India (population 360,000,000)

Indian TV went on air in 1959 as an educative tool to aid the country’s professionals in developmental study, but during the 70s the role of television as a purveyor of entertainment was introduced firstly in New Delhi, then Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras) and Kolkotta (Calcutta). Advertising appeared on public TV in 1976, with sponsorship soon to follow. Metro Channel appeared in 1984, and was even more commercial in character than its precedents. Cable TV was confined to local operations, and most of its output was of private origin, with split-screen constant advertising.

In 1991 satellite channel Star TV (a pan-Asian operator) entered the arena. Indian public terrestrial television is called Doordarshan, or (since 1997) the Prasar Bharati Corporation and, despite deregulation, is still effectively state-controlled.

In 1995 the federal government tried to get a grip on cable operations by making the inclusion of Doordarshan’s channels compulsory in all packages, not least due to the satellite threat from outside India’s borders, originating notably in Singapore and Hong Kong. Most Star channels are now in Hindi and other Indian languages, and as a result the continent has become less paranoid about westernisation. Furthermore, Indian satellite and cable is booming, which of course has the effect of eradicating much unwanted cultural import.

The twenty million-strong Indian pockets overseas are also targeted over Doordarshan World, Sun TV, BFU and ZeeTV. In the UK, ZeeTV can be received through Sky in Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Gujarati and Punjabi.

Only half of Indian households have TV at all, and cable and satellite customers often receive only six channels, while one or two lucky neighbours can access ten times this number. Add to this the bitter rivalry between satellite operators and cable concerns which understate the number of subscribers to avoid taxes, and the industry could be seen to have hit upon a difficult patch. In fact cinema multiplexes, DVD, FM radio, MP3 and the Internet have all played a significant role in assuring Indian television’s dwindling popularity in recent years, outside of the diasporic world market targeted by the aforementioned ZeeTV, inter alia.