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 It created a boom in history as it was superseded version of the technology.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.

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