• TV programming was introduced experimentally in India to promote rural development as early as 1959. Later, the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment ( SITE) broadcasted directly to community viewers in the rural areas of 6 states between August 1975 and July 1976.
• These instructional broadcasts were broadcasted to 2400 TV sets directiy for 4 hours daily.
• In 1991, there was one state controlled TV channel Doordarshan in India. By 1998, there were almost 70 channels. Privately run satellite channels have multiplied rapidly since mid-1990s, while Doordarshan broadcasts over 20 channels there were some 40 private television networks broadcasting in 2000. The staggering growth of private satellite television has been one of the defining developments of contemporary India.
• The Gulf War of 1991 (which popularized CNN), and the launching of star-TV in the same year by the Whampoa Hutchinson Group signalled the arrival of satellite channels in India. In 1992, Zee TV, a Hindi based satellite entertainment channel, also began beaming programs to cable TV viewers in India. By 2000, 40 private cable and satellite channels were available including several that focused exclusively on regional-language broadcasting like Sun-TV, Udaya-TV, Raj TV, and Asianet.
• While Doordarshan was expanding rapidly in the 1980s, the cable television industry was mushrooming in major Indian cities. The VCR greatly multiplied entertainmentoptions for Indian audiences, providing alternatives to Doordarshan’* single channel programming. Video viewing at home and in community-based parlours increased rapidly. The video fare consisted mostly of film-based entertainment, both domestic begun wiring apartment buildings to transmit several films a day. The number of cable operators also increased significantly.
• The coming in of transnational television companies like Star TV, MTV, Channel V, Sony and others, worried some people on the likely impact on Indian youth and on the Indian cultural identity. But most transnational television channels have through research realized that the use of the familiar is more effective in procuring the diverse groups that constitute Indian audience. The early strategy of Sony .International was to broadcast 10 Hindi films a week, gradually decreasing the number as the station produced its own Hindi language content. The majority of foreign networks have now introduced either a segment of Hindi language programming (MTV India) or an entire new Hindi language channel ( Star Plus). Star Sports and ESPN have dual commentary or an audio soundtrack in Hindi. The larger players have launched specific regional channels in languages such as Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi and Gujarati.
• Localisation of STAR TV- in October 1996, STAR Plus initially an all English general entertainment channel originating from Hong Kong, began producing a Hindi language belt of programming between 7 and 9 PM. By February 1999, the channel was converted to a solely Hindi channel and all English serials shifted to STAR World, the network’* English language international channel. Advertising to promote the Hindi channel included the Hindi slogan: ‘Aapki Boli, Aapka Plus Point).
• Both STAR and Sony continued to dub US programming for younger audience as **** appeared to be able to adjust to the peculiarities that arise when the language is one and the setting another.
