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1 This document is downloaded from DR-NTU, Nanyang Technological University Library, Singapore. Title TV content in Asia : more waste or substance : the Indian case study Author(s) Joshi, S. R. Citation Joshi, S. R. (1999). TV content in Asia : more waste or substance : the Indian case study. In AMIC Annual Conference, 8th, on Asia: Information Poor to Information Rich - Strategies for the 21st Century, Chennai-, Jul 1-3, Singapore: Asian Media Information and Communication Centre. Date 1999 URL Rights

2 Paper No. 29

3 TV CONTENT IN ASIA: MORE WASTE OR SUBSTANCE: THE INDIAN CASE STUDY ABSTRACT S.R. Joshi This paper looks at the question of television programme content in India. The paper looks at the totality of all television programmes available in the country. This includes both the domestic channels as well as the foreign channels. The paper examines in detail the issue of reach, access and consumption of television programmes. The supply side of the TV programming is also looked at in great detail and the author states the perspective in which the question of waste or substance should be looked at. The parameters or factors affecting the question of waste or substance are indicated. The author is of the view that overall while recognising that there is an amount of redundancy and inflow of elements of undesirable content, programmes actually give greater substance to the viewer and can certainly not be described as more waste. The advantages are greater variety, more alternatives, different perspectives, scope for niche' channels, greater competitiveness and therefore greater choice of a variety of programming for the viewer. S.R. Joshi is Group Director, Social Research Group, Development and Educational Communication Unit, Indian Space Research Organisation, SAC P.O., Ahmedabad , India. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily of the organisation he works for. This paper is prepared for 8* AMIC Annual Conference - Asia: Information Poor to Information - Strategies for the 21 st Century, 1-3 July 1999, Chennai, India Rich 1

4 TV CONTENT IN ASIA: MORE WASTE OR SUBSTANCE: THE INDIAN CASE STUDY "I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any". - Mahatma Gandhi S.R. Joshi Introduction Proliferation of television channels as well as its increased reach through phenomenal rise in the number of television sets in the last few years has given rise to several questions. The questions pertain to desirable as well as adverse effects. There are fears of cultural invasion, erosion of values, change of behaviour, becoming more consumerist on the negative side; and opening of new knowledge vistas, providing scope for different views, opinions and perspectives on the positive side. The main question pertained to what is supplied through television and what impact it will have on the viewers. The impact is in terms of both immediate as well as long term impact. The issue, however, has acquired much greater significance with the onset of transnational or transborder global television. The transnational television not only breaks geographical and political boundaries of nations, but it also breaks the economic, social and cultural boundaries. This has been a case of opportunities as well as concern for several people. There is no doubt that there has been a massive growth of television in India in the last decade and half mainly due to four factors: (1) Operationalisation of the INSAT satellite system in 1982; (2) 'live coverage' of the Gulf War by CNN in 1991; (3) liberalisation of economic policy and (4) lack of curbs on the reception of transnational foreign satellite programmes, aided by enterprising Indians to provide access to the channels at an affordable rates. S.R. Joshi is Group Director, Social Research Group. Development and Educational Communication Unit, Indian Space Research Organisation, SAC P.O., Ahmedabad , India. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily of the organisation he works for. This paper is prepared for 8 lh AMIC Annual Conference - Asia: Information Poor to Information Rich Strategies for the 21 st Century, 1-3 July 1999, Chennai, India 2

5 The increase is both in terms of the supply as well as consumption of television programmes. This gives rise to the question, which is the topic of this session. Whether this increase is only more waste or there is more substance. This question should be examined from three different viewpoints: (1) Reach of Television, (2) Access of Television and (3) Consumption of Television programmes. As far as the reach of television programmes is concerned, the following figures clearly indicate that the growth has been phenomenal. Growth of Television Transmitters Uptill very recently the electronic media, radio and television, have under the direct control of federal government. The Indian television authority 'Doordarshan' has been under the administrative control of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It is only very recently that Doordarshan has been given greater autonomy under the 'Prasar Bharati' board. Doordarshan is the sole authority for uplinking and transmission within the country. Only Doordarshan can have terrestrial transmitters under the present laws, rules and regulations. Obviously, Doordarshan has the largest reach in the country. The total terrestrial transmitters in the country have seen a massive increase since As the number of transmitters increases, the reach and access to the television programmes also increases proportionately. In 1980 there were only 18 transmitters, in 1985 there were 172 transmitters and by 1997 the number had reached 868 and in 1998 the figure stands at This means that Doordarshan today reaches 86 per cent of the population as compared to 25 per cent in The number of programme production centres in 1980 was 10 and in 1998 it had gone up to 45. Indirectly it also enables Doordarshan to produce more programmes to cater to varied needs specific to a particular language, culture or region. Table 1 shows the pattern of increase of television transmitters: 3

6 Table 1: Pattern of Increase of Television Transmitters in India Year No of Transmitters Source: Doordarshan India) 1 '97, and Doordarshan 1998 (Prasar Bharati - Broadcasting Corporation of Reach of television programmes only indicates the theoretical coverage area. According to this definition, the reach is 87.6 per cent of the population and 72.9 per cent of the geographical area of India. If one takes into account the satellite reach then it will be 100 per cent coverage or reach. However, this does not indicate that every household actually gets to see the television programmes. Growth of Television Households Once there is greater reach of television signal provided by increased transmitters, the number of television sets which ultimately provide greater access to programmes, also go up. The increase in the number of television households in the country has been truly spectacular. In the early 60s owning a television set was a distant dream of middle class Indians. Almost all television households even to this date are single TV households in the country observed a very small and slow growth in the number of television sets in the country, i.e. from a mere 41 sets to a.little over 24,000 sets. At the end of 1980 the number had crossed 1.5 million mark. The operationalisation of INSAT system in 1982 proved to be a turning point in the history of the expansion of television. The growth has since then continued to accelerate over the years. In 1992, India had 34 million television sets. In 1995 there were over 52 million television homes in the country. In 1997 there were 57.7 million sets. The latest figure available those of 1998 indicate that there are 63.2 million households. 4

7 Table 2 shows the pattern of increase of television households: Year No. of TV Households (in millions) Source: Doordarshan '97, and Doordarshan 1998 (Prasar Bharati - Broadcasting Corporation of India) 2 Television Access Access refers to the actual ability to see programmes. This is ensured through the access to one's own television or someone else's television for actually watching the programmes. It is estimated that there are 150 million households in the country and there are 63.2 million TV sets in the country. Even assuming a figure of 65 million TV sets, it means that 85 million Indian households do not have direct access to television. Some of them may have an indirect and occasional access provided through watching programmes at neighbours' or friends' houses or through community TV sets. The community TV set refers to a television set put in a central place in a village and which is open to all villagers. The idea behind providing community TV set is for those who cannot afford to buy a set is to bring the underprivileged sections under the television umbrella so that the fruits of technology accrue to them also. However, this number of community TV sets is 64,600 in 1994, which is very small and has not really grown much in the years since then. Transborder Television In the present context, one also has to look at access from different perspective. In today's landscape of transborder television, it is obvious that access is not only through the terrestrial network, it can also comes through satellite based transmission. This transmission can be received only by having dish antenna to receive television signal directly from the satellite. According to Doordarshan '97 3, the number of satellite households was 14.2 million. Doordarshan indicates that there are 18.4 million cable and satellite (C&S) households. Some other estimates 5

8 have indicated that this number may be about 20 million. Still it means that only 1/3 rd of the TV households has access to foreign satellite based channels. Doordarshan '96 5 has quoted the NTS 1995 study regarding the comparative reach of different channels. The primary channel of Doordarshan (DD 1) reaches all the television households. The DD-2 channel reaches 44.9 per cent of the households. Zee TV the reach is 29.3 per cent, Star Plus 28.1 per cent and Sun TV 7.0 per cent. All the above figures indicate that there is more of television today, but it is only a comparatively small segment of the total population, which has this benefit. So when one thinks of waste or substance, it must be seen in this context. The other question to be examined along with this is that for those who have access to more TV channels, what is the supply situation. Table 3 6 indicates the supply of TV programmes through: (1) English language foreign channels and (2) Indian language foreign channels. The broad type of programmes transmitted by each channel has also been indicated. Table 3: Foreign Channels A. English Language Channels Sr. Channel Name Description Type No. 1. AXN-Action TV Action movies and cartoons Entertainment (Films) 2. BBC World News and Current Affairs. With Current Affairs more focus on Asia 3. Cartoon Network Cartoon series Entertainment (Cartoons) 4. Channel [V] Pop music programmes. Entertainment Recently, programmes of Hindi (Music) film and pop songs added 5. CNBC-ABN News and Current Affairs with Current Affairs emphasis on India and other Asian Countries 6. CNN International News and Current Affairs Current Affairs 7. Discovery Channel Science, wildlife and Educational environment 8. ESPN Sports Entertainment (Sports) 9. MTV Music Channel Entertainment (Music) 10. National Geographic Environmental awareness Educational 11. Star Movies Movies and Entertainment Entertainment (Films) 12. Star News News and current affairs channel for India Current Affairs

9 Sr. Channel Name Description Type No. 13. Star Sports Sports. Separately Hindi Entertainment (Sports) commentary in some cases 14. Star World Offers variety entertainment Entertainment (Mix) programmes in English 15. TNT Hollywood Feature films Entertainment (Films) B. Indian Language Channels Sr. Channel Name Description Type No. 16. ABNi Business and commerce Current Affairs Programmes 17. Asianet Malayalam language Entertainment (Mix) Entertainment programmes 18. ATN Hindi language programmes Entertainment (Music) Mostly feature film based 19. BITV Hindi music, film based, Entertainment (Mix) Serials, information 20. Enadu TV Telugu language Entertainment (Mix) entertainment programmes 21. GEC Tamil programmes Entertainment (Mix) 22. Gemini Telugu language Entertainment (Mix) entertainment programmes 23. Home TV Hindi language entertainment Entertainment (Mix) programmes 24. Jain TV Hindi language entertainment programmes Entertainment (Mix 25. Music Asia Music channel with major Entertainment (Music) Programming in Hindi 26. NEPCTV Entertainment Entertainment (Mix) 27. Raj TV Tamil programmes Entertainment (Mix) 28. Sony Entertainment Hindi language Entertainment/ Entertainment (Mix) TV variety programmes 29. Star Plus Offers variety entertainment Entertainment (Mix) programmes in Hindi and a few English programmes 30. Sun Movies Tamil language movies Entertainment (Films) 31. Sun Music Tamil Film songs based Entertainment (Music) Programmes 32. Sun TV Tamil language entertainment, Entertainment (Mix) information programmes, news 33. SuryaTV Malayalam language Entertainment (Mix) Entertainment 34. TVi News and current affairs - Current Affairs In Hindi and English 35. Udaya TV Kannada language Entertainment (Mix) entertainment programmes 36. Vijay TV Tamil language entertainment programmes Entertainment (Mix) 7

10 Sr. Channel Name Description Type No. 37. YES Youth Entertainment Service Entertainment (Mix) 38. Zee Cinema Hindi movies Entertainment (Films) 39. Zee India TV Hindi and some other Entertainment (Mix) Indian languages 40. Zee TV Hindi language Ent. Progs. Entertainment (mix) It is clear that out of the 40 channels, 32 channels are entertainment channels. There are 6 channels exclusively for news and current affairs and two educational/enrichment channels. The entertainment channels have been further divided into mix fare channels (20), music (5), feature films (4), cartoons (1) and sports (2). This figures indicate that clearly while there is more of television, very often there is also more of the same. There is a predominance of entertainment programmes followed by news and current affairs and a few programmes of educational or enrichment nature. It should be remembered that this classification is a very broad one. Even the mix fare entertainment channels do transmit on a regular basis both news, current affairs programmes as well as some educational programmes. But overall the major thrust is on entertainment of the soap opera kind. Quite a few of the Indian language channels depend on the Indian feature film industry for providing this entertainment. This includes both showing of feature films as well as feature films based programmes like songs and dances, etc. Impact of Foreign Channels Joshi 7 (1998) reports findings from the Indian study on the subject of perceived impact of foreign satellite channels. The overall opinion of the audience that there would be both good as well as adverse impact of the channels. It is likely to bring in some undesirable elements. There was particular concern about sex, vulgarity and violence. But on the whole it was believed that the variety, new knowledge, better production values and introduction to different cultures were some of the good points and which outweighed the undesirable elements. Some types of Indian programmes were considered better while some other types of foreign programmes were considered better. The Indian programmes considered better were serials, feature films, drama, music and dance. The foreign programmes considered better were news, documentaries, sports and cartoons. The most important reason for liking foreign programmes was better production qualities. It is of significance to note that 8

11 when it came to culture specific programmes like plays and films, the Indian programmes were liked more. The overall audience response was against banning of transborder television. The Indian government has taken same stand also. Both public opinion as well as government policies have favoured an open system with appropriate regulatory mechanisms. While clearly recognising some adverse impact of foreign programmes, it was strongly felt that the competition would lead to better quality of Indian programmes. It was also firmly believed that Indian culture was strong enough to withstand any undesirable foreign influences. Domestic Channel: Supply and Impact This supply of television content from foreign satellite channels is to be seen as an addition to the Doordarshan's primary channel (DD-1) programmes. As already indicated, all of the TV households receive DD-1 programmes. Table 4 shows the daily schedule of programmes transmitted on DD-1. 3

12 Table 4: Programming Pattern of Doordarshan Monday-Friday Saturday Sunday Devotional Music UGC/IGNOU Programmes Samachar UGC Programmes Business Magazine General Information Rangoli News Current Affairs Documentary Regional Service Break Serial UGC Programmes Sunday Morning ETV/STV Composite Entertainment Question hour in Entertainment and Serials, Magazines Parliament Infotainment, Serials, UGC Features, Children's Film Regional Service Family Entertainment, Daily Soap, Serial News Magazine, Serial Samachar, News Family Entertainment Award Winning Regional Film Award Film Continued Women/Children Documentaries, Sports Regional Service Regional Service Regional Service Regional News Regional Service Network Entertainment Network Entertainment Samachar, News, Parliament News, Current Affairs Prime Time Entertainment (Film- Fri) Feature Film Current Magazine, Entertainment, Serials Mukhya Samachar Serials (Film-Fri) Feature Film continued Serials News Headlines Serials Feature Film continued National Programme of Music/Dance Source: Doordarshan 199 f Doordarshan's programmes mainly belong to two categories. The first category consists of the national service wherein the programmes are transmitted from Delhi and are rebroadcast by all transmitters. During this time, the entire nation sees the same programmes. These programmes include news, current affairs, social and cultural magazines, entertainment programmes, sports, etc. 1 0

13 The second category is that of regional service which provides programmes in the local/regional language dealing with regional issues, development priorities, regional happenings, news and current affairs as also some educational programmes Maximum number of development programmes in the area of health, agriculture, etc. are carried out during the regional service timings. In addition, Doordarshan also operates language or subject specific satellite channels. There are 15 different language channels. These channels can be received in any part of the country. A satellite based sports channel has been introduced from March 18, According to Joshi (1998) 9, the contents of the TV programmes are dependent not so much on the country of origin as the philosophy or identity that the channel wants to preserve for itself. The foreign programmes transmitted on Doordarshan have a distinct identity of their own. They are more in consonance with the overall sociocultural conditions of the country. But foreign programmes transmitted on some other channels are either neutral to the local country conditions or they are insensitive to them. Doordarshan for example has defined for itself a social philosophy or objective which insists that the Doordarshan programmes work as a catalyst for social change, stimulates scientific temper, aim towards social welfare of women, children and less privileged, create values of appreciation of art and cultural heritage along with entertainment. This means that whether programmes transmitted are of Indian origin or foreign origin, they have to conform to the social objectives. Discovery is a niche channel, devoted to environment, culture, science, wild life etc. and works as enrichment channel. BBC World or CNN are devoted news and current affairs channels. They also strive for profit but work within the boundaries defined for themselves. But all channels do necessarily have such a philosophy or objectives for itself. Some channels are largely guided by the profit motive. Development Communication Channels In addition to the mainstream channels like Doordarshan and foreign satellite based channels there is, in India, provision for specialised development communication programmes either run as specific development communications project or mandated through philosophy of Doordarshan. In this context it is pertinent to note that the Indian space programme was guided by the dream of taking the benefits of space i i

14 technology to Indian villages. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the pioneer of such a programme said stressed that India must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the social, economic and the other real problems which are found in the country. Bhatia (1998) 10 elaborating on the development communication projects of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) remarks: It was in pursuit of this vision that ISRO undertook the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) in Through this experiment Satellite TV signal was received in 2400 Indian villages for the first time. The experiences of SITE led to the development of the INSAT system and also to substantial education television effort in the form of University Grants Commission (UGC), National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET) telecasts. The Kheda Communications Project (KCP) was started as part of SITE, and over the years evolved into a model rural oriented local TV station. It demonstrated how participatory, and people oriented can a local TV system become. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) shared these experiences with the operational agency through a series of training programmes. These efforts were followed by the application of one way video two way audio teleconferencing for Education and Development Training. This network has found very effective application in training of Panchayati Raj (Village Local Self-government) elected representatives, Aanganwadi (creche) workers, Primary School Teachers, Daais (mid-wives), etc. The Network is currently operational as the Training and Development Communication Channel (TDCC) and is spreading out to several states and distance education agencies like Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), All India Management Association (AIMA), Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) like Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) and Ahmedabad Women's Action Group (AWAG). The Jhabua Development Communications Project (JDCP) of ISRO combines the features of all the above and builds upon the experiences further. It has the feature of Direct Reception like SITE; it has localisation like Kheda and the interactive training component like TDCC. However, the operational features are adjusted to the changed technological and socio-economic context. A 1 >

15 much higher degree of involvement of private agencies, in maintenance, programme production and research is attempted. It is proposed to try out new features like Telemedicine, Data Broadcasts, access to databases, etc. and study the viability and effectiveness of these systems. It is also proposed to try this in a few more States". Another major area has been the provision for educational programmes. Doordarshan devotes almost 36 hours per week for educational programmes for school children, university education as well as distance education 11. The private satellite channels also have started transmitting educational programmes on a regular basis. This pertained to some specific areas like computer education, management education, health education and awareness programmes for rights and responsibilities of citizen. There are proposals to have dedicated educational programme, channels by foreign satellite networks. Interactive Television In recent years yet another area has opened out both on the domestic as well as foreign satellite channels. This consists of to interactive training and educational programmes. This is either done through one way video and two-way audio configuration or in occasional cases two-way video conferencing. The phone-in programmes are becoming a regular feature on different channels in India. This interactive element reduces the distance between the teacher and the trainee or sender and receiver of information. The interactive training channels like TDCC used for training, education or development has several advantages. The most important advantage, of course, is that need based training takes place and that too in an interactive mode. Some of the other advantages of the system are 12 : Simultaneous training of large number of geographically dispersed people in the shortest time. Multiplier effect by training of trainers. Uniformity of the training content. 1 3

16 Access to the best available learning resources, irrespective of geographical location of the learners. Repeatability of training courses/educational packages, easy updating and dissemination. Enhanced involvement of the trainers/learners due to interaction capability and therefore, greater learning gains. Enterprise wide participation. Capability to share the same network by different user groups. Specific topics for specific locations for specific groups also possible. Significant savings in expenditure due to economies in travel, logistics and replication of teaching infrastructure. More frequent training. The system can effectively supplement the conventional system of training and in some cases can itself become the major component of the training system. (TDCC Brochure, 1998) Many educational institutes, industries, government development departments, and corporate sectors want to use TDCC type of interactive channels for regular training programmes. Some of the foreign satellite channels have also expressed interest in using this channel for educational or training purposes. This technology does open a totally new avenue for the use of space communication technology for specific purpose of interactive education and communication. Conclusion: More Substance The question of whether the TV content in India is more waste or substance has to be seen in a proper perspective and context This is not a question where a clear yes or no could emerge. It cannot be situation of white and black, there have to grey shades. One has to address this question in light of the following perspectives: 1. There is little doubt that because of entry of foreign satellite networks, there is an enormous increase in the quantity of television programmes. A large number of companies have started transmitting 24-hour channels. These 1 4

17 companies are either entirely foreign or those of local Indian software industry using foreign satellites. This also forced the domestic television authority to increase programme hours, channels and variety to its programmes. 2. The major thrust of the satellite channels today is entertainment. However, while there is more of entertainment today, it is often more of the same thing rather than actual or substantive increase. At the same time there is space for niche channels, specialised channels and greater scope for news and current affairs programmes. 3. The monopoly of single government owned channels is broken. The domestic television authority has to face the competition. It is no longer the supplier's market. It is forced to increase the number of channels, provide different language satellite channels, add variety to programmes and improve production quality of programmes. The same applies to private channels as well and thus ensures continued competitive atmosphere. This can lead to catering to the 'lowest common denominator' factor but also for better programming. 4. There are greater number of niche' or specialised channels like channels for music, sports, movie, education, news, etc. This provides for need based programming to cater to diverse needs and meets aspirations of different segments of the audience. 5. More channels mean a big boost to local talent, market, business activity and also education and development. It also leads more cross-cultural communication, global communication and transborder communication with all the accompanying advantages and disadvantages. 6. * The number of alternatives has increased a great deal. This becomes relevant especially for news and current affairs programmes. Some years back the only source of news was the official channel of Doordarshan. Now Doordarshan itself permits news and current affairs programmes by private producers on its channels. In addition, there are foreign satellite channels like BBC, CNN and Star News providing news from different perspectives. i 5

18 7. The foreign satellite channels are forced to take into account the needs of the Indian audiences and have very often modified their programming strategy and content to suit India's needs and preferences. For example, BBC World now has a regular programme of news and current affairs for Asia. Several foreign satellite like Star Plus also present news and current affairs programmes from their own perspective and very analytically. Some channels are probably more influenced by India than influencing India. For example, Star Plus started as an English language channel with predominance of American programmes has now become almost entirely Hindi language channel with local software. It even advertises itself as local channel with local language as its strong point and pride. 8. The competition not only ensures more of content as well as variety in content. It also leads to better quality of programmes at least in terms of the technical and production values. This is seen distinctly in the sports channels. The quality of productions has been so good, showing details very minutely and help increase greater sport awareness, understanding the nuances of games and interest in sport activities. Similar impact is seen in the news coverage and programmes. 9. Proliferation of channels has not lead to killing of the development or educational channels. Discovery and National Geographic are major examples of this. A 1995 DECU/ISRO study 13 has indicated that 41 per cent of the audience in rural areas watched development programmes. Several studies have indicated that there is a high viewership for the college education programmes transmitted by the University Grants Commission. This indicates that the proliferation of channels has not taken the audience away from such programmes. 10. The same holds true for development communication projects exemplified in the form of Jhabua Development Communications Project or the earlier SITE and Kheda projects of ISRO. Now plans are afoot to spreading development communication channels to several other districts and states. 11. The use of interactive training and educational programmes through TDCC has been on the increase. Many foreign satellite channels want to use the interactive channels for education and training. Many voluntary organisations, 1 6

19 educational institutes and government agencies want to use channels. The interactive mode also allows for greater democratisation, empowerment and horizontal communication. It enables more participation and more intimacy to communication. 12. There is a better understanding and awareness of different global cultures due to the transnational television. There are fears also of cultural invasion or erosion of values but on the whole it has given greater confidence to the people of being able to compete with outside channels. The overall public opinion is in favour of permitting foreign channels albeit with some regulatory mechanisms. The overall public opinion is of confidence that benefits of more and varied television outweigh the pitfalls. There is also confidence that Indian culture; values and system are strong and capable of standing up to the challenges and possible dangers. Taking all this into account, it can only be said that there is no need for taking an alarmist view. There are obviously areas of concern; undesirable elements do creep in. But there is without doubt a substantive addition to television content in India. The recent book TV Without Borders: Asia Speaks Out" 14 (1998) indicates that apart from India similar findings have been found from other Asian countries like India, Malaysia, Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan also. The occasional unwanted television content or more of the same thing should not be avoided at the cost of variety and alternatives. It will definitely not be prudent to go to the other extreme of having a monolithic or monopolistic singular channel or even a highly controlled scenario. India has aptly followed a liberal open sky policy with a regulatory mechanism in the form of the Cable Act and the Broadcasting Bill. The recent creation of an autonomous body called Prasar Bharati is in the right direction for providing autonomy to the Indian channels and preparing it for competition from outside channels. This helps both the domestic as well as the foreign channels. There is, therefore, more substance in television content. 1 7

20 Audience Research Unit, Dircctorale General, Doordarslian, New Delhi 1997 Doordarslian '97 Prasar Bharati - Broadcasting Corporation of India, Doordarslian, New Delhi 1998 Doordarslian '98 Brochure 2 Audience Research Unit, Directorate General, Doordarslian, New Dellii 1997 Doordarslian'97 Prasar Bharati - Broadcasting Corporation of India, Doordarslian, New Delhi 1998 Doordarslian '98 Brochure Audience Research Unit, Directorate General, Doordarslian, New Dellii 1997 Doordarshan '97 Prasar Bharati - Broadcasting Corporation of India, Doordarshan, New Dellii 1998 Doordarshan '98 Brochure 5 Audience Research Unit, Directorate General, Doordarshan, New Delhi 1996 Doordarshan 96 ' The list is prepared on the basis of newspaper advertisement in 'The Hindu', of the day's programmes 7 S.R. Joshi 1998 Transborder Television in India : TV Without Borders - Asia Speaks out ( Asian Media Information and Communication Centre- AMIC) Audience Research Unit, Directorate General, Doordarshan, New Delhi 1997 Doordarshan'97 y S.R. Joshi 1998 Transborder Television in India : TV Without Borders - Asia Speaks out ( Asian Media Information and Communication Centre- AMIC) 10 B.S. Bhatia 1997 Jhabua Development Communications Project (DECU-SAC-ISRO) PURSUIT 11 S.R. Joshi, B.S. Bhatia DECU, Ahmedabad 1998 Broadcasting in India. A paper written for the 24 th "International Handbook for Radio and Television", published by the Hans- Bredow-Institut for Radio and Television, University of Hamburt, Germany TDCC Brochure 13 S.R. Joshi, etal 1995 INS AT Effects Study: Role of Television in Rural Areas - Development and Educational Communication Unit, Ahmedabad 14 S.R. Joshi 1998 Transborder Television in India : TV Without Borders - Asia Speaks out ( Asian Media Information and Communication Centre- AM1C) 1 8