India

Abstract

Over the last couple of decades, India has experienced a period of breathtaking economic, political and technological change. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in relation to Indian television. During the late 1980s, the state-owned monopoly broadcaster, Doordarshan (since 1997 part of Prasar Bharti — the Broadcasting Corporation of India) provided one terrestrial channel (or two in major cities) to just over 20 million television homes. By 2011, the number of television households had grown to 143 million, around 60 per cent of all Indian households. Of these, over 90 million subscribe to multichannel cable television services and more than 35 million to direct-to-home (DTH) satellite services, offering access to hundreds of different channels from both domestic and international broadcasters (Kohli-Khandekar, 2010; TRAI, 2011). According to India’s telecommunications and broadcasting regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), India is currently the world’s third largest television market, after China and the USA (TRAI, 2011). The sheer size (and growth potential) of the Indian television market makes it important in its own right. Put simply, India’s experience with broadcasting services and policies affects almost one-fifth of the world’s population.