Present Situation of Television

The invention of TV was as exciting as 3D experience is nowadays. If you'll compare that era from today's technology, it may not be of much value, It may be merely a box without any CD/DVD player, without much choice of TV channels or programs airing 24×7 like today. But it was not lesser than what the concept of " LI-FI" is today.



As we can see, when Terrestrial TV was started officially in 1959, a programme was telecasted only one hour per week. It has covered a long distance from then. From programme telecasted one hour per week to 823 channels airing programmes 24×7 out of which 184 are pay channels. And out of which, there are more than 80 news channels in India. India now has over 167 million households (out of 234 million) with television sets. The transformation started when government liberated its entertainment market in 1992 resulting in an open market for private television. Zee TV, founded by Subhash Chandra, was launched in India in October 1992, becoming the first Hindi private channel.



In Telugu, Telugu daily newspaper Eenadu started with its own channel called ETV in 1995 later diversified into other Indian languages. Throughout the 1990s, along with a multitude of Hindi-language channels, several regional and English language channels flourished all over India.



To begin with, the standard newscast in India employed the radio technique of reading out the news in a formal manner from a script (on cards or on an electronic 'teleprompter'), interrupted with an occasional still, a map, or a moving picture. Frequently, the news is tailored to the visuals available. With the acquisition of ENG  (Electronic News Gathering) and the latest computerized graphics equipment, the number of visual has increased. Indeed, the News bulletins of Doordarshan's channels, as also those of the many satellite channels, have in recent years taken on the format of 'magazine' programmes.



Starting in 2003, there has been an explosion of news channels in various languages. Almost every major newspaper publisher in India owns at least one television and FM radio channel. Major players in the news media include The Times of India group, the Star Network and the Zee Network which run news, business news and entertainment channels. All these are either in Hindi or English. Eenadu, Sun, Sahara, Asianet and INX are the other Indian language networks that include news channels and sports channels in their bouquets. Many of the channels have now their own city-specific news channels.


Political parties have followed suit, launching their own channels to propagate their own ideologies.


Currently, in a city like Mumbai, a family of four spends an average of only 5.2 hours in front of the television set per day. Though this figure reaches 8 hours on weekends, average viewership hours have been gradually decreasing in the past 5-7 years. With the emergence of official YouTube channels, viewers prefer internet over television to watch their favorite programs. Since most of the TV soaps have introduced characters like naagin, daayan and punarjanm in search of TRP, its quality has reached nowhere. Many people have moved on from these shows. But still, there are people who watch these shows, which affects their life badly.



Many TV channels have launched their own app for Android users as well as iOS and Windows users. It has its own customized packs for watching their favorite TV soaps. Some apps like Hotstar are a big hit. You can watch most of the shows on the go with these apps. These apps are one of the main cause of decreasing viewership of TV. It has affected the most. It's time-saving for modern people who are always in a hurry. There is not any restriction on the timing of shows like it's on TV. And they are almost break-free.



These days, news channels show various Talk Shows like interviews, discussions, panel discussions with and without a live audience participating. But talk shows, generally panel discussions, turns into some type of blame game with everyone shouting and blaming each other. Some anchors join them as well and start shouting. These shows may gain TRP but not healthy for viewers and society.



News channels show crime-based stories. And it has also turned to Reality TV Shows and lifestyle Shows as well, to seduce the viewers away from the general entertainment channels. But the fact is, they are ruining the main purpose of news channels by showing much of drama and less quality news.



All the over 40 TV news channels, including the public service Doordarshan, are commercial in nature as their primary source of revenue is advertising. Only a few of them are pay/subscription channels.



Nowadays, the TV industry is going the newspaper way, with a similar and revenue model. Every news bulletin on every single news channel, including the public service Doordarshan, is heavily 'sponsored' by advertisers and is frequently interrupted for commercial breaks, resulting in the downfall of viewership of news channels.



In short, we can say, the quality of TV  news channels is decreasing day by day. Something must be done for its improvement.

Television as Mass Media

McLuhan stated that different media invite different degrees of participation on the part of a person who chooses to consume a medium. Less participation means hot media whereas more participation is characterized as cool media. TV is cool media which he claimed requires more effort on the part of the viewer to determine the meaning.
Cool media are usually, but not always, those that provide little involvement with a substantial stimulus. They require more active participation on the part of the user, including the perception of abstract patterning and simultaneous comprehension of all parts. Therefore, according to McLuhan cool media include television, as well as the seminar and cartoons.
McLuhan describes the term "cool media" as emerging from jazz and popular music and, in this context, is used to mean "detached."
More controversially, he postulated that content had little effect on society—in other words, it did not matter if television broadcasts children's shows or violent programming, to illustrate one example—the effect of television on society would be identical.


Amongst all the mass media today, television attracts the largest number of viewers. Its audience is greater in size than any of the other media audiences. This is because television is able to attract the audiences of all age groups, literate and illiterate and of all the strata of the society. It is a very powerful persuasive mass communication medium. The significance of television as a medium of mass communication has universally been realized and recognized.


Television in India, through its programmes, presents a composite national picture and perspective of India's rich cultural heritage and diverse thinking. It reflects the whole Indian society as well, by representing various religions and cultural expressions and activities of people belonging to its different parts.

Television has been able to influence the people living in remote areas of our country as its outreach has covered the remotest villages and tribal pockets. It is ushering information explosion.

Television as a mass medium informs, educates, inspires and motivates. It keeps us up-to-date about what's happening around us and many fashion trends.

It is supposed to disseminate the message of development and modernization to create awareness for generating public participation. It is expected to support government plans and programmes for bringing about social and economic change and to protect national security as well as advance the cause of national integration.


Indian media—private media in particular—have been "free and independent" throughout most of their history. It was only a short period of almost 3 years when India's media faced the interference of government when prime minister Indira Gandhi declared an emergency, which ended from 1995 to 1997.


Some Indian media, controlled by businessmen, politicians, govt. bureaucrats are facing criticism for biased, motivated reporting, and selective presentation. They misuse their right to "free and independent" media. Recently, after the devastating Earthquake in Nepal on 25 April 2015, in spite of India helping, tweets from Nepal trended effectively saying, "Go home, Indian Media".
The work of media is degrading day by day. Journalists cover Businessmen, Filmstars & other Intentional topics more for TRP. Indian mainstream media has often been accused of showing sensationalized news items. They show their interest in "saas-bahu spoilers" instead of any productive news. Indian media is no more reliable and is generally tagged as "paid media". The media channels are even accused of printing and telecasting unverified and biased news which they retracted later. They don't cross-check the facts before telecasting it. They are so lazy or you can say blindfolded by TRP that in some of their news, Twitter's parody accounts were cited as a source.

Opposing this unhealthy practices of Indian media, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal suggested on 3 May 2015 to have a public trial of Indian Media. Following him, On 8 May 2015, I & B Minister, Arun Jaitley echoed similar saying "Flood of channels but dearth of facts".

Television is considered as a mirror of a nation's personality. But some news channels and some shitty TV soaps are defaming our nation.


Advertisement for liquor and tobacco are banned in India and most other Asian television networks. But the satellite channels have begun showing 'surrogate' advertisements of different brands of liquors, and of pan masalas. There is little concern for the 'ethics' of advertising, or for that matter, with the 'ethics' of broadcasting.

There are many more codes and ethics which opposes the airing of contents which contains anything obscene, defamatory, deliberated, false and suggestive innuendoes and half-truth, anything amounting to contempt to court, or things which criticises, maligns, or slanders any individual in person or certain groups, segments of social, public and moral life of the country.

The News Broadcasters Association (NBA), a collective of 12 Indian broadcasters which run 25 channels, drew up a Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards in 2008 to counter the regulations of the Draft Broadcasting Bill (2007) which put the onus of regulating news programmes and news channels on the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The NBA collective includes TV Today Network Ltd., NDTV Ltd., Times Global Broadcasting Co. Ltd., TV 18 group and Sun TV Network.

In a kind of Preamble, the Code states that 'electronic journalists should accept and understand that they operate as trustees of the public and should, therefore, make it their mission to seek the truth and to report it fairly with integrity and Independence. Professional journalists should stand fully accountable for their actions.' Journalists are urged to maintain impartiality and objectivity in reporting and to ensure neutrality.

But these codes and ethics are not followed by many channels. Some steps must be taken for implementation of these ethics on ground level. TV viewers should protest these wrong and unfair practices of media. Only then these tags from media can be removed. Someone will have to come forward. Why not we the people, who are most influenced by it, come forward?

Future of Television

Media is divided into television media, online media and mobile media. Television media development is the longest and the most mature mechanism media. There are 571 mn people watching TV in India (IRS). And my view is that at least 500mn people in India are already watching videos on Mobile phone albeit through the disorganized sector of piracy. This huge market is just waiting to be captured and we need a game changer like BSNL broadband to come and offer broadband services at dirt cheap rates to transfer this ready audience online.



Official YouTube channels and Android apps as well as Android apps like Hotstar are replacing TV nowadays. These online shows are decreasing TV viewership day by day. These may be a great thread for the future of TV. Or, we can say, these are going to be the future of TV.



The foundation of the Social media and television marketing is the relationship chain. Facebook and Twitter play a great role in the marketing of television. There are a huge number of TV viewers who discuss particular TV shows via social media while they’re watching them.



With the accelerating pace of technological change, innovation is the key to success. The integration between Twitter hashtags and television programs is a good innovation. Hashtagging is becoming popular even on Facebook. India beating Pakistan in the first match of the Cricket World Cup in 2015 was the most viewed TV and sports event of the year and drew a record-breaking 118.3 million impressions on Twitter, using the hashtag #INDvsPAK (First match of #CWC15 on 15 February). There are many shows which promote itself by showing a unique hashtag for the show at the bottom of the screen. #MannKiBaat is a widely used hashtag for the TV as well as radio show "Mann Ki Baat" by PM Narendra Modi.



IPTV may also be considered as future of TV. This technology that delivers television and value-added video services using Internet Protocol is called IPTV. A changing regulatory landscape, new technologies and delivery models, and the promise of ubiquitous broadband access have sparked new business opportunities among media and telecommunications organizations.



IPTV is expected to be the real killer application in the telcos' broadband services portfolio that will increase ARPU (average revenue per unit) and help preserve user stickiness. IPTV is interactive because of availability of return path - therefore, it is capable of providing Video on Demand (VOD), time-shifted television, gaming and many other innovative applications.


Interactivity is much easier to perform with IPTV than a normal cable, satellite or broadcast TV system.


IPTV is facing many problems which must be solved to be the future of the Indian market. India lacks good internet speed which is must for the success of IPTV. IPTV uses the same technology that other types of data used to send and receive information (Internet Protocol). Due to this fact, your TV may experience from time to time a pack loss or delays. Your experience can be significantly worse if your IPTV connection is not up to par or not quick enough. Most of the IPTV systems currently do not support HDTV broadcasts. However, technology is improving and since this is an important issue most analysis state that this will be corrected in the near future.

Types of TV in India

There are at least five basic types of television in India: broadcast or "over-the-air" television, unencrypted satellite or "free-to-air", Direct-to-Home (DTH), cable television, and IPTV.



1. Broadcast television


In India, the broadcast of free-to-air television is governed through state-owned Prasar Bharati Corporation, with the Doordarshan group of channels being the only broadcaster. As such, cable television is the primary source of TV programming in India.





2. Cable TV


cable television, generally, any system that distributes television signals by means of coaxial or fiber-optic cables located in the subscribers’ premises rather than through the air. These cable systems use a “community antenna” to receive broadcast signals (often from communications satellites), which they then retransmit via cables to homes and establishments in the local area subscribing to the service. Subscribers pay a specified monthly service charge in addition to an initial installation fee.






3. Conditional Access System CAS or conditional access system


It 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.

As of April 2008, only 25 percent of the people have subscribed to the new technology. The rest watch only free-to-air channels. The inhibiting factor from the viewer's perspective is the cost of the STB.







4. DTH



DTH is an acronym for ‘Direct to Home’ service. DTH is a digital satellite service which uses direct-broadcast satellites to provide television viewing services directly to subscribers anywhere in the country. DTH is also defined as the reception of satellite programmes with a personal dish in an individual home. DTH is an encrypted transmission, which is received by the consumer at his end through the small dish antenna, that travels to the consumer directly through a satellite. A set-top box, unlike the regular cable connection, decodes the encrypted transmission.





5. Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) (future of TV)



IPTV is defined as multimedia services such as Live TV, Video On Demand (VOD) and Interactive TV (iTV) delivered using the Internet protocol suite over a packet-switched network such as a LAN or the Internet managed to provide the required level of quality of service and experience, security, interactivity and reliability.



It's not feasible as it needs a good internet connection which is hardly available in India and not affordable to more than half of the population.

History of Television

After more than hundred years of establishment of Print media in 1780, Auguste and Louis Lumière moving pictures were screened in Bombay during July 1895. And almost 3 decades later, radio broadcasting began in 1927. To make moving pictures more realistic, it was important to add sound to it. Some were busy to help change the world through visual and audio communication technology while some wanted to make a profit. Mixing the idea of both, moving pictures and radio, the concept of voice and visual in one frame was developed. Motion pictures(with sound) and TV is a result of that.



TV was a very new and exciting experience for the people of that time period. It was a combination of voice and visual like the event is happening in front of them. It created a boom in history as it was superseded version of the technology.



Terrestrial television in India officially started with the experimental telecast starting in Delhi on 15 September 1959. with a small transmitter and a makeshift studio. Programs were transmitted only one hour per week at that time. There were only 41 sets in 1962 and one channel. 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. Up until 1975, only seven Indian cities had a television service. Television services were separated from radio in 1976. National telecasts were introduced in 1982. In the same year, color TV was introduced in the Indian market. Indian small screen programming started off in the early 1980s. At that time there was only one national channel Doordarshan, which was government owned.





The two major TV series, The Ramayana and Mahabharata(both Indian spiritual & mythological stories), played a great role in the rise of TV. It glued millions to Doordarshan. This serial notched up the world record in viewership numbers for a single program. By the late 1980s, more and more people started to own television sets, which formed a world where more than half of all Indian households own a television(as of 2012). Though there was a single channel, television programming had reached saturation. Hence the government opened up another channel which had part national programming and part regional. This channel was known as DD 2 later DD Metro. Both channels were broadcast terrestrially. Hence the government opened up another channel which had part national programming and part regional. This channel was known as DD 2 later DD Metro. Both channels were broadcast terrestrially.



During the eighties, also known as Doordarshan era, Doordarshan played shows like Hum Log, Wagle Ki Duniya, Buniyaad, and comedy shows like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi. It also played shows based on movie songs like Chitrahar and Rangoli. Later on many shows like Byomkesh Bakshi, Chandrakanta and Malgudy Days were telecasted, which were a big hit.



The central government launched a series of economic and social reforms in 1991 under Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. Under the new policies, the government allowed private and foreign broadcasters to engage in limited operations in India. And then the satellite broadcast started with private as well as foreign channels. Sun TV (India) was launched in 1992 as the first private channel in South India. After then, many private channels were launched resulting in good choices of TV soaps for viewers.