Broadcast Journalism

Objectives:
 To understand the development of broadcast journalism in India
 Lean skills and techniques required for broadcast journalism
 To learn how to handle equipment- a camcorder and recorder — for a story
 Regional language broadcast journalism to be examined as a growing and flourishing field

Syllabus:

1. History of the development of radio journalism; BBC as case study; radio boom to current decline; current
developments with FM and independent radio channels; the underdevelopment of radio with the coming of
TV

2. The potential of radio as a broadcast medium — internationally and nationally; examining radio audiences
in the region (AIR’s reach and popularity) and in the nation

3. Radio news formats — the spot, the report, feature, documentary, docudrama, talk show, interview

4. Writing news for radio

5. Skills of speaking over the radio as reporter, presenter, Interviewing, Narrating, conversation: Outside
broadcasts and radio conferencing

6. Principles of sound and production techniques in radio journalism

7. History of the development of TV Journalism — internationally and in India

8. TV journalism — local , regional, national and international; Exploring the potential of the local cable news
network; studying CNN as case study.

9. TV news in the regional languages — reach, popularity, special coverage

10. TV journalism formats; evolution and popularity of new forms on TB — the long feature or documentary,
the panel discussion arid its functions, the news talk show.

11. Scripting news for TV-News, Personality, Event, Interview

12. Principles of video camera use
13. Skills of anchoring or presenting — Voicing and delivery, on camera delivery
14. Videotape editing
15. Examining Broadcast journalism and allegations of ‘dumbing down’ of news as a whole; impact on print
journalism
16. Understanding the power of the image and therefore the ethical considerations of broadcast coverage in
times of conflict and disaster stories.

Book List

1. MacGregor, Brent; Live, Direct and B (1998); Arnold

2. Parthasarthy, Ramaswamy; Here is the News: (1994); Sterling
3. Beaman. Jim; Interviewing for Radio; (2000); Rout ledge
4. Chatterji, PC; Broadcasting in India; (1987); Sage
5. Herbert, John; Journalism in the Digital Age; (2000); Focal Press
6. Brittner and Brittner; Radio Journalism; (1977); Prentice- Hall
7. Ahuja; Audiovisual Journalism; (1988); Surjeet
8. Hilliard; Writing for TV, Radio and New Media, 7th edition; Wadsworth Making TV news in the
Satellite Age;
 All India Radio
All India Radio (abbreviated as AIR), officially known as Akashvani (Devanagari:) is the radio broadcaster of India
and a division of Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India), an autonomous corporation of the Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. Established in 1936,[1], today, it is the sister service of Prasar
Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster.

The word Akashavani was coined by Professor Dr. M.V. Gopalaswamy for his radio station in Mysore during 1936.

All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks in the world. The headquarters is at the Akashwani Bhavan,
New Delhi. Akashwani Bhavan houses the drama section, the FM section and the National service. The
Doordarshan Kendra (Delhi) is also located on the 6th floor of Akashvani Bhavan.

A national service planned, developed and operated by the Prasar Bharati Broadcasting Corporation of India

Sound broadcasting started in India in 1927 with the proliferation of private radio clubs. The operations of All India
Radio began formally in 1936, as a government organisation, with clear objectives to inform, educate and entertain
the masses.

When India attained Independence in 1947, AIR had a network of six stations and a complement of 18 transmitters.
The coverage was 2.5% of the area and just 11% of the population. Rapid expansion of the network took place post
Independence.

AIR today has a network of 232 broadcasting centres with 149 medium frequency(MW), 54 high frequency (SW)
and 171 FM transmitters. The coverage is 91.79% of the area , serving 99.14% of the people in the largest
democracy of the world. AIR covers 24 Languages and 146 dialects in home services. In Externel services, it covers
27 languages; 17 national and 10 foreign languages.

Growth & Development

The first radio programme in India was broadcast by the Radio Club of Mumbai in June 1923. It was followed by
the setting up of a Broadcasting Service that began broadcasting in India in July 1927 on an experimental basis at
Mumbai and Kolkata simultaneously under an agreement between Government of India and a private company
called the Indian Broadcasting Company Ltd.

When India became independent, the AIR network had only six Stations located at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata,
Chennai, Lucknow and Tiruchirapalli with a total complement of 18 transmitters - six on the medium wave and the
remaining on short wave. Radio listening on medium wave was confined to urban limits of these cities. As against a
mere 2,75,000 receiving sets at the time of Independence, now there are about 132 million estimated radio sets in
the country.

Now the broadcast scenario has drastically changed with 215 broadcasting centers, including 77 local Radio
Stations, covering nearly cent-per-cent country's population.

Services
AIR has many different services each catering to different regions/languages across India. One of the most famous
services of the AIR is the Vividh Bharati Seva (roughly translating to "Multi-Indian service"). Vividh Bharati
celebrated its Golden Jubilee on 3 October 2007. Vividh Bharati has the only comprehensive database of songs
from the so termed "Golden Era" of Hindi film music (roughly from 1940s to 1980s). This service is the most
commercial of all and is popular in Mumbai and other cities of India. This service offers a wide range of
programmes including news, film music, comedy shows, etc. The Vividh Bharti service operates on different MW
band frequencies for each city as shown below.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

All India Radio entered the realm of external broadcasting shortly after the outbreak of II world War on 1st October,
1939-when it started a service in Pushtu for listeners across- what was then the country's North West Frontier.The
service was designated to counter radio propoganda from Germany, directed to Afghanistan, Iran and Arab
countries.With the end of the war, the Victorious and Allies lost interest in continung with the propoganda warfare
and the equipment was presented to AIR, which took over its active control.The need of continuing certain services
was assessed and the number of services was rearranged.

Comparison of NDTV & Times NOW

Politics and movies are topics of discussion that bind together the people of India. From the coffee shops at the Taj
Hotel to the chai thapri at the street corner, debates and arguments on current news are a daily ritual. Everyday news
becomes a part of canteen chatter and small talk in the local trains. Celebrity gossip is greedily whispered, the rape
case draws collective gasps, the rising prices of onions causes worried frowns and the survival story of disease-
stricken baby is discussed with smiles.

Most families in India now own a television set. It is the little box that offers a perspective of everything going
around the world and people are increasingly turning to it for news, information and analysis.

The two news channels that have very high viewership and conversely, also face huge amounts of flak are NDTV
24 x 7 and Times Now.

NDTV 24 x 7 is an English news channel owned by New Delhi Television Ltd. Home to the immensely popular
shows, The Big Fight, We The People, Sports 24 x 7, etc. NDTV 24x7 has won the Asian Television Award for
Best News Channel in 2005.

Times Now is a 24-hour English language news channel launched in 2006. The channel was launched as a joint
venture of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. the publishers of The Times of India and Reuters. It was the first news
channel in India to be launched on mobile screens from Reliance Infocomm Network.

Sensationalism and dramatizing frivolous stories are almost become an accepted part of Indian news channel. Ethics
of journalism are forgotten as the phenomenon of ‘breaking news’ has taken over.

Inconsistencies are glaring in both the channels. Sonia Singh, a veteran at NDTV 24 x 7 was interviewing
Viswanathan Anand, when his mother asked him who his role model was. Anand said Mahatma Gandhi. It was an
answer that begged a follow up question, that might have inspired those watching it but Sonia Singh just replied,
“that is interesting” and moved on to ask her preplanned list of questions.

The Chaitanya Kunte fiasco invited an unexpected backlash for NDTV. Chaitanya Kunte, a common viewer,
criticized Barkha Dutt’s coverage of the terror attacks on Mumbai, on his blog . He accused her of sensationalizing
information that was sensitive and broadcasting details about the security troops and the position of hostages.
Barkha Dutt quickly went on the defensive, had the blog taken down, demanded an apology and threatened legal
action against the blogger. This invited the wrath of Indian bloggers, who called Dutt’s action ‘a bullying tactic’.
She was accused of clamping down on the freedom of speech, and using her power and the backing of her
organization to suppress her critics. Indian bloggers quickly started quoting Kunte’s lines in defiance and a blog
called ‘boycott ndtv’ was created. This was a terrible PR move, which could have been solved easily if Barkha Dutt
had clarified her stand and responded to the blogger’s comments in a dignified manner.

For all the technological advancement of our news channels, sometimes even the basic technical glitches can ruin a
program. On an interesting episode of Barkha Dutt’s show, The Buck Stops Here, where she covered the Jaipur
literary festival, there was a very noticeable absence of lip sync that made comfortable viewing almost impossible.
In terms of presentation, Times Now could do with a makeover. The garish red and blue tickers, one for constant
news, one for the news story that’s being telecast, one for stocks and a small one on the side, proclaiming ‘breaking
news’ are distracting and take away from the actual news.
Then there are sound clips added to news stories to give a dramatic affect and spice up a general news story.

NDTV, though not much better, is not harsh on the eyes. It is shot at a minimalistic set that is simple and
uncluttered. They make extensive use of graphs and maps to complement their news reports.

This was very useful in their election coverage of 2009. They used an electronic map using Google Earth, an
innovation that had a quadruple statistical display to give individual constituencies, the party position, the state
position and the alliance position. Vir Sanghvi made no sweeping assumptions, no fancy theories and gave a clear
and rational analysis.
The elections in India are an important time for news channels. NDTV had a long and impressive line-up that kept
viewers constantly updated on any kind of election news. In fact, in a study conducted by CFAR for six weeks, it
was reveled that out of 1064 stories on NDTV 24 x 7, 485 were election stories.

The Contenders, a show that focused on key players, stats and issues hosted by Sreenivasan Jain, Nidhi Razdan
hosted a show called Left Right and Centre, where a panel of politicians, journalists and thinkers debated the week’s
biggest issue and The Hot Seat, where she interviewed the week’s top newsmaker and The Buck Stops Here with
Barkha Dutt. They also had exclusives like The Election Express, a road show that traveled from cities to towns to
find out what the voters want, Vote Matters, a four part series by Shikha Trivedi that discovers the real colour of
elections along with Prannoy Roy’s news and analysis on the 9 o’clock news.

Times Now, on D-day had a panel of highly qualified and respected people to discuss the elections including, Vinod
Mehta, editor-in-chief, Outlook, Swapan Dasgupta, senior journalist, Nalini Singh, Senior Journalist, Javed Ansari,
political editor, DNA, Swaminathan Aiyar, Consulting Editor, The Economic Times, Arnab Goswami, editor-in
chief, Times Now, etc.

Our News channels also turn to the Indian film industry for inspiration and stories. Oscar winning, Slumdog
Millionaire sparked off numerous debates and shows on both channels, each giving it a different spin.

NDTV went with the tried and tested, heart-warming story of the condition of children in the slums and how each
one of them is a survivor.

Times Now held a heated debate with Mahesh Bhatt, Kabir bedi, tanuja Chandra and the likes on the subject ‘ are
we touchy about showing poverty?’ Arnab Goswami has been criticized time and again for his dominating
personality that seems to overpower the panelists and defeats his role as an unprejudiced and unbiased host. His
personal opinions begin to affect the direction of the debate.

Karan Johar’s film, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, based on infidelity, led to a debate on the same on We the People. The
panelists included, Shobha De, Shahrukh Khan, tarot card reader, Sunita Menon, Karan Johar, the CEO of
shaadi.com, Anupam Mittal etc. Barkha Dutt made it obvious that the underlying focus of the debate was the
promotion of the film. Characters of the film were discussed over and over again and there was undue attention and
screen time given to Shahrukh Khan.

Some special feature shows that have made a mark on these channels are worth mentioning.
NDTV airs a show called ‘Gadget Guru’ that updates people about the latest inventions and innovations in the
gadget and gizmo world. Another show is, Picture This, hosted by Anupama Chopra who adds her spin to the films
released that week.

Times Now has some great weekend shows. ‘Total Recall’ is one that takes the audience on a jog down memory
lane. They pick very interesting themes every week; like the news reporters on DoorDarshan, advertisements of the
80’s, the music of O. P Nayyar, etc. Another, award-winning show is the funny-man Kunal Vijaykar’s, The Foodie.
Vijaykar’s food show is very different from most others of his kind, as he focuses on the simplicity of cooking
good, delicious food.

Both these channels have drawbacks and their redeeming qualities. Currently, NDTV 24 x 7 seems to be the lesser
of the two evils. From the way things are going right now, the channel could slip further down but there are still a
few Prannoy Roys left that lend some credibility to the channel. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Times
Now. The channel seemed to have taken on the role of a few melodramatic Hindi news channels. In spite of this,
TAM ratings revel that Times Now is widely watched and followed. It would do them good to take the aggressive
reporting down a notch.

News channels in India do not strive to be a BBC or a CNN. There is no market or audience for that kind of
reporting, as extremely popular channels like India TV, etc have proved. This comparison brings out a point that we
must consider; is there a need for news channel that run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? With so many of them
cropping up everyday, it puts these news channels into the ruthless race for higher ratings, which leads to
fabrication of stories, coverage of trivial topics and cut-throat competition to break news before anyone else can. In
this chaos and mess, are we losing out on true journalism and news reporting?

Community, Satellite & Internet Radio

Historical background of Radio:-

• The word ‘Radio’ is derived from the Latin word ‘Radius’ which means a ray or a narrow beam of light that
travels in space on electro-magnetic waves.

• Radio combines the functions of telegraphy & telephone. It does broadcasting or spreading of sound to a
very wide area and in all directions with the help of wireless for reception by the audience.

• Radio is an electric as well as an electronic device by which sound is transmitted and reproduced at a
decided distances with the help of transmitters, run on electric or electronic energy. It is a product of
advances made in fields of electricity & magnetism.

• Taking into account the range or distance, broadcasting is done long wave, medium wave or short with
transmitters that are either AM (Amplitude Modulation) or FM (Frequency Modulation).

• The first radio Communication made by Gulerlomo Marconi, an Italian inventor in 1895. When he sent &
received radio signals. But regular American-European radio-telegraph & radio-telephone service was begun
by Marconi in 1910.

• The first radio programme in England was successfully presented by the Marconi Company on the 23rd feb.
1920 from Chelmsford.

• In America, the first broadcasting station was set up at Massachusetts in 1921, under govt. license for
sending commercial message, relaying News & entertainment programmes.

• The British Broadcasting Company as a private enterprise started in 1922.

• India saw its first broadcasting station set up at Mumbai in July 1927 & in Kolkata in August 1927.
Radio in princely state :
 The Mysore state set up its broadcasting station on September 10, 1935 named `Akashwani`.

 The Baroda Broadcasting station was set up in 1939.

 The Nizam of Hyderabad also started two stations, set up at Hyderabad & Aurangabad.

 The Maharaja of Travancore set up a transmitter at Trivandrum in the same year.

 Rashtrapita Mahatma Gandhi visited to Delhi AIR first time in November 12th, 1947. To remember this day
the government celebrating `Public Broadcasting Day` everyday.

 All India radio rename as `Akashwani` since August 15th, 1957.

 Akashwani started its Vivid Bharti service on commercial basis from November 1st, 1967.

 In April 1st, 1976 Akashwani separated from Doordarshan.

 First time FM service started in Chennai Akashwani center.

 First time `Phone in program` started in 10th January, 1993 in Delhi Akashwani center.

 Akashwani started its online information service from 2nd May, 1996

 Akashwani started its Audio service through the Internet from 13th January 1997.

 Prasar Bharti started the controlling over the Akashwani & Doordarshan from November 23th, 1997.

 Akashwani & Doordarshan started its DTH service from December 16th 2004.

 Now a days AIR has 215 Akashwani centers, out of these 144 are Medium waves, 54 are short waves & 139
are FM. Total listenership is 99.13% of the population.

Community radio:-
• Community radio is a type of radio service that caters to the interests of a particular area in need of mass
awareness. The broadcasting material of community radio has to be popular to the local audience but can be
a secondary issue for more powerful broadcast groups.

• In India, the campaign of Community radio started in the mid 1990s and aims at catering to the interests
of remote areas, soon after the Supreme Court of India approved the idea, passed on its judgment in the
month of February 1995, and declared ‘airwaves are public property’. This notion of the Indian
government was passed on as an inspiration to groups across the country and community radio started with
only educational (campus) radio stations under somewhat strict conditions.

• Anna FM is India`s first campus `community` radio that was launched on 1 February 2004, controlled
by Education and Multimedia Research Centre (EMARC) and the students of Media Sciences at Anna
University produce all programmes. On 16 November 2006, the government of India advised a set of
new Community Radio Guidelines that allowed the NGOs and other civil society organizations to
possess and operate community radio stations.

• According to government sources, about 4,000 community radio licenses had been on offer across India.
By 30 November 2008, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting already received 297
applications for community radio licenses, including 105 from educational institutions, 141 from
NGOs and other civil society organizations, and 51 for `farm radio` stations to be run by agricultural
Universities and agricultural extension centers like the `Krishi Vigyan Kendras`.
• Among these, 107 community radio stations have been approved for licensing through the issue of Letters of
Intent. 13 Grant of Permission Agreements (GOPA) were signed with license applicants under the new
scheme by the Indian Government.

• By 30 November 2008, there had been 38 operational community radio stations in India. Of these, NGOs
and educational institutions control majority of the radio stations. The first community-based radio station in
India was licensed to an NGO that was completely separate from campus-based radio and was launched
on 15 October 2008.

• The `Sangham Radio` in Pastapur and Machnoor village, Medak district, Andhra Pradesh state was
switched on at 11am unanimously to hear the shows. Sangham Radio, which broadcasts on 90.4 MHz, is
applicable to execute the Deccan Development Society (DDS). This is an NGO that works with women`s
groups in about 75 villages of Andhra Pradesh. `General` Narsamma and Algole Narsamma manage this
community radio station.

• The radio Sangham broadcasts ancient folk tales, tips on agriculture and discussions on women’s issue in
a local dialect of telugu. Now it giving their local community a voice and a shared platform.

• The second NGO-led community radio station in India was started on 23 October 2008 at `TARAgram` in
Orchha, Madhya Pradesh state. This community radio channel was named `Radio Bundelkhand` after the
Bundelkhand region of central India where it was mainly broadcasted. This radio station is licensed to the
Society for Development Alternatives (DA), a Delhi-based NGO.

• Under the new community radio policy accredited by the Government, any not-for-profit `legal entity`,
other than individuals, political parties and their affiliates, criminal and banned organizations can also apply
for a CR license. Central funding is not available for such radio stations, and there are uncompromising
limitations on fundraising from other resources.

• Only organizations that are registered for the minimum of three years old and with a `proven` path
record of local community service can apply. License conditions unreservedly favor well-established
stations as against low-priced low power operations, several of which include Mana Radio in Andhra
Pradesh and Raghav FM in Bihar that run successfully on minimum budgets before the obligation of any
community radio policy.

• Indian Government approved a community radio license that entitles the channel owners to operate a 100
watt (ERP) radio station, with a coverage area of almost 12 kilometers radius. A maximum antenna height
of 30 meters is permissible and these radio stations are expected to produce at least 50% of their
programmes in the local range and the programmes should be presented in the local language or dialect at
the maximum extent.

• The prime focus is on developmental programming, though there is no clear restriction on entertainment.
News programmes are prohibited on community radio in India, as also on commercial FM radio.

• The government, however, has recently opened some new categories of news and varied forms of
communication that are permitted on radio, including sports news and commentaries, information on traffic
and weather conditions, exposure of cultural events and festivals, information on educational events, civic
announcements adhering to the utilities like electricity and water supply, disaster warnings and health
alerts. Five minutes of advertising per hour is allowed on the Indian community radio.

• Sponsored programs are strictly prohibited except when the program is sponsored by the
Government at the Center or State.

• Activists and community workers coming from all across the country have gathered together under the
sponsorship of the `Community Radio Forum` in order to organize training and support for community
 radio stations, as well as to maintain the petition for a more practical community radio policy. The
Community Radio Forum, India, was registered as a `Society` and `Trust` on 26 February 2008.

• In the intervening time, mobile telephone operators have started to offer commercial broadcast services
over GSM (Global System for Mobile-is a second generation cellular standard developed to cater voice
services and data delivery using digital modulation), escaping completely the government limitations
built around traditional concepts of broadcasting technology, especially community radio in India.

Satellite Radio:-
• Satellite radio is a digital radio signal that is relayed through one or more satellites and thus can be
received in a much wider geographical area than terrestrial FM radio stations. While in Europe many
primarily-FM radio stations provide an additional unencrypted satellite feed, there are also subscription
based digital packages of numerous channels that do not broadcast terrestrially, notably in the US.

• In Europe, FM radio is used by many suppliers that use a network of several local FM repeaters to
broadcast a single programme to a large area, usually a whole nation. Many of those have an
additional satellite signal that can be heard in many parts of the continent.

• XM Satellite Radio (est. 2001) and Sirius Satellite Radio (est. 2002) each launched such a service at the
beginning of the 21st century. Satellite radio, also called digital radio.

• Mobile services, such as Sirius, XM, and Worldspace, allow listeners to roam across an entire continent,
listening to the same audio programming anywhere they go.

• In all cases, the antenna must have a clear view to the satellites. In areas where tall buildings, bridges, or
even parking garages unclear the signal, repeaters can be placed to make the signal available to listeners.

• Radio services are usually provided by commercial ventures and are subscription-based. The various
services are proprietary signals, requiring specialized hardware for decoding and playback. Providers
usually carry a variety of news, weather, sports, and music channels, with the music channels generally
being commercial-free. In areas with a relatively high population density, it is easier and less expensive to
reach the bulk of the population with terrestrial broadcasts.

• How Satellite Radio Works: http://videos.howstuffworks.com/howstuffworks/491-how-satellite-radio-

works-video.htm

Internet Radio:-
• Internet radio [also known as web radio, net radio, streaming (a kind of technology) radio and e-radio] is
an audio service transmitted via the Internet.

• Music streaming on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted broadly
through wireless means.

• Internet radio involves streaming media, presenting listeners with a continuous stream of audio that cannot
be paused or replayed, much like traditional broadcast media; in this respect, it is distinct from on-demand
file serving. Internet radio is also distinct from podcasting, which involves downloading rather than
streaming. Many Internet radio services are associated with a corresponding traditional (terrestrial) radio
station or radio network.

• Internet radio services are usually accessible from anywhere in the world—for example, one could listen to
an Australian station from Europe or America. Some major networks like Clear Channel (which has been
already lifted the overseas restriction of online streaming), CBS Radio and Citadel Broadcasting (except for
news/talk and sports stations) in the US, and Chrysalis in the UK restrict listening to in country because
of music licensing and advertising concerns.
 • Internet radio remains popular among expatriates and listeners with interests that are often not adequately
served by local radio stations (such as eurodance, progressive rock, ambient music, folk music, classical
music, and stand-up comedy).

• Internet radio services offer news, sports, talk, and various genres of music—every format that is available
on traditional radio stations.

• On November 7, 1994, WXYC (89.3 FM Chapel Hill, NC USA) became the first traditional radio station to
announce broadcasting on the Internet.

• In March 1996, Virgin Radio - London, became the first European radio station to broadcast its full
program live on the internet.

• myopusradio.com is India's First Internet Radio Station for International Music.

• An Opus initiative, it reflects the promise of a creative, warm and charming space for music lovers and
musicians alike.

Some Popular Indian Internet radio Stations :

• http://www.deccanradio.com/index.php

History of Cable Television

The 1940s and 1950s Cable television originated in the United States almost simultaneously in Arkansas, Oregon
and Pennsylvania in 1948 to enhance poor reception of over-the-air television signals in mountainous or
geographically remote areas. “Community antennas” were erected on mountain tops or other high points, and
homes were connected to the antenna towers to receive the broadcast signals.

By 1952, 70 “cable” systems served 14,000 subscribers nationwide.

In the late 1950s, cable operators began to take advantage of their ability to pick up broadcast signals from hundreds
of miles away. Access to these "distant signals" began to change the focus of cable’s role from one of transmitting
local broadcast signals to one of providing new programming choices.

The 1960s By 1962, almost 800 cable systems serving 850,000 subscribers were in business. Well-known corporate
names like Westinghouse, TelePrompTer and Cox began investing in the business, complementing the efforts of
early entrepreneurs like Bill Daniels, Martin Malarkey and Jack Kent Cooke.

The growth of cable through the importation of distant signals was viewed as competition by local television
stations. Responding to broadcast industry concerns, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) expanded its
jurisdiction and placed restrictions on the ability of cable systems to import distant television signals. As a result of
these restrictions, there was a “freeze” effect on the development of cable systems in major markets, lasting into the
early ‘70s (see below).

The 1970s In the early 1970s, the FCC continued its restrictive policies by enacting regulations that limited the
ability of cable operators to offer movies, sporting events, and syndicated programming.

The freeze on cable’s development lasted until 1972, when a policy of gradual cable deregulation led to, among
other things, modified restrictions on the importation of distant signals. The clamp on growth had adverse financial
effects, especially on access to capital. Money for cable growth and expansion all but dried up for several years.

However, concerted industry efforts at the federal, state, and local levels resulted in the continued lessening of
restrictions on cable throughout the decade. These changes, coupled with cable’s pioneering of satellite
communications technology, led to a pronounced growth of services to consumers and a substantial increase in
cable subscribers.
In 1972, Charles Dolan and Gerald Levin of Sterling Manhattan Cable launched the nation’s first pay-TV network,
Home Box Office (HBO). This venture led to the creation of a national satellite distribution system that used a
newly approved domestic satellite transmission. Satellites changed the business dramatically, paving the way for the
explosive growth of program networks.

The second service to use the satellite was a local television station in Atlanta that broadcast primarily sports and
classic movies. The station, owned by R.E. "Ted" Turner, was distributed by satellite to cable systems nationwide,
and soon became known as the first "superstation," WTBS.

By the end of the decade, growth had resumed, and nearly 16 million households were cable subscribers.

The 1980s The 1984 Cable Act established a more favorable regulatory framework for the industry, stimulating
investment in cable plant and programming on an unprecedented level.

Deregulation provided by the 1984 Act had a strong positive effect on the rapid growth of cable services. From
1984 through 1992, the industry spent more than $15 billion on the wiring of America, and billions more on
program development. This was the largest private construction project since World War II.

Satellite delivery, combined with the federal government’s relaxation of cable’s restrictive regulatory structure,
allowed the cable industry to become a major force in providing high quality video entertainment and information
to consumers. By the end of the decade, nearly 53 million households subscribed to cable, and cable program
networks had increased from 28 in 1980 to 79 by 1989. Some of this growth, however, was accompanied by rising
prices for consumers, incurring growing concern among policy makers.

The 1990s In 1992, Congress responded to cable price increases and other market factors with legislation that once
again hampered cable growth and opened heretofore “exclusive” cable programming to other competitive
distribution technologies such as “wireless cable” and the emerging direct satellite broadcast (DBS) business.

In spite of the effect of the 92 Act, the number of satellite networks continued their explosive growth, based largely
on the alternative idea of targeting programming to a specific "niche” audience. By the end of 1995, there were 139
cable programming services available nationwide, in addition to many regional programming networks. By the
spring of 1998, the number of national cable video networks had grown to 171.

By that time, the average subscriber could choose from a wide selection of quality programming, with more than 57
percent of all subscribers receiving at least 54 channels, up from 47 in 1996. And at the end of the decade,
approximately 7 in 10 television households, more than 65 million, had opted to subscribe to cable.

Also during the latter half of the decade, cable operating companies commenced a major upgrade of their
distribution networks, investing $65 billion between 1996 and 2002 to build higher capacity hybrid networks of
fiber optic and coaxial cable. These “broadband” networks can provide multichannel video, two-way voice, high-
speed Internet access, and high definition and advanced digital video services all on a single wire into the home.

The upgrade to broadband networks enabled cable companies to introduce high-speed Internet access to customers
in the mid-90s, and competitive local telephone and digital cable services later in the decade.

Enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 once again dramatically altered the regulatory and public policy
landscape for telecommunications services, spurring new competition and greater choice for consumers. It also
spurred major new investment, with America’s then-largest telecommunications colossus, AT&T, entering the
business in 1998, though exiting four years later (see below). Almost simultaneously, Paul Allen, a founder of
Microsoft, began acquiring his own stable of cable properties. And America On-Line moved on an historic merger
with Time Warner and its cable properties, to form AOL Time Warner.

A generally deregulatory environment for cable operating and programming companies enabled the cable industry
to accelerate deployment of broadband services, allowing consumers in urban, suburban, and rural areas to entertain
more choices in information, communications, and entertainment services.
2000 and Beyond Arrival of the new millennium brought with it hopes and plans for acceleration of advanced
services over cable’s broadband networks.

As the new millennium got under way, cable companies began pilot testing video services that could change the
way people watch television. Among these: video on demand, subscription video on demand, and interactive TV.
The industry was proceeding cautiously in these arenas, because the cost of upgrading customer-premise equipment
for compatibility with these services was substantial and required new business models that were both expansive
and expensive.

In 2001, partly in response to those demands, AT&T agreed to fold its cable systems with those of Comcast Corp.,
creating the largest ever cable operator with more than 22 million customers.

Lower cost digital set-top boxes that started to become the norm in customer homes in the mid 1990s proved
effective in accommodating the launch of many of the new video services. In general, however, more expensive
technology would still be required for cable to begin delivery of advances such as high definition television
services, being slowly introduced by off-air broadcast stations as well as by cable networks such as HBO,
Showtime, Discovery, and ESPN.

By 2002, the cable landscape largely reflected the findings of a study sponsored by the Cable &
Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM). The study showed that roughly two of every three U.S.
households had access to three cutting-edge communication tools: cable television, cellular phones and personal
computers. Digital cable could be found in 18 percent of U.S. television homes, suggesting an overall digital cable
penetration among cable customers in the range of 27 percent. As for data services, the research revealed that 20
percent of cable customers with PCs are using high-speed modems today.

Cable operators with upgraded two-way plant have been witnessing dramatic growth in “broadband” data. Cable
has quickly become the technology of choice for such services, outpacing rival technologies, such as digital
subscriber line (DSL) service, offered by phone companies, by a margin of 2 to 1. Subscribership to high-speed
Internet access service via cable modems had grown to more than 10 million by the end of the third quarter of 2002.

As for telephone service using the cable conduit, growth was evident in all the limited market areas where such
service was offered. More than 2 million customers were using cable for their phone connections by mid 2002.

To accommodate accelerating demand, cable programmers are rapidly expanding their menu of digital cable
offerings. By 2002, about 280 nationally-delivered cable networks were available, with that number growing
steadily.

At the end of 2002, the consumer electronics and cable industries reached a “plug-and-play” agreement that allowed
“one-way” digital television sets to be connected directly to cable systems without the need for a set-top box. These
new sets are marketed under the name Digital Cable Ready television sets (DCRs). A security device called a
CableCARD is provided by cable operators to allow cable customers to view encrypted digital programming after it
is authorized to do so by the cable operator. Talks to resolve issues related to “two-way” digital television sets
began in 2003 and continue.

The digital TV transition leapt forward in 2003, as substantial gains were made in the deployment of High-
Definition Television (HDTV), Video-on-Demand (VOD), digital cable, and other advanced services. Competitive
digital phone service gained momentum as cable introduced Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone services.
At the start of 2006, cable companies counted a total of about 5 million telephone customers, representing VoIP
customers and customers for traditional circuit switched telephone service.

An NCTA survey of the top 10 MSOs showed that by September 1 of 2004, 700 CableCARDs were installed. By
mid-November, that number had grown to over 5,000 CableCARDs. One year later, at the end of 2005, NCTA
estimated that number had reached 100,000.

Results at the end of the Third Quarter of 2005 provide ample evidence of the growth potential of cable's new
position as a broadband provider. Cable’s capital expenditures reached $100 billion. Cable’s high-speed Internet
service ended the quarter with 24.3 million subscribers, and the number of digital cable customers had grown to
27.6 million.

Introduction

Cable networks are programming services that deliver packages of information or entertainment by satellite to local
cable television systems. The cable systems then redistribute the network programs, through wires, to individual
residences in their local franchise areas. The number of cable networks carried by any particular cable system
varies, and is based on the channel capacity of the system. Older cable systems may have as few as twenty channels
while newer ones may have more than 150 channels. Cable system managers decide which cable networks will be
carried. Their decisions are based on analyses of the requirements of their franchise agreement with the local
community they serve, on their own economic needs and abilities, and on local audience needs and wishes. Cable
networks can be divided into three major types: basic, pay, and pay-per-view.

Cable television is a system of providing television to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to
televisions through fixed optical fibers or coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional
television broadcasting (via radio waves) in which a television antenna is required. FM radio programming, high-
speed Internet, telephony, and similar non-television services may also be provided.

The abbreviation CATV is often used to mean "Cable TV". It originally stood for Community Antenna
Television, from cable television's origins in 1948: in areas where over-the-air reception was limited by distance
from transmitters or mountainous terrain, large "community antennas" were constructed, and cable was run from
them to individual homes.

It is most commonplace in North America, Europe, Australia and East Asia, though it is present in many other
countries, mainly in South America and the Middle East. Cable TV has had little success in Africa, as it is not cost-
effective to lay cables in sparsely populated areas. So-called "wireless cable" or microwave-based systems are used
instead.

Fee Structure

The industry strongly lobbies against federal "family tier" and "a la carte cable television" bills which would
provide consumers the option of purchasing individual channels rather than a broad tier of programming, sometimes
consisting of channels which are not desired by various subscriber segments. These anti-consumer issues continue
to garner attention from state governments, Congress and FCC Chairman Martin.[7] What's more, the argument
calling for an adjustment to the manner in which cable is distributed was reaffirmed in January 2010 when cable
subscribers throughout Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York found themselves in the middle of a contentious
battle over an increase in subscriber fees paid to the media company Scripps Networks Interactive by cable provider
Cablevision. The parties' contract expired December 31, 2009, and as they were unable to reach a mutual agreement
beforehand regarding the amount paid for each cable subscriber, Scripps pulled two of its television channels,
HGTV and Food Network, from the Cablevision channel lineup on January 1, 2010 at 12:01AM. [8][9][10][11]

Other cable-based services

Coaxial cables are capable of bi-directional carriage of signals as well as the transmission of large amounts of data.
Cable television signals use only a portion of the bandwidth available over coaxial lines. This leaves plenty of space
available for other digital services such as cable internet, cable telephony and wireless services, using both
unlicensed and licensed spectrum.

Broadband internet is achieved over coaxial cable by using cable modems to convert the network data into a type of
digital signal that can be transferred over coaxial cable. One problem with some cable systems is the older
amplifiers placed along the cable routes are unidirectional thus in order to allow for uploading of data the customer
would need to use an analog telephone modem to provide for the upstream connection. This limited the upstream
speed to 31.2k and prevented the always-on convenience broadband internet typically provides. Many large cable
systems have upgraded or are upgrading their equipment to allow for bi-directional signals, thus allowing for
greater upload speed and always-on convenience, though these upgrades are expensive.

In North America, Australia and Europe many cable operators have already introduced cable telephone service,
which operates just like existing fixed line operators. This service involves installing a special telephone interface at
the customer's premises that converts the analog signals from the customer's in-home wiring into a digital signal,
which is then sent on the local loop (replacing the analog last mile, or POTS) to the company's switching center,
where it is connected to the PSTN. The biggest obstacle to cable telephone service is the need for nearly 100%
reliable service for emergency calls. One of the standards available for digital cable telephony, PacketCable, seems
to be the most promising and able to work with the Quality of Service demands of traditional analog POTS service.
The biggest advantage to digital cable telephone service is similar to the advantage of digital cable TV, namely that
data can be compressed, resulting in much less bandwidth used than a dedicated analog circuit-switched service.
Other advantages include better voice quality and integration to a VoIP network providing cheap or unlimited
nationwide and international calling. Note that in many cases, digital cable telephone service is separate from cable
modem service being offered by many cable companies and does not rely on IP traffic or the Internet.

Beginning in 2004 in the United States, the traditional cable television providers and traditional telecommunication
companies increasingly compete in providing voice, video and data services to residences. The combination of TV,
telephone and Internet access is commonly called triple play regardless of whether CATV or telcos offer it.

More recently, several US cable operators have begun offering wireless services to their subscribers. Most notably
was the September 2008 launch of Optimum Wi-Fi by Cablevision. This service is made available, at no additional
cost, to Optimum Broadband subscribers, and is available at over 14,000 locations across Long Island, NY, parts of
NJ and CT. Cablevision has reported a double digit reduction in subscriber churn since launching Optimum Wi-Fi,
even as Verizon has rolled out FiOS, a competitive residential broadband service in the Cablevision footprint. Other
Tier 1 cable operators, including Comcast, have announced trials of a similar service in sections of the US
Northeast.

[edit] Consumer issues

Using a cable service naturally requires that access to a cable network be installed at the customer location. Laying
and maintaining this cable has costs. From the consumer's viewpoint, having a choice of who provides this service
may be deemed desirable, however from a business viewpoint it may be undesirable as this would require multiple
companies investing in laying many generally identical cables to the same location. Altogether that could mean
greater costs, since there is more physical cable in existence. Therefore the idea of a natural monopoly may apply,
whereby in most places only one cable provider is preferable (seemingly for all concerned). Competition in one
place may therefore come in the form of terrestrial or satellite providers. As with all situations where competition is
in some way limited, there is a potential for consumers to feel they are unfairly treated by the market. Market
regulators may therefore tend to limit such consumer concerns by broadening the consumers choice from a single
provider, for instance in expecting them to offer variously priced channel selections, improving service other times
(for instance, by making use of technological progress) and measures such as providing free-for-all (public) TV.

Digital cable is a generic term for any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression or
distribution. The technology was originally developed by Motorola.[1]

Background

In 1989, General Instrument (which was later acquired by Motorola) demonstrated that it was possible to convert an
analog cable signal to digital and transmit it in a standard 6-MHz television channel. In the 1990s cable providers
began to invest heavily in new digital based distribution systems. Increased competition and programming choices
from Direct-broadcast satellite services such as DirecTV, Dish Network, and PrimeStar caused cable providers to
seek new ways to provide more progamming. Customers were increasingly interested in more channels, pay-per-
view programming, digital music services, and high speed internet services. By 2000, most cable providers in the
US were offering some form of digital services to their customers.

Digital cable technology has allowed cable providers to compress video channels so that they take up less frequency
space and to offer various two-way communication capabilities. This has enabled digital cable providers to offer
more channels, video on demand services (without use of a telephone line), telephone services, high speed internet
services, and interactive television services. In addition, digital cable technology allows for error correction to
ensure the quality of the received signal and uses a secure digital distribution system (i.e. a secure encrypted signal
to prevent eavesdropping and "stealing" service).

Most digital cable providers use QAM for video services and DOCSIS standards for data services. Some providers
have also begun to roll out video services using IPTV or Switched video technologies.

Channels

Digital cable technology can allow many tv channels to occupy the frequency space that would normally be
occupied by a single analog cable tv channel. The number of channels placed on a single analog frequency depends
on the compression used. Many cable providers are able to fit about 10 digital SD channels or 2 digital HD channels
on a single analog channel frequency. Some providers are able to squeeze more channels onto a single frequency
with higher compression, but often this can cause the video quality of the channel to degrade.

The addition of this capability complicates the notion of a "channel" in digital cable (as well as in over-the-air
ATSC digital broadcasts). The formal names for the two numbers that now identify a channel are the physical
channel and the subchannel.

The physical channel is a number corresponding to a specific 6MHz frequency range. See: North American cable
television frequencies.

The subchannel is a logical channel of data within the physical channel. Technically there can be up to 1024
subchannels in a physical channel, though in practice only a few are used (since the bandwidth must be divided
among all the subchannels).

There are two ways providers try to make this easier for consumers. The first, accomplished through PSIP, is where
program and channel information is broadcast along with the video, allowing the consumer's decoder (set-top box or
display) to automatically identify the many channels and subchannels.

The second (also accomplished through PSIP) is where, in an effort to hide subchannels entirely, many cable
companies map virtual channel numbers to underlying physical and sub-channels. For example, a cable company
might call channel 5-1 "channel 732" and channel 5-2 "channel 733". This also allows the cable company to change
the frequency of a channel without changing what the customer sees as a channel number. In such arrangements, the
physical/sub-channel numbers are called the "QAM channel", and the alternative channel designation is called the
"mapped channel", "virtual channel", or simply "channel".

In theory, a set-top box can decode the PSIP information from every channel it receives and use that information to
build the mapping between QAM channel and virtual channel. However, cable companies do not always reliably
transmit PSIP information. Alternatively, CableCards receive the channel mapping and can communicate that to the
set-top box.

DVB-C stands for Digital Video Broadcasting - Cable and it is the DVB European consortium standard for the
broadcast transmission of digital television over cable. This system transmits an MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 family digital
audio/video stream, using a QAM modulation with channel coding.

DVB-C2

On February 18, 2008 it was announced that a new standard - DVB-C2 - would be developed during 2008, and a
"Call for Technologies" was issued.[1] Proposals including simulation programs and information on patent rights
could be submitted until June 16. 2008.

It is expected that DVB-C2 will be the last cable standard ever, i.e. there will never be a -C3 standard.

"The results of the DVB-C2 Study Mission already provided clear indications that technologies are available
allowing the performance of the second generation DVB cable transmission system to get so close to the
theoretical Shannon Limit that any further improvements in the future would most likely not be able to justify the
introduction of a disruptive third generation of cable transmission system." (DVB-C2 CfT)

By using state of the art coding and modulation techniques, DVB-C2 should offer greater than 30% higher spectrum
efficiency under the same conditions, and the gains in downstream capacity will be greater than 60% for optimized
HFC networks.

The final DVB-C2 specification was approved by the DVB Steering Board in April 2009.

The term broadband can have different meanings in different contexts. The term's meaning has undergone
substantial shifts.

Broadband

Broadband in telecommunications refers to a signaling method that includes or handles a relatively wide range (or
band) of frequencies, which may be divided into channels or frequency bins. Broadband is always a relative term,
understood according to its context. The wider the bandwidth, the greater the information-carrying capacity. In
radio, for example, a very narrow-band signal will carry Morse code; a broader band will carry speech; a still
broader band is required to carry music without losing the high audio frequencies required for realistic sound
reproduction. A television antenna described as "normal" may be capable of receiving a certain range of channels;
one described as "broadband" will receive more channels. In data communications an analog modem will transmit a
bandwidth of 56 kilobits per seconds (kbit/s) over a telephone line; over the same telephone line a bandwidth of
several megabits per second can be handled by ADSL, which is described as broadband (relative to a modem over a
telephone line, although much less than what can be achieved

In data communications

Broadband in data can refer to broadband networks or broadband Internet and may have the same meaning as
above, so that data transmission over a fiber optic cable would be referred to as broadband as compared to a
telephone modem operating at 56,000 bits per second. However, a worldwide standard for what level of bandwidth
and network speeds actually constitute Broadband has not been determined.[1]

However, broadband in data communications is frequently used in a more technical sense to refer to data
transmission where multiple pieces of data are sent simultaneously to increase the effective rate of transmission,
regardless of data signaling rate. In network engineering this term is used for methods where two or more signals
share a medium.[2] Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just broadband, is a high data rate Internet
access—typically contrasted with dial-up access using a 56k modem.

Dial-up modems are limited to a bitrate of less than 56 kbit/s (kilobits per second) and require the full use of a
telephone line—whereas broadband technologies supply more than double this rate and generally without disrupting
telephone use.

[edit] In power-line communication

Power lines have also been used for various types of data communication. Although some systems for remote
control are based on narrowband signaling, modern high-speed systems use broadband signaling to achieve very
high data rates. One example is the ITU-T G.hn standard, which provides a way to create a high-speed (up to 1
Gigabit/s) Local area network using existing home wiring (including power lines, but also phone lines and coaxial
cables).

[edit] In video

Broadband in analog video distribution is traditionally used to refer to systems such as cable television, where the
individual channels are modulated on carriers at fixed frequencies.[3] In this context, baseband is the term's
antonym, referring to a single channel of analog video, typically in composite form with an audio subcarrier.[4] The
act of demodulating converts broadband video to baseband video.
However, broadband video in the context of streaming Internet video has come to mean video files that have
bitrates high enough to require broadband Internet access in order to view them.

Broadband video is also sometimes used to describe IPTV video on demand

JOURNALISM ETHICS APPLICABLE DURING DISASTERS

1. Truth

The prime responsibility of a journalist is to convey information to the public.

A journalist is obliged not to conceal information whose content and importance is a subject of public interest.

A journalist must publish views that may contradict his/her own opinions. While presenting controversial views
he/she must maintain a balance between the opposing sides to ensure equity among the parties.

2. Objectivity

A journalist must always protect the right to criticize and make comments in a reasonable and fair manner.

Informative materials of any type (video, audio, text, photo, etc.) should be carefully and closely examined in order
not to distort information.

Non-documented illustrations, photo and video modification, or any other alterations that might mislead the public
must carry an appropriate explanatory note.

While reviewing material provided by various newspapers or any other informational sources the main content of
the information must not be altered. Cutting of texts or any other changes applied to them must not result in
distortion.

A journalist must always declare his identity when dealing with an information source. This principle can be
neglected only in case of obtaining exclusive and vitally important information in the public interest that cannot be
gained otherwise.

A journalist must take a particularly careful approach when providing a summary of an interview not to violate the
rights of an interviewee as a co-author in any way.

3. Honesty

A journalist must describe facts and events based on actual and reliable evidences. He/she must not conceal
information or misinterpret it.

A journalist must avoid illegal ways of obtaining information, photos, and news.

Carrying out journalistic investigation secretly can be permitted only in special cases. However, the public interest
does not justify any illegal action on order to obtain the information.

Any inaccuracy in providing information or making comments (if in the future it is regarded so), must be
immediately corrected through the same informational source or by the same journalist who presented the
information.

4. Confidentiality

A journalist must maintain professional secrecy and the confidentiality of a source providing information.. This
promise can be broken only in case if any criminal action or any other action carrying risk to the public is being
planned.
5. Independence

A journalist must fulfil his/her professional duties without allowing any third parties to interfere. Namely, he/she
must not be influenced by government officials or any other bodies that can alter the contents of journalistic
material or impair the independence of journalistic activities. Any representative of the mass media is obliged to
resist anyone who restricts their independence. This principle applies to cases when facts and events are
misinterpreted or distorted by the head of the institution where the journalist works (his/her employer).

A journalist working simultaneously in a governmental body should do his utmost to keep his official duties apart
from journalistic responsibilities. The same goes for those public servants who intend to start journalistic activities.

Publishing material or views under the influence of a third party's private or financial interests is not justified.
Advertisement and editorial material must be clearly distinguished.

6. Respect for human rights

A journalist must respect the private life of an individual and the social environment that he/she lives in. However if
an action by a certain individual is connected to the public interests the journalist may consider this question. In
such cases a journalist must be cautious not to violate the rights of other interested individuals.

A journalist must be careful in describing any criminal, or tragic events. He/she must try not to cause danger to
human lives. While describing similar events, it is not justifiable to give the names of suspects and their relatives, or
to publish the material enabling these to be identified person. To provide society with information about an event
does not necessarily require persons to be named.
This principle does not always apply when a suspect or victim is a public official or celebrity, which gives the
situation special importance.

Reporting subjectively on criminal cases or court trials is inadmissible.

A suspect must not be reported as a criminal offender or companion in crime until it is so proved by the official
court decision.

Special caution must be exercised when reporting juvenile crimes.

The principle of respecting the future of the young limits a journalist in providing juvenile offenders' names or their
photos. This rule also applies to cases when a teenager is a victim.

A journalist must be particularly careful during disasters or any other national calamity. In such cases he/she must
give priority to saving human lives, and put his professional duties in second place. It is strictly inadmissible to
manipulate victims' feelings.

It is intolerable to practise racial, national, sexual, religious, physical, political, social or any other form of
discrimination

A journalist must avoid indicating any of the above mentioned groups if this is not essential in the clarification of
facts and events.

Plagiarism and unwarranted accusations are inadmissible.

Dumbing down of news

Is the news we are provided not prioritized properly?
This is a debate that has not ended up with any conclusions so far. What decides or rather who decides what the
general public should know and what the general public need not know?

On Sunday, following the Pantaloons Femina Miss India contest that had taken place in Mumbai on Saturday night,
the Times of India, and Bangalore edition carried a news report filling almost half a page in the main paper about
the event.

Right below the report of the Miss India event was a small 3 column report of a very tragic incident - a small boy of
about 9 years of age was beaten up brutally by police officers. His crime: he had stolen 500 rupees. He stole the
money to get to his grandmother after his mother had abandoned him while he was asleep.
The boy was roughed up so much that his face was extremely bruised, his arm was broken, and he almost crawled
into court holding his stomach in pain. The judge has called for strict action against the policemen. And has asked
for medical treatment to be given to the boy immediately.

Tell me... what is more important for the general public to know?
We are all aware that the size and positioning of a story speaks volumes about the importance the newspaper gives
it.
Is it more important for people to know in detail what happened at a glamorous event, or is it more important for
them to be made aware of such dehumanizing acts vetted out to poor kids?

It appears as if newspapers today are prioritizing glam and celebrity gossip over things that are of more importance
to the lay man.

The same accusation can also be applied to the sports stories. newspapers are accused of prioritizing cricket (and all
the glam associated with it) side-lining any other sport.

It is however, a vicious cycle.

We cannot blame newspapers alone.
They run on money. They need their revenue. And so they cater to what their audience wants to see.
Is it not true that a majority of the people look forward to the glam-quotient of their news than its relevance? Is it
not true that the majority of people want to see cricket stretched out onto 3 pages?

So who's to blame?
Is it the newspaper- because after all, what appears in the paper and in what order determines what I read.
Or is it the public- because what we want is what we see?

(Pratik)

RADIO CLUB YEARS

• June 1923: Broadcast of programmes by the Radio Club of Bombay
• November 1923: Calcutta Radio Club puts out programmes.
• May 16, 1924: Madras Presidency Radio Club founded.

PROFESSIONAL BROADCASTING
• July 31, 1924: Broadcasting Service initiated by the Club.
• March 1926: The Bombay Station of The Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC), a private Company, was
formed
• July 23, 1927: The Bombay Station of IBC inaugurated by Lord Irwin, then Viceroy of India.
• August 26, 1927: Calcutta Station of IBC inaugurated.
• 1928: A small transmitting station was set up at Lahore
• March 1, 1930: IBC goes into liquidation.

GOVERNMENT BROADCASTING
• April 1, 1930: Indian State Broadcasting Service under Department of Industries and Labour commences on
experimental basis
• January 1934: The 'Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act (1933) comes into force
• January 1935: NWFP Government set up a 250 watts transmitting station at Peshawar for community
listening
• March 1935: Office of Controller of Broadcasting created under the Department of Industries and Labour of
the Government
 • August 30, 1935: Mr. Lionel Fielden assumed charge as the first Controller of Broadcasting
• January 1936: Delhi radio station was opened.
• July 9, 1936: Mr A.S.Bukhari Station Director Delhi becomes Deputy Controller of Broadcasting.
• June 8, 1936: The name of Indian State Broadcasting Service is changed to All India Radio at the behest of
Lionel Fielden and after Lord Linlithgow approves of it.
• November 1937: AIR comes under Department of Communication.
• October 1, 1939: External Services Started with Pushtu Broadcast. Today it goes out to 155 countries in 25
languages.
• October 24, 1941: AIR comes under Department of I & B.

UNDERGROUND RADIO
• September 3, 1942: Congress Radio starts as an underground radio with secret location (changing locations
in Mumbai) spearheaded by Vithaldas Khakar, Usha Mehta and Chandrakant Jhaveri. Said to be the
brainchild of Ram Manohar Lohia.
• November 11, 1942: The Congress Radio ends when all three are arrested. Khakar is sentenced to five years
while the others are sentenced to one year.

OBJECTIVES OF AIR
AIR informs, educates and entertains
• All India Radio keeps the people all over the country informed quickly about Government policies, plans,
programmes and achievements.
• AIR seeks to promote national integration
• AIR seeks to acquaint the audience with various aspects of Indian culture.

A REGULATED MONOPOLY
• Broadcasting is a regulated monopoly of the central government.
• The Indian Telegraph Act of 1885 was later amended to vest the exclusive right to “establish,
maintain and work” wireless apparatus in the Government of India.
• Consequently, AIR has functioned as an arm of the central government ever since its inception.

AIR TODAY
• AIR covers 99.37% of India's populace
• AIR has approximately 200 broadcasting centres around the country
• AIR transmits in 24 different languages.
• Genres: Music, Drama, Newscasts, Rural and farm programmes, programmes for women and children.
• Entertainment arm: Vividh Bharati which was started on October 3, 1957.

SOME IMPORTANT DATES

• January 19, 1936: first News bulletin broadcast from AIR
• October 3, 1957: Vividh Bharati inaugurated
• November 1, 1967: first commercial over Vividh Bharati
• April 1, 1976: Doordarshan separated from AIR
• July 23, 1977: first ever FM service inaugurated from Madras
• May 18, 1988: Introduction of the National Channel
• April 1, 1994: Sky Radio becomes operational
• November 23, 1997: formation of Prasar Bharati

PROBLEM AREAS
• Programming Policies: From the late '70s, the radio channel has been plagued by archaic programming
policies, incongruous censorship norms, and it sidelined its brightest stars in all departments.
• Obsolete technology: its outdated medium wave technology and poor sound, it will not be able to lure away
listeners from FM.
• Bureaucratic Work Culture: Bureaucratic control, tight-fisted attitudes, constant shuttling of staff between
AIR and DD; misjudgements.

RADIO BROADCAST MODELS

There are three options for the expansion of the radio network:
 • the commercial broadcast model: market-driven and therefore, its objective is to gain as much market
share as possible by expanding business.
• public service broadcast model: concentrates on content for education, information and entertainment with
the broad objective of addressing the concerns of a large and varied listener group
• the community model: serves to bring small communities together, focuses on common man’s day-to-day
concerns and helps in realizing local aspirations.

FM RADIO
• Radio broadcasting uses either of two types of signals -- AM or FM.
• FM broadcasting is a broadcast technology invented by Edwin Howard Armstrong that uses frequency
modulation (FM) to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio.
• FM signals do not need expensive transmission towers.
• FM Radio enables a great degree of localization and hence brings along interactivity with a local flavour, at
relatively low broadcast costs, which cannot be matched by television.

AM or FM
• AM means "amplitude modulation". The amplitude of the radio wave oscillates over time. The frequency
of the radio wave is constant. The peaks of the wave get taller and shorter. The rate at which the amplitude
fluctuates corresponds to the pitch. How much it fluctuates corresponds to the volume.
• FM means "frequency modulation". The amplitude of the radio wave is constant. The frequency varies a
small amount. The peaks of the wave get closer together and further apart. The rate at which the frequency
varies corresponds to the pitch. How much it varies corresponds to the volume.

HISTORY OF FM IN INDIA
• FM Radio was first introduced by All India Radio in 1972 at Madras and later in 1992 at Jalandhar.
• Phase One: In 1993, the government sold airtime blocks on its FM channels in Madras, Mumbai, Delhi,
Kolkata and Goa to private operators, who developed their own programme content.
• Indian policy currently laid down that these bids were a One-Time Entry Fee (OTEF), for the entire license
period of 10 years. Annual license fee for private players is either 4% of revenue share or 10% of Reserve
Price, whichever is higher.
• Four years later (1997), after the initial euphoria died out and most of the bidders could not meet their
commitments to pay the governments the amounts they had expected and defaulted.
• The only non-defaulter was the Times Group which operated its brand, Times FM, till June 1998. The
government, therefore, decided not to renew contracts given to private operators.

WHAT HAS FM ACHIEVED?

• First, extended the definition of news.
• Second, FM radio has increased the amount of what can be called ‘everyday life’ information.
• Third, FM radio has increased the amount of social analysis available on radio through various
programming formats.
• Fourth, FM radio has increased the amount of oral history available on the radio.
• Fifth, FM radio programs have encouraged cross-media reference as a routine practice of urban knowledge.

WHY COMMUNITY RADIO?

• What distinguishes community radio from other media is the high level of people’s participation, both in
management and program production aspects.
• Community radio gives community members access to information because it gives them access to the
means of communication.
• The most relevant information - educational and developmental - is disseminated and exchanged. Important
local issues are aired.
• A free market place of ideas and opinions is opened up and people are given the opportunity to express
themselves socially, politically and culturally.

CHARACTERESTICS OF COMMUNITY RADIO

• It serves a recognizable community.
• It encourages participatory democracy.
• It offers the opportunity to any member of the community to initiate communication and participate in
program making, management and ownership of the station.
 • It uses technology appropriate to the economic capability of the people, not that which leads to dependence
on external sources.
• It is motivated by community well being, not commercial considerations.
• It promotes and improves problem solving.

PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNITY RADIO

• Access to the facility: full democratization of the communication system.
• Participation in the production and management of media
• Self-management of the communication facility follows participation
• Community mandate is result of democratisation.
• Accountability must follow the opportunity to operate, control and manage the station

COMMUNITY RADIO IN INDIA

• 1932: Punjab’s Rural Reconstruction Commissioner, Frederick Brayne, conducted an experiment in rural
radio broadcasting in Lahore.
• 1933: Charles Strickland, former registrar of Indian Friendly Societies, suggested the setting up of district
radio stations for rural development in a presentation made to the East India Society in London.
• 1956: Farm Radio Forums set up in 150 villages across five districts of Maharashtra. Based on a Canadian
model, it was a collaborative effort between All India Radio and UNESCO.
• 1966: All India Radio “began experimental broadcasts for farmers from the Trichinipoly station to adopt
new yielding varieties. The success of these broadcasts can be gauged by the fact that a new variety [of rice]
became known as ‘Radio Paddy’”.

COMMUNITY RADIO IN INDIA

• Campus Community Radio Anna FM
• Pastapur initiative of the Deccan Development Society of AP,
• Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan in Bhuj,
• Alternative for India Development, Bihar
• Namma Dhwani in Budikote (a VOICES initiative), near Bangalore.

TELEVISION IN INDIA

THE GENESIS
• Television was introduced to India in 1959, almost by accident as it were.
• The multinational company — Philips — had been exhibiting some television equipment at an industrial
expo in New Delhi. The company gifted the closed-circuit television equipment and offered a low-range
transmitter at a reduced cost to the government at the end of the exhibition.
• Almost simultaneously UNESCO gave a grant of $ 20,000 towards the purchase of community receivers.
• The United States offered some more equipment.

TELEVISION STARTS
• Television first came to India on Sept 15, 1959 as the National Television Network of India and as part of
the All India Radio.
• The range of the transmitter was 40 kilometres round and about Delhi.
• The first telecast started on Sept 15, 1959 in New Delhi.
• The makeshift studio at Akashvani Bhavan in New Delhi was chosen for location of the experiment.
• The experiment started with one-hour programme, broadcast twice a week, on community health, citizen
rights, education and traffic sense etc.

TELEVISION EXPANDS
• The first major expansion of television in India began in 1972, when a second television station was opened
in Bombay.
• This was followed by stations in Srinagar and Amritsar (1973), and Calcutta, Madras and Lucknow in 1975.
• Relay stations were also set up in a number of cities to extend the coverage of the regional stations.
• By 1976, the government found itself running a television network of eight television stations covering a
population of 45 million spread over 75,000 square kilometers.
 • Faced with the difficulty of administering such an extensive television system television as part of All India
Radio, the government constituted Doordarshan, the national television network, as a separate Department
under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

PANDIT NEHRU’S MAJOR GOALS

• Doordarshan’s social objectives include that it has to:
• a) act as a catalyst for social change;
• b) promote national integration;
• c) stimulate a scientific temper in the minds of the people;
• d) disseminate the message of family planning as a means of population control and family welfare;
• e) provide essential information and knowledge in order to stimulate greater agricultural production; and
• f) promote and help preserve environment and ecological balance.

1976: ADVERTISING BEGINS

• Indian television had been funded through a combination of television licenses and allocations from the
annual budget
• In 1976-77 under 1% of Doordarshan's budget came from advertising revenues. By 1990 Doordarshan's
revenues from advertising were about $300 million, accounting for about 70% of its annual expenditure.
• Doordarshan began to shift the balance of its programming from educational and informational programmes
to entertainment programs.
• The commercialization of Doordarshan saw the development of soap operas, situation comedies, dramas,
musical programs, quiz shows and the like

1982: EVENTS THAT CHANGED TV

• INSAT-1A, the first of the country's domestic communications satellites became operational and made
possible the networking of all of Doordarshan's regional stations.
• India hosted the Asian Games and the government introduced color broadcasts for the coverage of the
games.
• In 1983 television signals were available to just 28% of the population, this had doubled by the end of 1985
and by 1990 over 90% of the population had access to television signals

EMERGENCE OF CABLE TV
• The first competition for Doordarshan came in the form of illegal distribution of television signal by cable
and foreign television channels in late 1980s and early 1990s.
• With the introduction of VCRs in India, some dynamic entrepreneurs in Bombay in 1984 launched cable
network.
• According to one survey, there were about 3500 cable TV networks in India in May 1990 serving 330,000
households in four metros of Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta and Madras.
• In 1995 the authorities moved in to regulate the business and a Cable TV Act was passed in 1995. It is said
that as many as 60,000 cable operators were operating in the country.
• This figure fell after multi-system operators entered the scene and began to consolidate the networks.

1991: A CRUCIAL YEAR

• January-February 1991: International satellite television is introduced in India by CNN through its coverage
of the Gulf War.
• August 1991: Hong Kong based STAR (Satellite Transmission Asia Region) TV started broadcasting. The
television network was part of the influential Hutchison Whampoa group, owned by the Hong Kong based
businessman Li Ka-Shing and his son Richard Li.
• Soon the group was beaming five channels into India using the ASIASAT-1 satellite: including BBC and
MTV.

INDIAN MARKET EXPANDS

• October 1992: The first Indian-owned satellite television network Zee Network, starts transmission from the
ASIASAT-1 satellite. It was owned by Subhash Chandra till then the owner of an amusement park in
Mumbai, Essel World.
• End 1992: Star TV starts its first Hindi channel Star Plus.
• 1993: Rupert Murdoch sets his eyes on India and buys off the STAR TV network (in July) and also a 49%
stake in the Zee Television network (in December).
 • There was also talk of his company News Corp setting up a newspaper or at least investing in one. However,
India’s FDI rules prevented him from doing much.

Media News

Changing trends in journalism are an evolution

The Media environment in India has been certainly different. Television in India is undergoing significant changes
in the current liberalized environment. India is the only country which has more than three dozen of 24 hour news
channel and programs are broadcasted on news and current affairs. News Channels are booming as if sky is the
limit. Within few years we will get satellite news channel for every major city in India.

‘News’ is an integral part of life in the 21st century. All types of media like the print, radio, TV, cinema and the
internet have been growing in their own line of attack and are expected to grow each year. The circulation of
newspapers and magazines is also on a considerable rise. Right from the private radio station started in 1924 by the
British colonial government in Bombay and Calcutta to 1959 when Television was introduced for the first time in
India, there have been inevitable modifications and updates till date. In 1959 Doordarshan telecasted a one hour
program twice a week on community health, citizen rights, education and traffic sense etc in Delhi. The only hitch
in television was that you could not enjoy the original colors of the objects because of black and white transmission.
Sooner DD was broadcasted on a national level in 1982 when colour television was introduced with the Live
telecast of the Independence Day speech by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Doodarshan’s monopoly was
broken in 1992 when private television channels creeped into the Indian boundaries and the audience were
entertained by family drama, comedy serials, children programmes, cartoons, movies, talk shows, recipe/cookery
shows, musical concerts, non-fiction programmes etc. The strong point of all today’s news bulletins is their
topicality, objectivity, glossy editing and high quality visuals. News has travelled a long way from the DD era to
India TV or even UTVi business channel.
The emerging media powerhouses provided prime television content to almost all leading satellite channels in India
including BBC, Star Plus, Sony Entertainment Television, Zee, MTV and Discovery. Zee television came into the
battlefield by launching the news channel Zee news in 1995. Zee channel revolutionized the way news was
delivered to the viewers. The other round the clock news channel, the Murdoch owned Star TV beamed its
exclusively 24 hour’s news channels, Star News in 1998.Today Star news has programmes like Khabar filmi hain,
saas bahu aur saazish, sansani, fund ka funda, 24 ghante 24 reporter, Satyameva Jayate, Star had made a contract of
five year with Prannoy Roy owned NDTV to provide news content for this news channel. The untiring exhaustive
live coverage of the Kargil war between India and Pakistan gained more publicity and attracted more viewers
towards the electronic channel. As time passed, NDTV’s five years contract with Star group for outsourcing of
news and related programming expired on 2003. With this NDTV came up with two 24 hours news channel, NDTV
24x7-English News Channel and NDTV India- Hindi news channel. NDTV’s hallmark shows are We the People,
Spectacular Spas of the World, Witness, The Big Fight, `Walk the Talk`, `Cricket Controversies`, `Your Day
Today’, ‘Sports 24x7`, `The X-Factor` etc.

After the huge success of news programme ‘Aaj Tak’on DD , TV Today group launched a 24 hour Hindi news
channel with the same name ‘Aaj Tak’in the year 2000. Some of the mega stories covered were on the Kandhahar
hijack, September 11 attacks in America, Afghanistan war, attack on Parliament, Iraq war, Godhra carnage and riots
etc. Within a year span Aaj tak was awarded as the Best News Channel from Indian Television Awards. Late
S.P.Singh is still remembered with the unique sign-up message “Ye Thi Khabar Aaj Tak, Intezar Kijye Kal Tak”.
S.P. Singh never believed that truth lay in the eyes of the beholder: which is why when the Ganesh drinking milk
episode took place Aaj Tak pursued the phenomenon with the diligence of a news hound. Aaj Tak cameras went
behind several Ganesh temples and televised the tell tale channels of milk pouring out into drains. Aaj Tak is also
remembered with the five minute fast paced, condensed daily news capsule “Ankhon Dekhi” by Nalini Singh.

Media is a watchdog for the society. Although news channels like CNBC Awaaz, NDTV 24x7, Headlines Today
and Times Now are doing their best to expose some of the scandals and hidden tasks of some happenings in the
society. From local news analysis, television soap to Page 3 news, every happening comes under purview of news.
The power of TV journalism became more visible by the major sting operations like Operation West End and Shakti
Kapoor Case. This style of investigative journalism has brought about a change in the way we look at news, amidst
new notions of editorial freedom.

The worlds largest family ‘Sahara India Pariwar’ launched a 24 hour national Hindi Channel, Sahara Samay, in
2003. It is the first ever city centric satellite news channel covering 31 cities in India with their own city news
bulletins. Sahara Samay has a famous show called ‘The RKB show’ by Rakesh Bajaj. Sahara Samay has an
unvarying way to present its news anchors dress by having an Sahara Samay logo on their shirts or coats unlike any
other channel presenters. It reinforces the branding style. Sahara channel programmes different sections of news
which include current affairs, politics, sports, entertainment, business, national and regional news, horoscopes,
fitness, yoga and much more. There is Kuch Aur Khabre - about people and issues, which are so small that they
would get lost in anonymity. Teh Tak, Khel Samay and Cinema Samay are some other segments. There is a separate
capsule on business and the stock market prices roll over on the panel. Crime reports have been received well all
round. Aap Ki Aaawaj, People`s Voice, is being done relentlessly to highlight people`s concerns without editing
them or trying to neutralize them.
Later a shift was brought when India TV was launched in 2004 by ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ fame Rajat Sharma, Sohaib
Ilyasi, the man behind the highly successful ‘India’s Most Wanted’ and Tarun Tejpal, editor-in-chief of Tehelka
roped together and launched Hindi news and current affairs channel India TV. The chairperson of India TV had said
that they aim to set new benchmarks by maintaining international standards of responsible and credible news
reporting. They will stay away from graphic depictions of violence and sensationalism of news. Well I feel that
India TV is just presenting the opposite of the above statement. News stories like aliens trying to harm the planet
earth, spirits or ghosts are present in rural areas, half man and half tiger face human is present on earth at such an
century, a small child has a tail like hanuman, etc all such crap stories are shown and they claim themselves to
present credible news reportage. India TV presents shows like Shirdi Sai baba, Alert viewer, Bhavishyvani, Jai
Shani Maharaj, Guru Mantra etc all these shows in a way try to make the audience believe more and more on these
superstitious stories.

News is given on mobile phones via short sending message and now the recent trend is that you can watch your
favourite news channel on your mobile phones with the convergence coming in of 3G. Questions are asked to
audiences on certain ongoing issue and the answers can be sent to the news channel via mobile phones. Most of the
time the result are an indirect answer to channels stand/ viewpoint.

Indian news channels lose credibility over TRP by sensationalizing it. The best example would be Rakhi Sawant.
It’s a fact that whenever Rakhi Sawant is in the news the TRP rates of that particular news channel rises. The recent
example can also be the Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty kiss in public and also the Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai
Bachchan wedding in Mumbai was totally hyped when the media was not allowed to cover the wedding ceremony
and the rumours were that the rights of the photographs were sold to the foreign media. The sad part is that Page 3
news is termed as ‘Celebrity Journalism’. There is a direct correlation between TRPs and Revenues for the news
channels. According to industry estimates, the advertising revenue that mounts to Hindi news channels is roughly in
the region of Rs 400 crore. Of this, Aaj Tak corners about Rs 170-180 crore, ZEE News about Rs 70-80 crore,
NDTV India about Rs 60 crore, STAR News (Rs 50 crore), DD News (Rs 40 crore) and Sahara Samay Rashtriya Rs
15-20 crore.

Dumbing Down of news is also a changing trend in journalism. It’s the trivialization
of News, what Sanjay Dutt ate for lunch when he was in jail, how he is sleeping etc, same like Paris Hilton went to
jail well, her going to jail is not dumbing down, that’s a news story, but trivia. Prince issue is a human interest story.
Media talks about everything and anything about any bollywood’s actor. Right from Aishwarya Rai’s wedding talk
to her Honeymoon trip stories are prepared on the news channels. Meida has entered the Parliament to the bedrooms
of the celebrities. Shahid and Kareena Kapoor’s break up is given such an highlight that celebrities themselves get
harassed with such hype. No doubt on the contrary media is used by the celebrities for their personal good and bad
also. When Sanjay Dutt got married with Manyata news channel again had an exclusive news stories on why sanjay
dutt married without any grand function. Sanjay Dutt’s sister didn’t attend the marriage becomes a news. Why was
her daughter not infomred about the marriage. She came to know through media that his father gets married again.
You can say that the amount of airtime given to that story can be seen as dumbing down but classic ones are page 3
culture.
Journalism has come a long age in India. It has seen long changes in India. Today with entry of news channels and
new print media, its concept are changing very fast. Toady this is a hot carrier option for the youth of India. Newer
colleges are coming up every day to offer the journalism courses. Twenty years back there were very few selected
people, who thought of coming into journalism. 25 years down the line Indian media will substantially get localized
as well as globalised. The leading TV channels and publication will grow outward into international editions and
regional newspapers will complete their penetration into villages when literacy is almost universal.
Did CNN Put Mumbai Terror Victims in Danger By Reporting Their Hiding Places?

Posted on December 1, 2008

-By Warner Todd Huston

A couple from South Wales, England, are claiming that CNN had broadcast their position compromising their
safety while they hid from the Islamic terrorists that roamed the streets and hotels of Mumbai, India killing tourists
as they went.

WalesOnline posted a story headlined, “We thought we were safe… then CNN stepped in!,” wherein a couple that
safely escaped the terror attack scolded CNN for it’s ethical lapse.

A SOUTH Wales couple caught in the Mumbai terror attacks claimed last night that CNN put their lives at risk by
broadcasting where they were.

Lynne and Kenneth Shaw, of Penarth, warned that terrorists were listening in to the media to pinpoint Western
victims.

Mrs. Shaw claimed the American cable TV channel had broadcast details of where they were at the Taj Mahal
Palace Hotel.

The woman claimed that she was told not to talk to the press by the British government but felt that this issue was
too important to ignore. “But the reason I would not want to talk to anyone is because our safety was actually
compromised by CNN, which broadcast where we were.”

She said that the terrorists were watching CNN and tried to search for her and her husband after CNN televised
where they were in the hotel.

Naturally, CNN is denying it all.

A spokesman for CNN, said: “CNN has received no complaint from any individual regarding our coverage and their
safety. We take such matters very seriously. We are not aware of the allegedly compromising broadcast, but even in
the absence of key details such as when and where, we will continue to check.”

I’d say you just did get a “complaint,” there, CNN.

CNN seems to have a track record of helping despots and terrorists hide their crimes. After all, wasn’t it CNN that
admitted that it refused to report on Saddam Hussein’s reign of terror just so it could keep its Baghdad offices open
prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq? Now CNN is assisting roving terrorists to find victims to kill?

TELEVISION IN INDIA
Television in India is a huge industry and has thousands of programmes in all the states of India. The small screen
has produced numerous celebrities of their own kind some even attaining national fame. TV soaps are extremely
popular with housewives as well as working women. Several small screen actors have made it big in Bollywood.
Approximately half of all Indian households own a television[1], remarkable for a country where 77% of the
population lives on less than Rs.20 (US$0.50) per day[2].

History
1980s Indian small screen programming started off in the early 1980s. At that time there was only one national
channel Doordarshan, which was government owned. The Ramayana and Mahabharat (both being Hindu
mythological stories based on religious scriptures of the same names) were the first major television series
produced. This serial notched up the world record in viewership numbers for a single program. By the late 1980s
more and more people started to own television sets. Though there was a single channel, television programming
had reached saturation. Hence the government opened up another channel which had part national programming and
part regional. This channel was known as DD 2 later DD Metro. Both channels were broadcast terrestrially.

Post Liberalisation Television

The central government launched a series of economic and social reforms in 1991 under Prime Minister Narasimha
Rao. Under the new policies the government allowed private and foreign broadcasters to engage in limited
operations in India. This process has been pursued consistently by all subsequent federal administrations. Foreign
channels like CNN, Star TV and domestic channels such as Zee TV and Sun TV started satellite broadcasts. Starting
with 41 sets in 1962 and one channel (Audience Research unit, 1991) at present TV in India covers more than 70
million homes giving a viewing population more than 400 million individuals[citation needed] through more than 100
channels. A large relatively untapped market, easy accessibility of relevant technology[citation needed] and a variety of
programmes are the main reasons for rapid expansion of Television in India.

It must be stressed that Television Entertainment in India is one of the cheapest in the world.[citation needed]

Cable television

In 1992, the government liberated its markets, opening them up to cable television. Five new channels belonging to
the Hong Kong based STAR TV gave Indians a fresh breath of life. MTV, STAR Plus, BBC, Prime Sports and
STAR Chinese Channel were the 5 channels. Zee TV was the first private owned Indian channel to broadcast over
cable. A few years later CNN, Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel made its foray into India. Star
expanded its bouquet introducing STAR World, STAR Sports, ESPN and STAR Gold. Regional channels
flourished along with a multitude of Hindi channels and a few English channels. By 2001 HBO and History
Channel were the other international channels to enter India. By 2001–2003, other international channels such as
Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, VH1, Disney and Toon Disney came into foray. In 2003 news channels started to
boom.

Entry of Music Channels. Movie based channels, How Soaps started dominating Indian Channels How are movie
based channels performing. Role of TAM. How is TAM measured.

Audience Metrics

Television Metrics in India have gone through several phases in which it fragmented, consolidated and then
fragmented again.

DART

During the days of the single channel Doordarshan monopoly, DART (Doordarshan Audience Research Team was
the only metric available. This used the notebook method of recordkeeping across 33 cities across India [3]. DART
continues to provide this information independent of the Private agencies. DART till this date is the only rating
system that still measures audience metrics in Rural India [4].

TAM & INTAM

In 1994, claiming a heterogeneous and fragmenting television market ORG-MARG introduced INTAM (Indian
National Television Audience Measurement). Ex-officials of DD (Doordarshan) claimed that INTAM was
introduced by vested commercial interests who only sought to break the monopoly of DD and that INTAM was
significantly weaker in both sample size, rigour and the range of cities and regions covered. [5]
In 1997, a joint industry body appointed TAM (backed by AC Nielsen[6]) as the official recordkeeper of audience
metrics [5]. Due to the differences in methodology and samples of TAM and INTAM, both provided differing results
fo rthe same programs.

In 2001, a confidential list of households in Mumbai that were participating in the monitoring survey was released,
calling into question the reliability of the data [7] [8] [5]. This subsequently led to the merger of the two measurement
systems into TAM [9]. For several years after this, in spite of misgivings about the process, sample and other
parameters, TAM was the defacto standard and monopoly in the audience metrics game. [10].

aMap

In 2004, a rival ratings service, funded by a slew of American NRI investors, called Audience Measurement and
Analytics Ltd. (Amap) was launched. [11] [12] [13]. Although initially, it faced a cautious uptake from clients[14], the
TAM monopoly was broken.

aMap USP is that ratings are available as early as next day as compared to TAM's timeline of next week.[12]

Broadcast Audience Research Council

An even newer industry body called Broadcast Audience Research Council, seeks to setup an almost real-time
audience metrics system. Plans for this was announced in march 2008 and work is said to be in progress. [15] [13]

CAS - Conditional Access System

CAS or conditional access system, is a digital mode of transmitting TV channels through a set-top box (STB). The
transmission signals are encrypted and viewers need to buy a set-top box to receive and decrypt the signal. The STB
is required to watch only pay channels.

The idea of CAS was mooted in 2001, due to a furore over charge hikes by channels and subsequently by cable
operators. Poor reception of certain channels; arbitrary pricing and increase in prices; bundling of channels; poor
service delivery by Cable Television Operators (CTOs); monopolies in each area; lack of regulatory framework and
redress avenues were some of the issues that were to be addressed by implementation of CAS

It was decided by the government that CAS would be first introduced in the four metros. It has been in place in
Chennai since September 2003, where until very recently it had managed to attract very few subscribers. It has been
rolled out recently in the other three metros of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

Benefits of CAS

All the involved players and the viewers (consumers) can benefit greatly CAS is rolled out across the country.
However, vested interests and the price of STB's have been some of the reasons for delay in implementation of CAS
all over India.

Consumers: Consumers get the option to choose the channels they want to pay for and view, rather than receiving
the whole set of channels that the Cable Operator makes available to them, and hence benefit by having to pay only
for the channels they want to watch. Currently, in most of India, there is no segregation and subscribers pay a
blanket rate for the entire service.

Cable Operators: Cable operators get the opportunity to pay a part of the subscription fees to the broadcasters only
for the actual number of end users who opt for the channel, rather than all households having cable access. This will
help streamline their infrastructure, operations and reduce points of dispute with the MSO's and broadcasters by
being able to disclose the exact number of subscribers for each channel.

Broadcasters: Broadcasters have a long-standing complaint that the Cable Operators under-declare the actual
number of subscribers, and hence pass on only a fraction of the paid subscriptions. With a system like this in place,
it is possible to address the exact number of subscribers with a cable operator.
Advertisers: CAS gives a far more accurate indicator of programme popularity with only the actual subscribers of
each channel being accounted for.

Government: Since the issue of addressibility ensures a fair degree of transparency in accounting across the entire
value chain, it minimizes the loss of revenues to the government through mis-reporting or non-disclosure of actual
revenue figures. The government also facilitates the introduction and development of consumer friendly systems
like pay per view, interactive programming, etc.

At the time of writing this update (April 22, 2008) according to estimates, only 25 per cent of the people have
subscribed the new technology. The rest watch only free-to-air channels. As mentioned above, the inhibiting factor
from the viewer's perspective is the cost of the STB.

The Indian TV regulatory authority has recommended that all Cable operators be given 5 years to change from the
analogue system to the digital platform(July 2008)

DTH - Direct to Home

DTH is defined as the reception of satellite programmes with a personal dish in an individual home.

DTH does not compete with CAS. Cable TV and DTH are two methods of delivery of television content. CAS is
integral to both the systems in delivering pay channels.

Cable TV is through cable networks and DTH is wireless, reaching direct to the consumer through a small dish and
a set-top box. Although the government has ensured that free-to-air channels on cable are delivered to the consumer
without a set-top box, DTH signals cannot be received without the set-top box.

India currently has 6 major DTH service providers and a total of over 5 million subscriber households. Dish TV(a
ZEE TV subsidiary), Tata Sky,South India Media Giant Sun Network owned 'Sundirect DTH',Reliance owned BIG
TV,Bharti Airtel's DTH Service 'Airtel Digital TV' and the public sector DD Direct Plus.

INDIA

The Indian television system is one of the most extensive systems in the world. Terrestrial broadcasting, which has
been the sole preserve of the government, provides television coverage to over 90% of India's 900 million people.
By the end of 1996 nearly 50 million households had television sets. International satellite broadcasting, introduced
in 1991, has swept across the country because of the rapid proliferation of small scale cable systems. By the end of
1996, Indians could view dozens of foreign and local channels and the competition for audiences and advertising
revenues was one of the hottest in the world. In 1995, the Indian Supreme Court held that the government's
monopoly over broadcasting was unconstitutional, setting the stage for India to develop into one of the world's
largest and most competitive television environments.

Broadcasting began in India with the formation of a private radio service in Madras in 1924. In the same year, the
British colonial government granted a license to a private company, the Indian Broadcasting Company, to open
Radio stations in Bombay and Calcutta. The company went bankrupt in 1930 but the colonial government took over
the two transmitters and the Department of Labor and Industries started operating them as the Indian State
Broadcasting Corporation. In 1936, the Corporation was renamed All India Radio (AIR) and placed under the
Department of Communications. When India became independent in 1947, AIR was made a separate Department
under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

The early history of radio broadcasting in independent India is important because it set the parameters for the
subsequent role of television in the country. At Independence, the Congress government under Jawaharlal Nehru
had three major goals: to achieve political integration, economic development and social modernization.
Broadcasting was expected to play an important role in all three areas.
The most important challenge the government faced at independence was that of forging a nation out of the diverse
political, religious, geographic and lingual entities that composed independent India. In addition to the territories
ruled directly by the British, over 500 hundred "independent" princely states had joined the new nation, some quite
reluctantly. The country immediately found itself at war with Pakistan over one of those states--Kashmir. The
trauma of the partition of the country into India and Pakistan and the violence between Hindus and Muslims had
further weekend the political stability of the country.

Broadcasting was harnessed for the task of political nation building. National integration and the development of a
"national consciousness" were among the early objectives of All India Radio. Broadcasting was organized as the
sole preserve of the chief architect of this process of political integration--the State. The task of broadcasting was to
help in overcoming the immediate crisis of political instability that followed Independence and to foster the long-
term process of political modernization and nation building that was the dominant ideology of the newly formed
state. Broadcasting was also charged with the task of aiding in the process of economic development. The Indian
Constitution, adopted in 1950, mandated a strong role for the Indian State in the economic development of the
country. The use of broadcasting to further the development process was a natural corollary to this state-led
developmental philosophy. Broadcasting, was especially expected to contribute to the process of social
modernization, which was considered an important pre-requisite of economic development. The dominant
development philosophy of the time identified the problems of development as primarily internal to developing
countries. These endogenous causes, to which communication solutions were thought to exist, included traditional
value systems, lack of innovation, lack of entrepreneurial ability and lack of a national consciousness. In short, the
problem was one of old ideas hindering the process of social change and modernization and the role of broadcasting
was to provide an inlet for the flow of modern ideas.

It was in the context of this dominant thinking about the role of broadcasting in India that television was introduced
in 1959. The government had been reluctant to invest in television until then because it was felt that a poor country
like India could not afford the medium. Television had to prove its role in the development process before it could
gain a foot-hold in the country. Television broadcasts started from Delhi in September 1959 as part of All India
Radio's services. Programs were broadcast twice a week for an hour a day on such topics as community health,
citizens duties and rights, and traffic and road sense. In 1961 the broadcasts were expanded to include a school
educational television project. In time, Indian films and programs consisting of compilation of musicals from Indian
films joined the program line-up as the first entertainment programs. A limited number of old U.S. and British
shows were also telecast sporadically.

The first major expansion of television in India began in 1972, when a second television station was opened in
Bombay. This was followed by stations in Srinagar and Amritsar (1973), and Calcutta, Madras and Lucknow in
1975. Relay stations were also set up in a number of cities to extend the coverage of the regional stations. In 1975,
the government carried out the first test of the possibilities of satellite based television through the SITE program.
SITE (Satellite Instructional Television Experiment) was designed to test whether satellite based television services
could play a role in socio-economic development. Using a U.S. ATS-6 satellite and up-link centers at Ahmedabad
and Delhi, television programs were beamed down for about 4 hours a day to about 2,400 villages in 6 states. The
programs dealt mainly with in- and out-of-school education, agricultural issues, planning and national integration.
The program was fairly successful in demonstrating the effectiveness of satellite based television in India and the
lessons learnt from SITE were used by the government in designing and utilizing its own domestic satellite service
INSAT, launched in 1982.

In these early years television, like radio, was considered a facilitator of the development process and its
introduction was justified by the role it was asked to play in social and economic development. Television was
institutionalized as an arm of the government, since the government was the chief architect of political, economic
and social development in the country.

By 1976, the government found itself running a television network of eight television stations covering a population
of 45 million spread over 75,000 square kilometers. Faced with the difficulty of administering such an extensive
television system television as part of All India Radio, the government constituted Doordarshan, the national
television network, as a separate Department under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Doordarshan was
set up as an attached office under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting--a half-way house between a public
corporation and a government department. In practice, however, Doordarshan operated much like a government
department, at least as far as critical issues of policy planning and financial decision-making were concerned.
Doordarshan was headed by a Director General appointed by the I and B Ministry. The Ministry itself and
sometimes the office of the Director General as well, was and continues to be, staffed by members of India's civil
services.

In 1982 television began to attain national coverage and develop as the government's pre-eminent media
organization. Two events triggered the rapid growth of television that year. INSAT-1A, the first of the country's
domestic communications satellites became operational and made possible the networking of all of Doordarshan's
regional stations. For the first time Doordarshan originated a nation-wide feed dubbed the "National Programme"
which was fed from Delhi to the other stations. In November 1982, the country hosted the Asian Games and the
government introduced color broadcasts for the coverage of the games. To increase television's reach, the
government launched a crash program to set up low and high power transmitters that would pick-up the satellite
distributed signals and re-transmit them to surrounding areas. In 1983 television signals were available to just 28%
of the population, this had doubled by the end of 1985 and by 1990 over 90% of the population had access to
television signals.

1976 witnessed a significant event in the history of Indian television, the advent of advertising on Doordarshan.
Until that time television had been funded through a combination of television licenses and allocations from the
annual budget (licenses were later abolished as advertising revenues began to increase substantially). Advertising
began in a very small way with under 1% of Doordarshan's budget coming from advertising revenues in 1976-77.
But the possibility of reaching a nation wide audience made television look increasingly attractive to advertisers
after the introduction of the "National Programme" in 1982. In turn, Doordarshan began to shift the balance of its
programming from educational and informational programs to entertainment programs. The commercialization of
Doordarshan saw the development of soap operas, situation comedies, dramas, musical programs, quiz shows and
the like. By 1990 Doordarshan's revenues from advertising were about $300 million, accounting for about 70% of
its annual expenditure.

By 1991, Doordarshan's earlier mandate to aid in the process of social and economic development had clearly been
diluted. Entertainment and commercial programs had begun to take center stage in the organization's programming
strategies and advertising had come to be Doordarshan's main source of funding. However, television in India was
still a modest enterprise with most parts of the country getting just one channel except for the major cities which
received two channels. But 1991 saw the beginnings of international satellite broadcasting in India and the
government launched a major economic liberalization program. Both these events combined to change the country's
television environment dramatically.

International satellite television was introduced in India by CNN through its coverage of the Gulf War in 1991.
Three months later Hong Kong based StarTV (now owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.) started broadcasting
five channels into India using the ASIASAT-1 satellite. By early 1992, nearly half a million Indian households were
receiving StarTV telecasts. A year later the figure was close to 2 million and by the end of 1994, an estimated 12
million households (a little less than one-fourth of all television households) were receiving satellite channels. This
increase in viewership was made possible by the 60,000 or so small scale cable system operators who have
mushroomed across the country. These systems have redistributed the satellite channels to their customers at rates
as low as $5 a month. Taking advantage of the growth of the satellite television audience, a number of Indian
satellite based television services were launched between 1991 and 1994, prominent among them ZeeTV, the first
Hindi satellite channel. By the end of 1994 there were 12 satellite based channels available in India, all of them
using a handful of different satellites. This number was expected to double by the end of 1996, with a number of
Indian programmers and international media companies like Turner Broadcasting, Time-Warner, ESPN, CANAL 5
and Pearsons PLC, seriously considering the introduction of new satellite television services for India.

The proliferation of channels has put great pressure on the Indian television programming industry. Already the
largest producer of motion pictures, India is poised to become a sizable producer of television programs as well.
With Indian audiences clearly preferring locally produced program over foreign programs, the new television
services are spending heavily on the development of indigenous programs. The number of hours of television
programming produced in India has increased 500% from 1991 to 1996 and is expected to grow at an ever faster
rate until the year 2000.

Despite the rapid growth of television channels from 1991 to 1996, television programming continues to be
dominated by the Indian film industry. Hindi films are the staple of most national channels and regional channels
rely heavily on a mix of Hindi and regional language films to attract audiences. Almost all Indian films are musicals
and this allows for the development of inexpensive derivative programs. One of Doordarshan's most popular
programs, Chitrahaar, is a compilation of old film songs and all the private channels, including ZeeTV and music
video channels like MTV Asia and Channel V, show some variation of Chitrahaar. A number of game shows are
also based on movie themes. Other genres like soap operas, talk shows and situation comedies are also gaining in
popularity, but the production of these programs has been unable to keep up with demand, hence the continuing
reliance on film based programming.

International satellite programming has opened up competition in news and public affairs programming with BBC
and CNN International challenging Doordarshan's long standing monopoly. Most of the other foreign broadcasters,
for example, ESPN and the Discovery Channel, are focusing on special interest programming. Only StarTV's STAR
Plus channel offers broad-based English language entertainment programs. Most of its programs are syndicated
U.S. shows, for example soap operas like The Bold and the Beautiful and Santa Barbara and talk shows like
Donahue and Oprah. However, STAR Plus has a very small share of the audience in India and even this is
threatened by the launch of new channels.

A peculiar development in television programming in India has been the use of hybrid English-Hindi program
formats, popularly called "Hinglish" formats, which offer programs in Hindi and English on the same channel and
even have programs, including news shows, that use both languages within a single telecast. This takes advantage of
the of the audience for television (especially the audience for satellite television) which is largely composed of
middle class Indians who have some knowledge of English along with Hindi and colloquially speak a language that
is primarily Hindi intermixed with words, phrases and whole sentences in English.

Commercial competition has transformed Doordarshan as well and it is scrambling to cope with the changed
competitive environment. Satellite broadcasting has threatened Doordarshan's audiences and self-preservation has
spawned a new ideology in the network which is in the process of reinventing itself, co-opting private programmers
to recapture viewers and advertising rupees lost to ZeeTV and StarTV. In 1994, the government ordered
Doordarshan to raise its own revenues for future expansion. This new commercial mandate has gradually begun to
change Doordarshan's perception of who are its primary constituents--from politicians to advertisers.

The government's monopoly over television over the years has resulted in Doordarshan being tightly controlled by
successive governments. In principle, Doordarshan is answerable only to Parliament. Parliament lays down the
guidelines that Doordarshan is expected to adhere to in its programming and Doordarshan's budget is debated and
approved by Parliament. But the guidelines established by Parliament to ensure Doordarshan's political neutrality
are largely ignored in the face of the majority that ruling parties have held in Parliament. Doordarshan has been
subject more to the will of the government than the oversight of Parliament. Successive governments and ruling
political parties have used Doordarshan to further their political agendas, weakening its credibility as an neutral
participant in the political process. There have been periodic attempts to reconstitute Doordarshan into a BBC-like
public corporation, but governments have been reluctant to relinquish their hold on such a powerful medium.

The government drew its right to operate the country's broadcasting services as a monopoly from the Indian
Telegraph Act of 1885 which empowers the government with the exclusive right to "establish, maintain and work"
wireless services. In addition, the Constitution lists broadcasting as the sole domain of Parliament, effectively
shutting out the states from making any laws with regard to television. Within the ambit of these provision it was
assumed that media autonomy or liberalization in any form was the prerogative of the government to grant. But the
government's monopoly was challenged in the Indian Supreme Court in 1995. The Court held that the government
monopoly over broadcasting was unconstitutional and while the government has the right to regulate broadcasting
in the public interest, the Constitution forbids monopoly control over any medium by either individuals or the
government. The Court directed the government to establish an independent public authority for "controlling and
regulating" the use of airwaves. The Court's decision holds out the promise of significant structural changes in
Indian broadcasting and the possibility that terrestrial television may finally free itself from governmental control.
It is evident that over time the State's control over television will continue to diminish. As its revenue structure
begins to change and Doordarshan begins to respond to increasing commercial pressures, the character of its
programming will begin to increasingly reflect the demands and pressures of the market place. In the meantime,
caught between the government and the market, Doordarshan continues to struggle to maintain its mandate of
public service programming. But the Supreme Court's recent decision ordering the government to establish an
independent broadcasting authority to regulate television in the public interest holds the promise of allowing Indian
television to escape both the stifling political control of the state and the commercial pressures of the market. There
are a number of other constituencies like state governments, educational institutions, non-governmental
organizations and social service agencies who can participate in a liberalized broadcast system. The Supreme Court
has provided an opportunity to develop a broad based television system. How the country responds to this
opportunity in the next few years will determine the future of broadcasting in India in the next century.

-Nikhil Sinha

Television ( India Tv )

Television service in India is available throughout the country. Broadcasting is a central government monopoly
under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, but the only network system, Doordarshan, also known as
TV1, accepts advertisements for some programs. Doordarshan, established in 1959 and a part of All India Radio
until 1976, consists of one national network and seven regional networks. In 1992 there were sixty-three high-power
television transmitters, 369 medium-power transmitters, seventy-six low-power transmitters, and twenty-three
transposers. Regular satellite transmissions began in 1982 (the same year color transmission began).

Indian television viewers - By 1994 some 6 million people were receiving television broadcasts via satellite, and the
number was expected to increase rapidly throughout the rest of the decade. Cable television was even more prolific,
with an estimated 12 to 15 million subscribers in 1994.

Besides Doordarshan, Zee TV--an independent station broadcasting from Bombay since 1992--uses satellite
transmissions.n fact, because Doordarshan is the only network that is permitted to broadcast television signals
domestically, Zee TV and other entrepreneurs broadcast their Indian-made videotapes via foreign transmitters.

TV channels in India. Other networks joining the fray are Cable News Network (CNN--starting in 1990); Asia
Television Network (1991); Hong Kong-based Star TV (1991); Jain TV, near Bombay (1994); EL TV, a spinoff of
Zee TV in Bombay (1994); HTV, an affiliate of the Hindustan Times in New Delhi (1994); and Sun TV, a Tamil-
language service in Madras (1994) (see Broadcast Media, ch. 8). In a communications breakthrough for Indian
Televiosn in July 1995, Doordarshan agreed, for a US$1.5 million annual fee and 50 percent of advertising revenue
when it exceeds US$1.5 million, to allow CNN to broadcast twenty-four hours a day via an Indian satellite.

Indian television channel Doordarshan offers national, regional, and local service for Indian television viewers. The
number of televisions in India sets increased from around 500,000 in 1976 to 9 million in early 1987 and to around
47 million in 1994; increases are expected to continue at around 6 million sets per year.

More than 75 percent of television sets in India were black and white models in 1992, but the proportion of color
sets is increasing annually. Most television sets are produced in India. - Indian Television Data 1995.

TELEVISION
Television network

A television network is a distribution network for television content whereby a central operation provides
programming for many television stations. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the
world was dominated by a small number of broadcast networks. Many early television networks (e.g. the BBC,
NBC or CBS) evolved from earlier radio networks. It may be confused with a television channel. Within the
industry, a tiering is sometimes created among groups of networks based on whether their programming is
simultaneously originated from a central point, and whether the network master control has the technical and
administrative capability to take over the programming of their affiliates in real-time when it deems this
necessary—the most common example being breaking national news events. In countries where most networks
broadcast identical, centrally originated content from all their stations and where most individual stations are
therefore nothing more than large "repeater stations", the terms television network, television channel and television
station have become interchangeable in everyday language, with only professionals in TV-related occupations
continuing to make a difference between them, if one was ever made. This applies to the United Kingdom,
Australia, Japan and most other countries outside Northern America.However, in North America in particular, many
television channels available via cable and satellite television are branded as "networks" but are not truly networks
in the sense defined above, as they are singular operations – they have no affiliates or component stations. Such
channels are more precisely referred to by terms such as "specialty channels" (Canada) or "cable networks" (U.S.),
although the latter term is somewhat of a misnomer. In the U.S., television networks are simply identified as
"networks" (such as ABC, CBS or NBC), while the local stations are identified by the station's call sign and city of
license. In Europe and much of Asia, Africa and South America, television networks are often more or less
numbered (for example, Britain's BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel 4 and five etc, or the Netherlands' Nederland
1, Nederland 2, Nederland 3. In Australia, television networks are identified by the channel number in the capital
cities (such as Seven, Nine or Ten).

News Ticker
A news ticker (sometimes referred to as a "crawler") is a small screen space on news television networks dedicated
to headlines or minor pieces of news. Usually, news stations will have the bottom tenth of the screen devoted to a
horizontally scrolling banner giving brief descriptions of news stories. The name "ticker" comes from the paper
ticker tape machines, which once printed news onto a moving paper tape. Financial news channels often have two
or more tickers progressing at different speeds, normally displaying stock prices. Networks that focus on sports
often use a slightly different system, where the scores and status of current and finished games are displayed one by
one, along with minor sports highlights. The first record of a news ticker as part of a regular broadcast is from
NBC's Today show on its debut edition, January 14, 1952. Without the benefit of computer-generated headlines and
graphics, the ticker was vastly different than the one we would know today. The Today ticker was an actual piece of
paper with typewritten headlines superimposed on the lower third of the screen. The ticker was never very
successful as a communications tool, and was dropped not long thereafter. By the 1980s, in northern parts of the
United States, many local television stations in the used a ticker placed over morning local and network newscasts
to pass along information on school closings due to weather. Severe weather watch and warning information was
also commonly run on local station tickers. In both cases, the start of the ticker's cycle was often accompanied by an
attention signal, usually the station's channel number in Morse code. One of the first networks to regularly utilize a
ticker was CNN Headline News. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the ticker featured stock prices during the
daytime and sports scores during the evening and weekend. CNBC also debuted a ticker featuring stock prices
during business hours. By the mid-1980s, ESPN featured an update ticker at the top and bottom of each hour,
scrolling up-to-the-minute sports scores and news. By 1996, spin-off network ESPN2 debuted a ticker, dubbed the
"Bottom Line," which featured non-stop sports scores and news nearly twenty-four hours a day. ESPNEWS, when
it debuted in 1996, became the first network to keep their ticker going during commercial breaks. While tickers had
been used occasionally by other networks over the years, it was the September 11 attacks of 2001 that made the
ticker a ubiquitous part of the television news experience. Needing a way to provide a continuous stream of vital but
repetitive emergency information to viewers, Fox News Channel placed a ticker on-screen at 10:49 a.m. CNN
launched its own ticker at 11:11 a.m., and MSNBC started one at approximately 2:00 p.m. Although the need for
attack-related tickers lasted only a few weeks, the management at all three major U.S. news channels quickly
decided that news tickers would help increase viewer ship amongst younger viewers with shorter attention spans
and the ability to process multiple simultaneous streams of information. As a result, the tickers have been
permanent features on all three channels ever since. On the 5th anniversary of 9/11, CNN replaced the ticker with a
repeated list of the names of the 9/11 attack fatalities.

Digital on-screen graphic

A digital on screen graphic (known in the UK and New Zealand by the acronym DOG; in the US and Canada as a
bug; and in Australia as a watermark) is a watermark-like station logo that many television broadcasters overlay
over a portion of the screen-area of their programs to assist viewers in identifying the channel. They are thus a form
of permanent visual station identification, increasing brand recognition and asserting ownership of the video signal.
In some cases, the graphic also shows the name of the current program. Some networks use an on-screen graphic to
advertise later programs in the day's television schedule—this is generally displayed after the opening, during in-
programme credits, and when returning from a commercial break. The graphic identifies the source of programming
even if it is time-shifted—that is, recorded to videotape, DVD, or via a digital personal video recorder such as TiVo.
Many of these technologies allow viewers to skip or omit traditional between-programming station identification.
The graphic can be displayed on any of the four corners of the screen: the top right corner on the screen (as in
NDTV Profit, Zee News, Star News, the TV Today group channels) or on the top left hand corner (as in DD News
and many of the international channels like BBC and CNN) or on the left bottom corner (as used by NDTV 24x7,
NDTV India, CNN-IBN and IBN-7) or right bottom corner (as in Times Now, CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Aawaz).
Adverse effects: While most bugs are simply small, transparent logos, some are not transparent and a few are
large. Nickelodeon GAS uses their normal logo in the conventional size, but because it is not transparent, it
blocks the timers that are commonly used in their programs. Toon Disney uses a transparent logo, but it is larger
than usual. Some are not entirely transparent, and may slightly obscure the item they are in front of, like the bug
used by Nickelodeon. Furthermore, there have also been reports of TV screens being damaged by phosphor burn-
in, when a channel displaying a non-transparent logo has been left on for a prolonged period of time.
Connections with sponsor tags: Another graphic on television usually connected with sports is the sponsor tag. It
shows the logos of certain sponsors, accompanied by some background relevant to the game, the network logo,
announcement and music of some kind.

Soundbite/ Soundbyte
In film and broadcasting, a soundbite (or soundbyte) is a very short piece of footage taken from a longer speech or
an interview in which someone with authority or the average "man on the street" says something which is
considered by those who edit the speech or interview to be the most important point. As the context of what is being
said is missing, the insertion of soundbites into news broadcasts or documentaries is open to manipulation and thus
requires a very high degree of journalistic ethics. Politicians of the new generation are carefully coached by their
spin doctors to produce on-demand soundbites which are clear and to the point.
A soundbite is an audiolinguistic and social communications phenomenon whose nature was recognized in the late
20th century, helped by people such as Marshall McLuhan. It is characterized by a short phrase or sentence that
deftly captures the essence of what the speaker is trying to say. Such key moments in dialogue (or monologue) stand
out better in the audience's memory and thus become the "taste" that best represents the entire "meal" of the larger
message or conversation. Soundbites are a natural consequence of people placing ever greater emphasis on
summarizing ever-increasing amounts of information in their lives.
News media in particular cherish soundbites. Reporters agree that the best news footage contains at least one
soundbite. Politicians in turn have learned (along with their speechwriters) to put greater effort into delivering the
perfect soundbite. Originality is not necessary but highly valued. Soundbites are useful to help guide footage editors
focus on parts of dialogue that help advance the overall message.
Not everyone enjoys hearing soundbites. They tend to sound best when delivered unplanned, and the logical inverse
is often true -- the planned soundbite can easily ring forced and cast doubt as to the speaker's integrity. The
importance of a soundbite is that "the message hits home".

Game Shows

A game show involves members of the public or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, playing a game, perhaps
involving answering quiz questions, for points or prizes. In some shows contestants compete against other players
or another team whilst other shows involve contestants striving alone for a good outcome or high score. Game
shows often reward players with prizes such as cash, or holidays and goods and services provided by the show's
sponsors. Early television game shows descended from similar programs on broadcast radio.

There are several basic genres of game shows with a great deal of crossover between the different types.
 The simplest form of game show is a quiz show whereby people compete against each other by answering
quiz questions or solving puzzles. Quiz shows usually involve members of the public, but sometimes special
shows are aired in which celebrities take part and the prizes are given to charity. Wheel of Fortune and
Jeopardy! Are examples. Some quiz shows, such as the word games Password and Pyramid, pair celebrities
and non-notable citizens. Television's most successful quiz, The Price is Right (premiering in 1956),
revolves mostly around how much a merchandise item costs, though the modern version mixes the retail
element with games of chance. Indian examples: Bournvita Quiz.
 A panel game usually involves a celebrity panel answering questions about a specialist field such as sport or
music and is often played for laughs as much as points. Match Game, which dates from the 1960s but is best
known for its CBS daytime run of the 1970's, is one such example. Other examples include What's My
Line? and Have I Got News for You.
 The third kind of game show involves contestants completing stunts (Fear Factor) or playing a game that
involves an element of chance or strategy in addition to, or instead of, a test of general knowledge. Deal or
No Deal is an example of this format, combining both luck and strategy.
 Dating game shows, the original reality games, in which the prize is typically a well-funded dating
opportunity that one can only pursue with the individual one, has 'won' on the show. They are also a type of
date auction where competitors compete for dates not with money but with seductive powers or
attractiveness or the promise of an enjoyable date or even ultimately marriage. In the middle of the 1960s,
Chuck Barris conceived a new genre in which the competitor's personal life became part of the show. They
were the forerunners of today's reality game show. The prize was typically romantic opportunity (The
Dating Game) or fame (The Gong Show) rather than cash. One of his famous shows, The Newlywed Game,
actually led to some divorces. This genre virtually disappeared from US screens in the 1990s. Blind Date,
the British version of The Dating Game, remained popular in the United Kingdom.
 Reality game shows have become popular in recent years. In a reality show the competition usually lasts
several days or even weeks and a competitor's progress through the game is based on some form of
popularity contest, usually a kind of disapproval voting by their fellow competitors or members of the
public. The reality game shows concept really took off in the 2000s with shows like Survivor, Big Brother
(Bigg Boss in India) and their clones. Planet 24 television (owned by Bob Geldof) devised the concept of
Survivor but were unable to sell it to a British or American broadcaster. It was eventually taken up in 1997
by Sweden as Expedition Robinson. The format was an immediate hit in other Scandinavian countries and it
soon caught on around the world. These shows combine elements of reality show and older reality game
shows with traditional game-show elements of physical competitions by contestants.
 In India Music Game shows like Antakshari and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa are very popular. Variations on this are
the Dance Game shows like Naach Baliye and Boogie Woogie.
 Some shows (e.g. Weakest Link shown as Kamjor Kadi in India) exploit a disapproval voting system
similar to the reality game show, and play up the realistic confrontation between contestants, but are in fact
just conventional game shows, where no bodily torture or emotionally stressful situation is created, other
than the failure to answer some question or impress hosts. Dog Eat Dog was even publicized as a reality
show despite being basically a revamp of The Krypton Factor with a variant of disapproval voting added.
However, this kind of show has not found favor amongst Indian viewers.

Talk Shows
A talk show (U.S.) or chat show (Brit.) is a television or radio program where a group of people come together to
discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host. Often, talk shows feature a panel of guests, usually consisting
of a group of people who are learned or who have great experience in relation to whatever issue is being discussed
on the show for that episode. A call-in show takes live phone calls from callers listening at home, in their cars, etc.
Political talk shows of all sorts are common on radio stations across the country ranging from local radio talk
stations in major metropolitan areas, to nationally syndicated radio talk shows such as the Mike Dickin show.
Popular radio "shock jock" Howard Stern also hosted a talk show that was syndicated nationally, then moved to
satellite radio's Sirius. The tabloid talk show genre, pioneered by Phil Donahue but popularized by Oprah Winfrey
was extremely popular during the last two decades of the 20th century.
Politics are hardly the only subject of talk shows, however. Other radio talk show subjects include Car Talk hosted
by NPR and Coast to Coast AM hosted by Art Bell and George Noory which discusses topics of the paranormal,
conspiracy theories, fringe science and the just plain weird. Sports talk shows are also very popular ranging from
high-budget shows like The Best Damn Sports Show Period to Max Kellerman's original public access show Max
on Boxing.
Talk shows have been broadcast on television since the earliest days of the medium. Late night talk shows are
among the oldest, the oldest of which is RTÉ's The Late Late Show. Current late night talk shows such as The
Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Show with David Letterman have aired for years, featuring celebrity
guests and comedy sketches. TV news pioneer Edward R. Murrow hosted a talk show entitled Small World in the
late 1950s and since then, political TV talk shows have predominantly aired on Sunday mornings. Syndicated daily
talk shows range from tabloid talk shows, such as The Jerry Springer Show. To celebrity interview shows like Ellen
shows to industry leader The Oprah Winfrey Show which popularized the former genre and has been evolving
towards the latter.
Talk shows have more recently started to appear on Internet radio.

BBC Profile

The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known simply as the BBC, is a large broadcasting
corporation. Founded on 18 October 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company Ltd, it was subsequently granted a
Royal Charter and made a state-owned corporation in 1927. The stated mission of the BBC is "to inform, educate
and entertain"; its motto is "Nation Shall Speak Peace unto Nation". The BBC is a quasi-autonomous public
corporation operating as a public service broadcaster. The Corporation is run by the BBC Trust; and is, per its
charter, "free from both political and commercial influence and answers only to its viewers and listeners". If the TV
and radio services are combined, BBC is probably the largest broadcasting system in the world.

Purpose and values of BBC:

To enrich people's lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain.

Our vision
To be the most creative organization in the world.

Our values

 Trust is the foundation of the BBC: we are independent, impartial and honest.
 Audiences are at the heart of everything we do.
 We take pride in delivering quality and value for money.
 Creativity is the lifeblood of our organization.
 We respect each other and celebrate our diversity so that everyone can give their best.
 We are one BBC: great things happen when we work together.

Media Regulators

The BBC is governed by the BBC Trust, which sets the strategic direction of the BBC and has a clear duty to
represent the interests of license fee payers.

Government responsibility for broadcasting and creative industries in the UK lies with the Department for Culture,
Media and Sport.

Ofcom is the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries, with
responsibilities across television, radio, telecommunications and wireless communications services.

Services offered by BBC

 BBC News

 BBC Radio
 BBC TV

 BBC Sports

Criticisms

The BBC has long faced allegations of a left-wing or liberal bias. Left-wing figures, such as the journalist John
Pilger, have frequently accused the BBC of a right-wing bias, so much so that the anti-Iraq war MP George
Galloway has referred to it as the "Bush and Blair Corporation". The BBC received its most serious criticism of
recent times over its coverage of the events leading up to the war in Iraq. The controversy over what it described as
the "sexing up" of the case for war in Iraq by the government, led to the BBC being heavily criticized by the Hutton
Inquiry.

CNN

1. Cable News Network, commonly referred to by its initialism CNN, is a major news cable network founded on
June 1, 1980 by Ted Turner. The network is now owned by Time Warner. CNN introduced the idea of 24-hour
television news coverage
2. In terms of TRP Nielsen ratings CNN rates as America's number one cable news source. CNN primarily
broadcasts from its headquarters at the CNN Center in Atlanta, the Time Warner Center in New York City,
and studios in Washington, D.C. Till December 2004, the network is available in 88.2 million U.S. households
and more than 9 lakh American hotel rooms. The U.S version of their broadcast is also shown in Canada.
Globally, CNN airs through CNN International and has combined with branded networks and is available to
more than 1.5 billion people in over 212 countries.
3. in India it has combined with IBN and is CNN IBN
4. Slogan “most trusted name in news”.

History

1. The CNN was launched on June 1, 1980. Since its debut, CNN has expanded its reach to a number of cable
and satellite television networks, several web sites, specialized closed-circuit networks and two radio
networks. The network has 36 bureaus (10 domestic, 26 international), more than 900 local stations, and several
regional and foreign-language networks around the world.

2. CNN remains a second in international news coverage, reaching just over half of the audience of BBC News.
Unlike the BBC's network of reporters and bureaus, CNN International makes extensive use of local reporters. CNN
International news is criticized as pro-American news. In US CNN is always portrayed "liberal" or "anti-American"
bias.

The Gulf War

The first Persian Gulf War in 1991 was a turning point for CNN that shot the network as the "big three" American
networks for the first time in its history: CNN was the only news channel went into live coverage of gulf war with
the ability to communicate outside Iraq during American bombing campaign, with live reports in Baghdad by
reporters Bernard Shaw, John Holliman, and Peter Arnett. Time Warner later produced a television movie, Live
from Baghdad, about the network's coverage of the first Gulf War, which aired on HBO.

The CNN effect

Coverage of the first Gulf War and other crises of the early 1990s led officials at the Pentagon to coin the term "the
CNN effect" to describe the perceived impact of real time, 24-hour news coverage on the decision-making
processes of the American government.
September 11

CNN was the first network to have broken news of the September 11 attacks.

Experiments

CNN launched two news channels for the American market which were later closed down due to competitive
pressure: CNNSI shut down in 2002, and CNNfn shut down after nine years on the air in December 2004..

Online

CNN debuted its news website CNN.com in August 1995. Initially an experiment, interest in CNN.com grew
steadily over its first decade and today CNN.com is now one of the most popular news websites in the world.

 Bbc
 Radio
 Tv
 Sound
 Con bill

CNN INTERNATIONAL

CNN International (CNNI), usually known on-air as simply "CNN", is an English language television network
that carries news, current affairs and business programming worldwide. It is owned by Time Warner, and is
affiliated with and shares much content with CNN/U.S., which is limited to the United States and Canada.

CNN is now the second most watched news channel in the world
CNN/US began suffering a decline in viewership due to competition from Fox News Channel,

A spokesman for CNN, said: “CNN has received no complaint from any individual regarding our coverage and their
safety. We take such matters very seriously. We are not aware of the allegedly compromising broadcast, but even in
the absence of key details such as when and where, we will continue to check.”

But as it began to become clearer that the terrorists were working to a specific plan of singling out Westerners,
mainly Americans and Britons, CNN latched on to the angle. Its experts began developing the perspective that what
was different about these attacks, apart from the fact that they were not hit-and-run bombings, was that for the first
time Americans were becoming a target in India.

(CNN) -- They were fathers and daughters, tycoons and spiritualists, Westerners and Asians, who were in Mumbai
for different reasons. But they met the same fate in the indiscriminate path of gunfire and explosions in a string of
terror attacks across the Indian city this week.

Kia Scherr, left, has told CNN that her husband, Alan Scherr, and daughter Naomi were killed in Mumbai.