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Before getting into the findings
of the survey of viewers re-
garding Malayalam news channels, given below is a
background note on the path traced by the television transmission sector in
India. The plethora of channels that we have today in various languages,
and the availability of several news channels in a language like
Malayalam, is the outcome of a long journey traced in the field of television
transmission.
Television transmission in India is undergoing dramatic changes in
the current liberalized environment. To understand the changes in
the broader context, one needs to have some idea of the road covered by
the television transmission sector in India so far. The journey began on
an experimental basis with a financial grant from UNESCO on
September 15, 1959. The makeshift studio at Akashvani Bhavan in New
Delhi was chosen as the location for the experiment. The experiment
started with a one-hour program, telecast twice a week, on community
health, citizens' rights, education and traffic sense, etc.
Regular news telecast was in fact begun six years later. A daily
one-hour program with a news bulletin was served to the Indian viewers.
The first multicolor program was the prime minister's address to the
nation from Red Fort in Delhi on India's
35 Independence Day in 1982. On the same day, Doordarshan's
National channel was launched. The aim of launching the national
channel was to nurture national integration, and inculcate a sense of
pride among Indians. Indian viewers also enjoyed color telecast of the
Asian Games hosted by New Delhi the same year in their drawing rooms. |
