcaster came into existence. National telecasts were introduced in 1982. In the same year, color TV was introduced in the Indian market with the live telecast of the Independence Day speech by then PM Indira Gandhi on 15 August 1982, followed by the 1982 Asian Games.

TV Programs: The 80s was the era of Doordarshan with shows like Hum Log (1984), Buniyaad (1986-87) and comedy shows like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (1984), Mythological dramas like Ramayan (1987-88) and Mahabharat (1989-90) glued millions to Doordarshan and later on Bharat Ek Khoj, The Sword of Tipu Sultan and Chandrakanta. Hindi film songs based programs like Chitrahaar, Rangoli, Superhit Muqabla crime thrillers like Karamchand, Byomkesh Bakshi. Shows targeted at children include Dada Dadi ki Kahaniyan, Vikram Betal, Malgudi Days, Tenali Rama.

Post Liberalisation Television: The central government launched a series of economic and social reforms in 1991 under PM Narasimha Rao. Under the new policies the government allowed private and foreign broadcasters to engage in limited operations in India. Foreign channels like CNN, Star TV and domestic channels such as Zee TV and Sun TV started satellite broadcasts.

Cable television: The cable TV industry exploded in the early 1990s when the broadcast industry was liberalized, and saw the entry of many foreign players like Rupert Murdoch's Star TV Network in 1991, MTV, and others. Sun TV (India) was launched in 1992 as the first private channel in South India. Today it has 20 television channels in the four South Indian languages. Five new channels belonging to the Hong Kong based STAR TV gave Indians a fresh breath of life. MTV, STAR Plus, BBC, Prime Sports and STAR Chinese Channel were the 5 channels. Zee TV was the first private owned Indian channel to broadcast over cable. A few years later, CNN, Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel made its foray into India. Star expanded its bouquet introducing STAR World, STAR Sports, ESPN and STAR Gold. Regional channels flourished along with a multitude of Hindi channels and a few English channels. By 2001 HBO and History Channel were the other international channels to enter India. By 2001–2003, other international channels such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, VH1, Disney and Toon Disney came into foray. In 2003 news channels started to boom. Today, India has over 130 million homes with television sets, of which nearly 71 million have access to cable TV. The overall Cable TV market is growing at a robust 8-10%.

Latest Technologies: Conditional access system (CAS) is a digital mode of transmitting TV channels through a set-top box (STB). The transmission signals are encrypted and viewers need to buy a set-top box to receive and decrypt the signal. The STB is required to watch only pay channels. Direct to Home (DTH) is defined as the reception of satellite programs with a personal dish in an individual home. Internet Protocol TV launched only in some cities around 2006-2007 by MYNL/BSNL later Expands to many urban areas and still expanding. Private Broadband provider Bharti Airtel also starts its IPTV service in Delhi, NCR region.

TV Industry: Today, the Indian TV Industry is running parallel to the big screen. With the mushroom growth of daily sops the entire TV viewing is revolutionized. The serials like Amanat, Kyuki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Tara, Kasauti Zindagi Ki, Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki, Ghar Ek Mandir redefined the saga of tele viewing. Then comes the age of reality TV, the programs like Kaun Banega Carorepati, MTV Rodies, Spiltsvilla, Fear Factor, Big Boss, Is Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao, Sach Ka Samna and Rakhi Ka Swamvar. These programs have witnessed the highest TRPs and even stormed a lot of controversies. A total estimation of the TV industry annual budget is over 1 lack crores. Since 2002 News channels have grown exponentially. Today the news channels have become a significant market and their no is catching the entertainment channels fast. They have become a super package where they not only show the news bulletins but have the entire list of programs where they have special hours for Talk shows, debates, Exit Polls, Film critics, Program clippings and masala news packages like Sansani, Vishesh, Kaal Kapal Mahakal etc. A no. of Sports channels have also come up and Channels like Movie on Demand and Music on demand are also favorites amongst the viewers.

TV Advertisements: We all know those beautiful ads of Nirma, Surf and Bajaj. But now, the TV commercial industry has moved through leaps and bounds. With the advent of latest technologies and huge customer markets, almost everything is being advertised today by big names of the Bollywood industry. It has estimated that TV commercial industry is about 400-500 crores. Starting with 41 sets in 1962 and one channel (Audience Research unit, 1991) at present TV in India covers more than 70 million homes giving a viewing population more than 400 million individuals through more than 100 channels. A large relatively untapped market, easy accessibility of relevant technology and a variety of programs are the main reasons for rapid expansion of Television in India. The Indian TV has crossed a 50 year mark and instead of getting old and mature it is still young and immature. Sometimes, there is a need of a censor board as the contents go too vulgar and even un-regularized.

The Indian TV needs to hold the responsibility of showing good content which should be a value added for the society and acts as the responsible medium for the betterment of the society.