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Sep 20, 2021

Television and Broadcasting in India

 

Disclaimer: The note/s given below is/ are a compilation of information taken from various sources. The references to the sources are provided at the end. The views expressed in the note/s are those of the concerned student/s/ intern/s. The blogger or the compiler will not be responsible in any manner whatsoever regarding the authenticity of the information provided in the note/s.

 

These notes are being compiled to help the students for educational purposes during Covid-19 pandemic.

 Index


  1.    Public Service Broadcasting

2.     Commercial Media

3.     Community Media 

4.     The Story of Zee TV

5.     Debate on Hinglish used by Zee TV

6.     The Origin of NDTV

7.     The Birth of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha TV

8.     Sansad TV

9.     Market of Television News

10.  References

 

Public Service Broadcasting

Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) is broadcasting made, financed and controlled by the public, for the public. It is neither commercial nor state-owned, free from political interference and pressure from commercial forces.

Through PSB, citizens are informed, educated and also entertained. When guaranteed with pluralism, programming diversity, editorial independence, appropriate funding, accountability and transparency, public service broadcasting can serve as a cornerstone of democracy.

Public broadcasting may be nationally or locally operated, depending on the country and the station. In some countries, a single organization runs public broadcasting. Other countries have multiple public-broadcasting organizations operating regionally or in different languages. Historically, public broadcasting was once the dominant or only form of broadcasting in many countries (with the notable exceptions of the United States, Mexico and Brazil).

 Objectives

The primary mission of public broadcasting is that of public service, speaking to and engaging as a citizen. The British model has been widely accepted as a universal definition. The model embodies the following principles:

  •      Universal geographic accessibility

·       Universal appeal

·       Attention to minorities

·       Contribution to national identity and sense of community

·       Distance from vested interests

·       Direct funding and universality of payment

·       Competition in good programming rather than numbers

·       Guidelines that liberate rather than restrict

 

While application of certain principles may be straightforward, as in the case of accessibility, some of the principles may be poorly defined or difficult to implement. In the context of a shifting national identity, the role of public broadcasting may be unclear. Likewise, the subjective nature of good programming may raise the question of individual or public taste.

 

Public Service Broadcasting in India

In India, Prasar Bharati is India's public broadcaster. It is an autonomous corporation of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Government of India and comprises the Doordarshan television network and All India Radio. Prasar Bharati was established on 23 November 1997, following a demand that the government owned broadcasters in India should be given autonomy like those in many other countries. The Parliament of India passed an Act to grant this autonomy in 1990, but it was not enacted until 15 September 1997. Though a public broadcaster, it airs commercial advertisements.

 Commercial Media

Commercial media is media that do not rely, directly and only, on public funding. Those media have to get their money from private investors and commercials, but they do not have a public commitment. They do not pay so much attention to issues which are not attractive for many people, as they need high audience levels to obtain more commercials and finance themselves.

Commercial media is media that is privately owned by larger companies and corporations. The sole purpose of commercial media is to make money off their programs and advertising (commercial).

The goal of commercial media is to capitalize on the mass media industries. The main industries are newspapers, magazines, television, and the internet.

Commercial Broadcasting

Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship. It was the United States’ first model of radio (and later television) during the 1920s, in contrast with the public television model in Europe during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, which prevailed worldwide, except in the United States and Brazil, until the 1980s.

Some major commercial broadcasters in India are ViacomCBS Networks EMEAA, Colors TV, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Zee TV, The Walt Disney Company India, Star India etc.

Features

·       Advertising: Commercial broadcasting is primarily based on the practice of airing radio advertisements and television advertisements for profit. This is in contrast to public broadcasting, which receives government subsidies and usually does not have paid advertising interrupting the show. During pledge drives, some public broadcasters will interrupt shows to ask for donations.

·       Paid Programming: Commercial broadcasting overlaps with paid services such as cable television, radio and satellite television. Such services are generally partially or wholly paid for by local subscribers and is known as leased access. Other programming (particularly on cable television) is produced by companies operating in much the same manner as advertising-funded commercial broadcasters, and they (and often the local cable provider) sell commercial time in a similar manner.

·       Ratings: Programming on commercial stations is more ratings-driven—particularly during periods such as sweeps in the US and some Latin American countries.

·  Other Factors: Commercial broadcasting (especially free-to-air) is sometimes controversial. One reason is a perceived lack of quality and risk in the programming (to which more conservative elements respond that it is too risqué much of the time), an excessively high ratio of advertising to program time (especially on children's television), and a perceived failure to serve the local interest due to media consolidation. Commercial radio (in particular) is criticized for a perceived homogeneity in programming, covert politically motivated censorship of content, and a desire to cut costs at the expense of a station's identifiable personality. Politics is a major force in media criticism, with an ongoing debate (especially in the United States) as to what moral standards – if any – are to be applied to the airwaves.

 

Implications

 ·       Commercialism has some very major influences on media, in numerous different ways. But it is important to note that commercial forces are always influencing the type of media that is being produced, whether it is local, national, or international. Some of these implications have very negative effects, that can be somewhat detrimental to media corporations. Such as large-scale layoffs, pulling of funding, conflicts of interest, and instances of that nature.

·       Now with commercial media being a major force in today’s society we have seen a large portion of skewed information that is being released to the general public. In an international and national standings, we don’t see major impact of this problem because there are hundreds of companies releasing information, so educating yourself on important news in not hard, with so many different perspectives.

·       In local terms, corporate media causes problems not just in the media that is being produced, but in the industry, themselves. We are seeing a more and more news outlets downsizing, and when this happens on a local level we are losing the ability to have fair coverage of information. This is happening because of the fact that with less workers we have less coverage of important topics that impact the community.

·       The implications of commercial media are growing and continuing to affect the general public. The concentration of media ownership is narrowing, leaving only a few people to dictate what media is being produced and distributed. It creates a barrier between those in power and those that are not, exemplifying the social inequalities and the current wealth gap.

 Community Media

Community media are any form of media that function in service of or by a community. It is the rise of all kinds of alternative, oppositional, participatory and collaborative media practices that have developed in the journalistic context of ‘community media,’ ‘we media,’ ‘citizens media,’ ‘grassroot journalism’ or any radical alternative to on and offline mainstream journalistic practices.

In other words, it is having access to or creating local alternatives to mainstream broadcasting, like local community newspapers, radio stations, or magazines.

Community Media aids in the process of building citizenship and raising social awareness. “Participation” and “access” are a large aspect in the rise of community media. Those who create media are being encouraged to involve themselves in providing a platform for others to express views. Community media is often given parameters when being defined by groups, but often challenges these boundaries with its broad yet narrow structure. 

Objectives

Community media put the tools of communication into the hands of people in hundreds of communities, particularly women and marginalised groups, allowing them to create their own means of cultural expression, news, information and dialogue. Community media projects are run on a not-for-profit, democratic basis and are based on voluntary participation in program making and in management by members of civil society.

Community media contributes to peoples’ empowerment to improve their social and economic conditions, fight against discrimination and racism, become more effectively involved in the democratic development of their community and country and provide an alternative to mainstream commercial content. 

Role of Community Media

Community media take the form of broadcasting and/or multimedia projects and share some of the following characteristics: independence from governments, business companies, religious institutions and political parties; not-for-profit orientation; voluntary participation of civil society members in the devising and management of programmes; activities aiming at social gain and community benefit; ownership by and accountability to local communities and/or communities of interest which they serve; commitment to inclusive and intercultural practices. Community media are civil society organizations, usually registered as legal entities that offer and encourage participation at different levels of their structures. Also referred to as “third media sector”, community media have a clearly distinct identity alongside national public service media and private commercial media.

As alternative and complementary channels of media production and distribution, community media facilitate active citizenship and political participation for all. They serve diverse communities and involve thousands of volunteers in multilingual media productions, in training and in management - with women, marginalized groups, artists, journalism students, citizens, some with a migrant or refugee background, non-mainstream DJs, youth and elderly people actively at the forefront.

Modes of Community Media 

Community media can take all the forms of other conventional media, such as print, radio, television, Web-based and mixed media.

Community radio is particularly widespread around the world with radio stations being founded to inform their listeners on issues important to the community.

Grassroots Media

Grassroots media is focused more specifically on media making by and for the local community that it serves making the discussion narrow and precise. It is essentially a subset focusing on small scale media projects which aid to bring different visions and perspectives to the “codes” that are so easily embedded in the social psyche

 Challenges

 ·       Despite the social service they provide through their focus on local issues, community media often face a number of challenges, including unfavourable regulation, censorship, unfair licensing processes, inequitable access to the frequency spectrum, lack of formal recognition, low funding, lack of skilled journalists and media professionals, and competition from private and state broadcasters.

·       Community media organizations are an important part of the fabric of democratic societies, yet in many European countries they still lack formal, legal recognition, fair access to distribution platforms and sustainable funding. Funding typically comes from public sources, volunteers’ contributions, participation-based training and grants for social-impact projects. In reality, however, and due to the lack of clear recognition and status for community media, special public funds for community media, where they exist, risk to be easily removed or diverted to other media entities, including private and profit-oriented projects.

·       Access to adequate distribution technologies is challenging for community media who are usually small-scale broadcasters who depend on affordable rates for author rights, terrestrial frequencies and bandwidth on digital platforms. In most European countries, the necessary technical equipment is obtained through in-kind donations and work is done mainly by volunteers. Audio and video broadcast services provided by community media are often undervalued and underpaid, and rarely given due prominence on digital platforms.

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The Story of Zee TV

Zee TV

 

Zee TV (stylized as ZEE TV) is a Hindi-language general entertainment pay television channel based in India, owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises, a subsidiary of the Essel Group. It is associated with several other sister channels which provide services in other Indian regional languages.

 The chairman of the group is Subhash Chandra, who is a BJP-backed member of the Rajya Sabha. It was launched on October 2, 1992, as the flagship channel of Zee Telefilms Ltd (now Zee Entertainment Enterprises). It is India's oldest Hindi-language pay television channel.

History and Origin

 The advent of private channels started in India on the 1990՚s after CNN broadcasted The Gulf War. Hong Kong based STAR (Satellite Television Asian Region) entered into an agreement with an Indian company and Zee TV was born. It became the first privately owned Hindi satellite channel of India.

 In 1982, Essel Group's Empire Holding Ltd. was renamed to Zee Telefilms Ltd, as part of the Essel Group venture into mass media and entertainment. Zee TV was launched on October 2, 1992, as the flagship channel of the company. It began full-day broadcasts in 1993. Zee Telefilms Ltd was renamed into the Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd on January 10, 2007, which continues to operate the entertainment channels of the Zee Network. In 2013, Zee TV, along with its sister channels, went over a branding overhaul. On 15 October 2017, coinciding Zee's twenty-five year silver jubilee, all of its channels rebranded. On 30 May 2021, Zee TV planned to revamp its look and air four new television series, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was postponed. Later, Zee TV planned to revamp on 23 August 2021 launching 2 new shows - Rishton Ka Manjha and Meet.

 Several regional channels also came into being during this period. Apart from the regional channels, a host of international channels like CNN, BBC, and Discovery are also available to the Indian television audience. With different categories of channels like 24-hour news channels, religious channels, cartoon channels, and movie channels, there is something for everyone to watch.

Programming

 The channel mostly airs content intended for family and coming-of-age generations ranging from comedy to drama. It has also aired reality shows such as En Vidya Nokki, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, I Can Do That, India's Best Cinestars Ki Khoj, and Dance India Dance.

Zee TV launched a Nickelodeon-branded programming block in 1999 as part of a distribution deal between Viacom International and Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was replaced by a new Cartoon Network block in 2002.

Rapid Growth

·       Zee TV aired three hours of programmes a day initially, with a movie and a mix of old programmes from Doordarshan. After five months, it began Sunday morning transmissions and established a trade promotion cell, which attracted advertisers with its affordable rates. Almost within a year of its launch, it had become a 24-hour entertainment channel with considerable rural penetration. In August 1993, it became the first media company to offer shares to the public.

·       The year 1995 saw Zee TV reaching close to 11 million homes. This was the year its extremely popular programme Sa Re Ga Ma, the first singing talent-based reality show, was launched. Two other channels — El TV with regional programming and Zee Cinema (the first Hindi cinema channel) — were added, consolidating market viewership. Zee TV created its own pool of producers and even set up a cable distribution network Siti Cable, which could send satellite signals from a powerful master control room to local cable operators everywhere.

·       Vijayawada saw the first such control room and many more followed, marking the entry of multi-system operators (MSOs) in India. Through innovative programming, including regional content, distribution and advertising, the channel retained the top viewership slot.

·       In 2000, in what is acknowledged today as a monumental blunder, Zee TV turned down both ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC)’ and ‘Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki’, which were grabbed by Star TV. The rest, to use a cliché, is history. Star TV zoomed to the top slot with the popularity created by these two shows alone.

·       But Zee rallied and came back stronger than ever. Its ‘Indian Cricket League’ is said to have later paved the way for the popularity of IPL. In 2003, it came up with India’s first DTH service — Dish TV. Realising that women were the primary viewers who preferred serials and soap operas to time-bound reality shows, Zee TV concentrated on family-based entertainment. Storylines were researched in detail and dialogues and scenes fine-tuned, with corrections made based on viewer feedback.

Conscious Brand

Zee has tried to shrink its carbon footprint by reducing electricity consumption and investing in carbon offset projects. It is also taking up potable water projects and measuring water usage. Avoidance of single-use plastic, source segregation of waste and responsible e-waste disposal through external partners are other measures it undertakes for environmental sustainability.

Its CSR projects cover varied areas — empowerment of girls through social initiatives, integrated rural development, organic food development, preservation of heritage through partnership and collaboration with cultural custodians, providing relief and rehabilitation during disasters, and employee volunteering.

Zee TV was the only M&E brand that featured among the ‘Top 25 Most Valued Brands’ in India (Millward Brown study). The ‘Great Place to Work Institute’ recognised it thrice as one of ‘India’s Best Places to Work For.’ It has won multiple awards in Promax 2019 and CMO Asia Awards across channels. ZEE Cinema won the ‘Global Marketing Excellence’ award. ZEE5 won the ‘OTT platform of the year award’ in Promax 2020 OTT Digital Marketing and Innovation Awards and Trust Research Advisory’s ‘India’s Most Desired Video Streaming Brand’ award.

Debate on Hinglish used by Zee TV

The role of television - as the leading and most international media - is examined, focusing on the emergence of new media languages in countries such as India, one of the world's biggest media markets.

Language has been a key factor in the success or failure of new television channels

in India, where the expansion of Western television as a result of media globalisation and availability of new technologies, namely satellite and cable television, have transformed the broadcasting landscape. There has been an emergence and steady growth of a new mediated language - Hinglish, a mixture of Hindi, the most widely used language in India, and English, the medium of international communication and global media. The hybridisation of the national to the global culture is examined with the case study of India's private television networks - such as Zee TV. What are the factors responsible for hybrid television? The cultural economy of the phenomenon is explored and the question is posed - is hybrid language the future of television? If so, who benefits from programming in hybrid languages and who loses out? For centuries, language has defined national, regional or ethnic identity? Will hybridisation lead to blurring of identities? What role will the global image industry have in it?

The Coming of Hinglish

Western-owned or inspired television recognised this language 'problem' and therefore, encouraged mixing of English and Hindi and the evolution of a hybrid media language - Hinglish. The emergence of a mixed media idiom, characterised by the growth of Hinglish, has dominated cultural production in the India of 1990s. Hinglish has been identified by the burgeoning mass media as the language of the youth of a 'liberalised' and 'modern' India. The language of the mass media reflects prevailing cultural trends in a society and if Hinglish - both in its verbal and visual version - has become a key element of media language - it signifies the growing importance of English language in the media discourse. By regularly using it, television constantly gives the new language currency and ultimately legitimacy.

 Hinglish and Zee TV

While a form of Hinglish had been in existence in urban north India for decades, it was popularised by Zee TV, India's first private Hindi-language and most successful satellite channel (Thomas, 1998). Launched in 1992 by the Essel Group of Indian entrepreneur Subhash Chandra and targeted at the mass market with its pioneering Hindi-films-based television entertainment, Zee TV broke new grounds in nationally produced entertainment - adapting derivatives of Western programme formats such as quiz contests, game-and-chat shows and its own version of MTV, Music Asia. This music-based channel has contributed immensely to the popularisation of Hinglish, particularly among youth. Music Asia used Indian languages with elements of popular Indian culture, regional and folk to rework them around the rhythm and beat of Western popular music with accompanying visuals located in India and Indian milieus. Having entered popular youth music, Hinglish has also become the language of music albums for children, for example, Jantar Mantar, a fusion of indipop, rap, reggae, samba and party songs, catchy rhymes and narrative stories.

Zee was following a trend which began in India's film industry, the so-called Bollywood, where use of Hinglish in dialogues and in songs has steadily increased in the 1990s. The advertising industry too contributed significantly in popularising the new hybridity, with such hugely successful commercials using Hinglish as Yehi hai (only this is) right choice, baby for Pepsi.

Zee was the first network to elevate this new language by using it in a more serious genre such as news, which had always been in either pure Hindi or in ‘BBC English’. It received a boost when Zee News adopted the style of Hinglish. By using English words, Zee aimed to expand its reach beyond the Hindi-speaking regions of India to cater to regional audience, and the South Asian diaspora, who may be more amenable to a hybrid variety of television. Like other commercial channels, Zee is dependent on advertisers, and is therefore acutely aware that language can influence people in their buying choices, a contributing factor why it used Hinglish, the language of the urban middle class.

Other channels, even those originally targeted exclusively at the English-fluent Westernised Indians, followed on the footsteps of Zee, and were forced to use Hinglish to widen their reach. One example of this global-local hybridisation is to be seen in the way Star Plus, the main India-specific channel of the Star network, was marketed, with its motto - 'Aapki boli - aapka Plus Point' (Your own language is your Plus point).

The Expansion of Hinglish

Zee was among the first to recognise the potential of overseas markets for its programming. In its zeal to rope in pan-Indian audiences scattered throughout the world, Zee developed a new idiom which by virtue of sheer reach of the medium contributed to democratising Hinglish. After Star TV purchased 50 per cent of Asia Today (the Hong Kong-based broadcaster of Zee TV) in 1993, it became Zee's partner in India, facilitating the Zee network's expansion within India and outside (Tobin, i 999). Following their 1992 launch in the Middle East, Zee TV entered the lucrative British market in 1995, when it bought TV Asia, which was already established in the UK. In 1999, Zee was available on the Sky network and claimed to have one million subscribers in UK and continental Europe. It was one of the first channels to go digital in the UK, offering programming in Hindi and other South Asian languages, namely Bengali, Urdu, Gujarati and Punjabi (Balakrishnan, 2000). Having acquired a base in the UK, Zee is expanding into mainland Europe - already its UK- based feed is available on Portuguese cable platform TV Cabo, Norwegian cable operator Telenor, TeleDenmark in Denmark and on the Casema cable system in the Netherlands. In 1997, Zee entered into a joint venture with a South Africa-based platform operator, MultiChoice, and within two years, it had 50,000 subscribers, mostly in South Africa. 

By 2000, Zee claimed to be 'the world's largest Asian television network,' covering Asia, Europe, US and Africa, catering to the 24 million strong Indian diaspora. In Asia, where it says it has a total viewership of 180 million, the network spans more than 43 countries and offers round the clock programming. Having reached more than 23 million homes in the Indian sub-continent and United Arab Emirates, Zee's strategy now is to expand its operations in the lucrative North American market.

Zee considered its strength to be its indigenous programming in Indian languages. After Star started making programmes in Hindi, it became a direct competitor for Zee, creating business rivalry between the two operations of News Corporation in India. In September 1999, in an unprecedented action, Zee bought back Star's 50 per cent share in the company, establishing Zee has a major media player in its own right. By 2000, Zee's media and communication empire included cable and satellite channels in three continents, along with interests in film-production, publishing, cable distribution and satellite telephones. In mid-2000, Zee had three subscription channels - Zee Cinema, Zee Movies and Zee English as well as four regional channels under its Alpha bouquet - Alpha Marathi, Alpha Gujarati, Alpha Punjabi and Alpha Bengali. In addition, the network also had three free-to-air channels - Zee TV, Zee News and Music Asia (Satellite & Cable TV, 2000).

Conclusion

Like other hybridised forms of language, Hinglish does not have a clearly defined

phonology, grammar and lexicon. The degree of language mixing is also varied, given the linguistic complexity of a country of continental character. Such a phenomenon is not typical to India but it can certainly be seen as a part of the globalisation process for the homogenisation of language (Mohan, 1995).

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The Origin of NDTV

New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching the first 24x7 news channel and the first lifestyle channel in the country. It owns and operates the broadcast news channels of NDTV India and NDTV 24x7. The two channels of the company have received 32 Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards.

History and Origin

NDTV was founded in 1984, by the journalist Radhika Roy and the economist Prannoy Roy, a husband-wife duo from the city of Kolkata in the state of West Bengal. It began as a production house for news segments for the public broadcaster Doordarshan and international satellite channels when television broadcasting was a state monopoly and transitioned into the first independent news network in India. The company launched the first 24x7 news channel in partnership with Star India in 1998.

Between 1998 and 2003, NDTV was in an exclusive agreement with Star India to produce all its news segment. In 2003, the company became an independent broadcasting network with the simultaneous launch of the Hindi and English language news channels known as NDTV India and NDTV 24x7. It also launched a business news channel NDTV Profit which was later converted into an information and entertainment channel NDTV Prime. The company has had business interests in general entertainment and e-commerce, and is part of the management of a number of broadcast channels including the lifestyle channel NDTV Good Times, the infotainment channel Astro Awani and the news channel Independent Television through various joint ventures.

Broadcast Channels

NDTV operates three broadcast channels which includes two news channels and one infotainment channel. The company has a stake three more channels which are managed through joint ventures. In addition, it has auxiliary services subsidiaries such as NDTV Labs, a research and development company set up exclusively to augment production process within the group, and NDTV Emerging Markets, a consultancy firm set up to assist in the launch of NDTV news channels outside India.

English and Hindi Broadcasts

The English language news channel NDTV 24x7 is considered to be the first 24x7 news channel in India, being a successor to Star News which was founded by NDTV and Star India. It is available internationally, through various distribution partnerships including one with Time Warner Cable and DirecTV in the United States. The channel operates under the designation of ATN NDTV 24x7 in Canada as it broadcasts its programming through the Asian Television Network.

The Hindi language news channel NDTV India is a national news channel and has widespread viewership in India. The channel is closely associated with its editor-in-chief Ravish Kumar, the recipient of a number of distinguished awards including the Ramon Magsaysay Award and considered to be one of the most influential journalists in India.

The infotainment channel NDTV Prime was known as an innovation for being part of a two in one hybrid channel with NDTV Profit, with the same channel providing business news in daytime during weekdays under the designation of Profit and information and entertainment at other times under the designation of Prime. The channel was later converted into a full-time infotainment channel and the business news programs shifted to NDTV 24x7.

 The subsidiary NDTV Lifestyle which launched the first lifestyle channel in India called NDTV Good Times, continues to operate the channel in a joint venture with the Southeast Asian media company Astro. NDTV also has two joint ventures where it manages the broadcast infrastructure of the infotainment channel Astro Awani in Southeast Asian and manages the news channel Independent Television with BEXIMCO in Bangladesh.

Growth of NDTV

New Delhi Television (NDTV) was founded in 1988. It started its journey by live election coverage in India. Later in 1998 it became India’s first 24–hour channel in alliance with Star. During this period, it also produced 80% of the content for BBC India. It also launched NDTV Online in 1998.

Today NDTV is one of India’s first and largest private producer of news, current affairs and entertainment television.

The company operates as a television media company in India and internationally. The company operates NDTV 24X7, an English news channel; NDTV India, a Hindi news channel; NDTV Profit, a business news channel; NDTV Good Times, a lifestyle channel; and NDTV Hindu, the Chennai’s city–specific English news and entertainment channel. It also operates NDTV Convergence, a triple play for the synergies between television, Internet, and mobile; NGEN Media Services, a joint venture with Genpact to outsource media post–production services and digital asset management, as well as logging, editing, and graphics services; and NDTV Music. 

In addition, the company owns various portals and subsites, including NDTV.com, NDTV Profit, Khabar, Movies, Cricket, Doctor, Cooks, Good Times, and Tubaah video site; and offers mobile applications for iPad, iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry users. It has strategic alliance with South Asia Creative Assets Limited to create lifestyle channels in India. New Delhi Television Limited was incorporated in 1988 and is based in New Delhi, India.

NDTV has also launched 'Astro Awani' channel in Indonesia in partnership with Astro, a leading South East Asia media group. It is a 24-hour news, infotainment and lifestyle channel. It has also launched NDTV Arabia catering to the Middle East countries.

NDTV has also launched NDTV Metro-nation Channel. It is India’s first English city channel exclusive for Delhi and NCR that provides breaking news.

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The Birth of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha TV

Lok Sabha TV

Lok Sabha TV was an Indian public cable television network channel that offered coverage of central government proceedings and other public affairs programming. Its remit was to make accessible to all the work of the parliamentary and legislative bodies of India.

The channel broadcast live and recorded coverage of the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) while Rajya Sabha TV covered the sessions of the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament).

In 2021, Lok Sabha TV merged with Rajya Sabha TV to form Sansad TV.

History of Lok Sabha TV

Select Parliamentary proceedings have been telecast in India since 1989, when the President's address to Parliament was shown on live television. After 1994 the Question Hours of both Houses were broadcast live on alternate weeks on both satellite television and All India Radio. The broadcasts were scheduled to ensure that on a given week proceedings in both Houses were aired, one on TV and the other on radio.

In 2006, DD Lok Sabha was replaced by Lok Sabha TV (LSTV), a 24-hour TV channel broadcasting in Hindi and English, which is owned and operated entirely by the Lok Sabha itself, broadcasting live the proceedings of the Lok Sabha and also various cultural and educational programs and panel discussions, when the Lok Sabha is not in session.

Lok Sabha TV is a must-carry channel in India, and all television service providers (Direct to Home as well as cable TV providers) must carry this channel, as mandated in the advisory issued by the Indian government in 2015 and still in force.

Currently Lok Sabha TV is headed by Aashish Joshi, Chief Executive & Editor-in-Chief a well-known Journalist and Media/Broadcast professional, and the current editor of the national channel. The Channel's programming is headed by Sumit Singh (Executive Director-Programmes), a journalist and media professional who also anchors a popular show called 'Know Your MP' and Technical headed by Abhishek Agrawal, Senior Technical Manager.

Dedicated Parliamentary Channels 

With efforts of the Lok Sabha and Prasar Bharati, in 2004 two dedicated satellite channels were set up to telecast live the proceedings of both Houses of Parliament. In July 2006, DD Lok Sabha was replaced by Lok Sabha Television, which is owned and operated by the Lok Sabha itself. Lok Sabha Television also airs other national ceremonies, such as the Oath-taking ceremony of the President of India, conferring of awards to Parliamentarians, and addresses by foreign dignitaries. Private television channels are allowed to use these feeds subject to payment and conditions laid down by the Lok Sabha Secretariat. In addition, video footage of proceedings is stored in the Parliamentary Archives. When Parliament is not in session, these channels air general informative programs, particularly those related to effective government.

Rajya Sabha TV

Rajya Sabha TV was a public cable television network channel owned and operated by Rajya Sabha that covered the proceedings of Rajya Sabha (the Upper House of the Parliament of India). Apart from telecasting live coverage of Rajya Sabha proceedings, RSTV also brought detailed analyses of parliamentary affairs. While focused on current national and international affairs, it provided a platform for knowledge-based programmes for the discerning viewer. The channel offered special attention to legislative business undertaken by the Parliament.

In March 2021, this channel and Lok Sabha TV were merged to form a combined parliamentary service, Sansad TV.

Rajya Sabha TV produced the 10-part TV mini-series Samvidhaan, which was directed by the noted film director Shyam Benegal.

Rajya Sabha TV also produced a teleserial and film, Raag Desh, on the trial of Indian National Army officers during British rule. The serial was directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia.

Important Features and Achievements

Rajya Sabha TV was a must-carry channel in India, and all television service providers (Direct to Home as well as cable TV providers) must carry this channel, as mandated in the advisory issued by the Indian government in 2015 and still in force.

In recent years, Rajya Sabha TV has gained prominence among Indian news and current affairs television channels. Its YouTube channel now has over 5 million subscribers, much ahead of other channels in the same/ similar niches. Now about a million subscribers are added every six months. Some of its shows have been viewed millions of times on YouTube.

On BARC, the audience measurement system for television channels in India, daily programmes of Rajya Sabha TV figure among the top viewed programmes.

The telecast of live proceedings of the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the Indian parliament) done by Rajya Sabha TV is carried live by most other channels in their news telecasts, without cost or attribution unless used in programmes. 

Sansad TV

Sansad Television is an Indian government television service, which broadcasts programming of the two Houses of Indian Parliament and other public affairs programming.

It was formed in March, 2021 by amalgamating the existing house channels, Lok Sabha TV and the Rajya Sabha TV. Although, separate satellite channels are broadcast for each House. Provisionally, the channel will have about 35 themes on which programmes will be aired, and the programmes will be similar, but in two languages: English and Hindi.

History

Ravi Capoor, a retired IAS officer, was appointed as the CEO of the channel on 1 March, 2021. "During the intersession period and beyond the working hours of Parliament, both will telecast common content to a large extent. The LSTV platform would telecast programmes in Hindi, while RSTV would do so in English. The two language variants, it was felt, enables better branding and increased viewership," a top official said. "The attempt is to go beyond the proceedings of the Houses and show the functioning of Parliament and parliamentarians when the House is not in session."

Programming of Sansad TV

Sansad TV programming primarily includes four categories:

·       Functioning of Parliament & democratic institutions

·       Governance and implementation of schemes & policies

·       History & culture of India and

·       Issues, interests and concerns of contemporary nature.

 ________

Market of Television News

How do Media Markets Work?

Local media consists of local television stations, radio stations, and newspapers. There are also a rising number of hyper-local, digital publications.

While their newsrooms are set up differently, their mission is the same. They each aim to serve information relevant to a geographically-specific audience.

How are those audiences defined?

For television and radio stations, the audience is defined by the reach of their broadcast signal. For newspapers, the audience is defined by reach of their circulation. Sometimes, these overlap and share large portions of the same audience, especially in larger communities. But oftentimes, newspapers can be increasingly local.

How Local Television Media Markets Operate

A television station’s audience is determined by its Designated Market Area (DMA). DMAs are based on population size and the physical reach of a broadcast signal.

Only those living inside the confines of the broadcast signal can turn their Tv’s to view the local evening news. And only those driving within the geographic boundaries of designated media markets can listen to local radio programming.

The larger the population size within that radius, the “higher” the DMA, and the more valuable a media placement becomes. For example, New York City is DMA #1 with a potential audience of 6.8 million. Meanwhile, a smaller city such as Glendive, Montana is DMA #210, with a potential audience of 3,600 people.

The combined 210 market areas across the United States reach a total of 107 million TV homes. From an SEO perspective, digital platforms of media in bigger cities tend to carry higher Domain Authorities (DA). A digital placement in a larger market, means a greater transfer of authority to your site with every link.

Sources of Income for TV News Channels

While watching any TV show, news or any other thing, several advertisements run in between of all kinds (some on repeat). For displaying this advertisement in between the shows, advertisers pay some amount of charge to the TV channels. The amount of charge varies as per its duration as some ads are of 5 seconds or others of 10 seconds.

The major source of income for the TV channels is received from the advertisers on displaying their ads. In fact, this is not limited to India only, every daily soap and channel earns its money from advertisements only.

Although these earnings through advertising aren't fixed. Every TV channel charges differently when it comes to displaying ads at various times. The biggest advantage for TV channels is its procedure of money-generating through advertising. 

When it comes to how TV channels make money, they are split into two major categories. These are listed below:

1.     TRP

TRP is elaborated as Television Rating Point. A target rating point is a metric used in marketing and advertising to compare target audience impressions of a campaign or advertisement through a communication medium relative to the target audience population size. In the particular case of television, a device is attached to the TV set in a few thousand viewers' houses to measure impressions. These numbers are treated as a sample from the overall TV owners in different geographical and demographic sectors. Using a device, a special code is telecasted during the programme, which records the time and the programme that a viewer watches on a particular day. The average is taken for a 30-day period, which gives the viewership status for the particular channel. This has an average limit between 0-3.0.

In this, TV shows and channels are evaluated by their numbers of views per second. This also determines the popularity and love for the show or channel among the audience. The higher the TRP, the higher profit TV channels earn.

Now, it comes to how they earn through this? Well, their popularity is alternatively specified by the number of advertisements shown during the show. As ads are the core for media houses and publications.

The amount of money generated through this is distributed among the producers and TV channels in an agreeable proportion. However, the TV channels earn by the GRP, Gross Rating Point. This is the standard advertising measure to calculate the ratio of total target market reached multiplied by the susceptibility frequency.

Calculating TRP

In India, two electronic methods are there for calculating TRP:

a)    People meters device is installed in some places or set in selected homes to calculate the TRP. In this way some thousand viewers are surveyed in the form of justice and sampling. These gadgets record data about the channel or programme watched by the family members or selected people. Through this meter the information of TV channel or programme for one minute is carried out by the INTAM a monitoring team i.e. Indian Television Audience measurement. After analysing the information, the team decides what is the TRP of the channel or programme. Or we can say that this data is later analysed by the agency to create a national TRP data of various TV channels and TV programmes.

b)    Second method is known as picture matching where the people meter records a small portion of the picture that is being watched on the TV. This data is collected from a set of homes in the form of pictures and later on is analysed to calculate the TRPs.

2.    DTH Cable Operators

This is one of the very intriguing ways for TV channels to make money. We all have used or heard about the set-up-box connections. In this, we would have to subscribe to some channels so that we watch them.

When we do so, a little amount of the total charge is given to the TV channels. This generates a good amount of money for the TV channels. Generally, people subscribe to high TRP channels only, the other low TRP channels are just working towards increasing their views. They usually do not charge money as they come free.

How Much do TV Channels Earn?

Through advertisements, there isn't any fixed rate of money that the advisor would pay. Suppose, a TV channel charges Rs. 2 lakhs for 20 seconds of the ad. Then on a 25 seconds ad, it would charge 2 lakh and 50 thousand. Different channels charge different amounts of money from the advisors, based on their terms and conditions.

However, the rate of the ads generally depends upon the proportion of TRP as it evaluates the number of people watching the channel. When the TRP of any channel is high, its rate of advertisements also increases.

Talking about the highest TRP channels, Colors, Zee TV, Star Plus, Zee News, India TV, Sony, ABP news, and others, have the highest rate of advertisements. These channels charge around 3-4 lakhs for a 10-second ad.

Conclusion

TV channels earn a fancy amount of money mostly by advertising. It basically shows some seconds of advertisement in between its show and then charges some amount of money to the advertising company.

The TV channels with the high TRP come out with the highest advertising rates. With an enormous fan base, TV channels are growing more promptly and are receiving great advertising deals.

References


http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/media-development/public-service-broadcasting/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_broadcasting

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 https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/public-media-coverage-of-rare-diseases-and-disorders/83060

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_broadcasting#Features

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_media

 http://europeanjournalists.org/mediaagainsthate/what-is-community-media/

 https://www.coe.int/en/web/freedom-expression/community-media

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 file:///C:/Users/satak/Downloads/aodonoghue,+Journal+manager,+TCR+2000+12.2+pp.+67-79.pdf

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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lok_Sabha_TV

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajya_Sabha_TV

 https://www.gktoday.in/current-affairs/sansad-tv-to-be-launched/

 https://www.digitalthirdcoast.com/blog/local-media-markets-and-news-ownership

 https://startuptalky.com/tv-channels-revenue-explained/

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_rating_point

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Compiled and Edited by

Satakshi Darmwal

Batch of 2023

B.A. (Hons.) Journalism

Lady Shri Ram College for Women,

New Delhi

 

 

1 comment:

Mard Ka Dard said...

Well structured article very informative.