CHAPTER II

EVOLUTION OF TELEVISION

2.1. INTRODUCTION

The literal meaning of television is ‘vision at a distance’ as the word ‘tele’ in Greek

means distance. Television in general sense means the transmission of pictures and

voices without wires from one place to another over short or long distances.

(Vilanilam, 2003) Television programmes generally try to establish a relation

between the programmes telecasted and the reality as experienced. (Seiter,

Borchers, Kroutzner and Warth, 1989) Television is not a product of single

inventor. It is a product of the research of several scientists.

(http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Television.htm) During the 19th

century, the intense experimentation in electricity led to the emergence of

television. (Banerji, 1992) There were two major paths in the development of

television system. One was based on mechanical system while the other one was

based on the electronic system. The mechanical method which was mainly based on

Paul Nipkow’s rotating disk was followed by Charles Jenkins(USA) and John

Baird(Britain). On the other hand, the electronic system based on the model of

Cathode Ray Tube invented by Karl Braun was followed by Philo T Farnworth and

Vladimir Zworykin. Till 1920, in most of the experiments in television, the

mechanical method had been used. Eventually the electronic television system

replaced the mechanical system.

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2.2.MECHANICAL SYSTEM

The mechanical method had been started with the experiment of Paul Nipkow of

Germany. He was the first scientist to develop the scanning principle of television.

In 1884 he developed a rotating- disk technology to transmit pictures over wire

which was used to analyze and transmit the light intensities of small portions of an

image. (http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Television.htm) His device

has been patented under the name of ‘electric telescope’. His rotating disk had small

holes in it through which light could be sent as light and dark dots. (Vilanilam,

2003) Again in 1907 Boris Rosing and Cambell Swinton, independent of each

other, developed the electronic scanning method of reproducing images. In 1923,

Vladimir Zworykin further developed the ideas of Campbell Swinton and patented

his television camera tube which he called an electric eye. Later on, in 1929, he

improved the cathode ray tube and named it as the kinescope for picture display. He

demonstrated a television system which has the features of modern day television

system. (http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Television.htm) The

practical electronic system for both transmission and reception of images was first

demonstrated by Vladimir Zworykin in 1929 with the help of his kinescope tube. In

1939 an experimental broadcast was conducted by Vladimir Zworykin from the

Empire State Building. Zworykin also introduced the colour television in 1925.

2.3.ELECTRONIC SYSTEM

On the other hand, the era of electronic communication began with Joseph Henry

and Michael Faraday’s work with electromagnetism in 1831. A still image was

  46
 
transmitted over wires for the first time in 1862 by Abbe Giovanna Caselli through

his invention known as Pantelegraph. In the year 1873 scientists May and Smith

caused the possibility of transforming images into electronic signals with the help of

their experiment with selenium and light. In 1877 the Boston civil servant George

Carey put forward a drawing which he called selenium camera. It would allow

people to see by electricity. The term ‘cathode ray’ was coined by Eugene Goldstein

to describe the light emitted when an electric current was forced through a vacuum

tube. In late 1870s the scientists and engineers like Paiva, Figuier, and Senlecq

suggested various alternative designs for Telectroscopes. In 1880 Alexander

Graham Bell’s Photophone used light to transmit sound. He also wanted to further

develop his device for image sending. In 1881 Sheldon Bidwell experimented with

his Telephotography that was similar to Bell's Photophone. In the year 1897,

German scientist Karl Braun invented the Cathode Ray Tube Oscilloscope (CRT)

which is known as the picture tube in modern day television sets.

(http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Television.htm)

2.4 .EVOLUTION OF TELEVISION

In the first International Congress of Electricity held at the World’s Fair in Paris in

1900, Constantin Perskyi of Russia made the first known use of the word

"television." (http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Television.htm) On

June 14, 1923 Charles Jenkins transmitted the earliest moving silhouette images

through a mechanical television system called the radio vision. The year 1930 was

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a landmark in the history of television as the first television commercial was

broadcasted by Charles Jenkins and the BBC began regular television transmissions.

John Baird was the first person to transmit moving silhouette images using a

mechanical system based on Nipkow’s disk. In 1926 John Baird introduced a

television system with 30 lines of resolution system running at 5 frames per second.

John Baird became the first to open a television studio though the image quality was

poor. On 9th April, 1927, the first long distance use of television took place between

Washington DC and New York City which was conducted by the Bell Telephone

and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Philo Farnsworth developed a dissector

tube and with the help of this transmitted an image of dollar sign for the first time in

1927. (http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Television.htm) In 1936

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) became the first television service in the

world. By 1939 television broadcast had been introduced in US also. By the end of

1950s most of the countries adopted it. (http://downloadvertisement.nos.org/

srsec335new/ch13.pdf) By 1936, television became a popular media. In that year

the coaxial cable which was a pure copper or copper coated wire surrounded by

insulation and an aluminum covering had been introduced to transmit television,

telephone and data signals. The address of US president Roosevelt in 1939 was the

first transmission by the television as a transmission system. This transmission was

popularly received by the public though few in numbers as television was

developed for field testing purpose. (Banerji,1992) Meanwhile, the breaking out of

Second World War led to an abrupt halt in the television services. Television again

retrieved its position during the late 1940s. (Datta, 2005)

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Television was first demonstrated at the New York World's Fair and the San

Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition.

(http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Television.htm) The Dumont

Company was the first one to make television sets. In the late 1940’s the cable

television then known as the Community Antennae Television or CATV was born

in the mountains of Pennsylvania. The 1943 World Series was the first World

Series shown on television. Face the Nation, a famous news commentary show,

made its debut in 1947 and it was one of the earliest television programme. Louis

Parker was issued the patent for the invention of modern changeable television

receiver in 1948. In 1948 an attempt had also been made in Pennsylvania to bring

television to rural areas and for this purpose cable television had been introduced.

The year 1948 can be regarded as a true television year. The Truman- Dewey

election was aired in that year. Moreover, shows like The Texaco Star Hour, The

Toast of the Town etc also appeared in the television. The Toast of the Town which

was hosted by Ed Sullivian was later known as The Ed Sullivan Show ran for 23

long years finally ended on 1971.The 1950s had been regarded as the golden age of

television. Many popular shows had been aired during that period such as The

Goldbergs; Howdy Doody, Your Show of Shows, The Colgate Comedy Hour, I

Love Lucy, The Honeymooners(focused on the "crazy hairbrain schemes" of super

dreamer and super under-achiever Ralph Kramden, his patient long-suffering wife,

Alice, and his loyal friend, Ed Norton, who was Ralph's comic relief prop.), etc.

Shows like See it Now, You are There?, Gunsmoke, Dragnet were also been aired

during that period. (http://www.entertainmentscene360.com/index.php/the-history-

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and-evolution-of-television-the-1940s-and-1950s-15184/) Columbia Broadcasting

System (CBS) first broadcasted programme in colour in USA in 1953.

(http://downloadvertisement.nos.org/srsec335new/ch13.pdf)

By the 1960s television came to be known as the ‘little box that ruled the world’.

(http://www.entertainmentscene360.com/index.php/the-history-and-evolution-of-

television-the-1940s-and-1950s-15184/) Peter Goldmark is regarded as the first to

introduce a broadcasting colour television system. His mechanical process had been

first used in 1949 to broadcast the operations from Pennsylvania and Atlantic City

Hospitals. Eventually his mechanical system had been replaced by the electronic

system. The V shaped television antenna was invented by Marvin Middlemark. In

1950 FCC approved the first colour television system which was eventually

replaced by the second one in the year 1953.In 1950 the Zenith Radio Corporation,

later known as the Zenith Electronics Corporation introduced the television remote

control called the ‘lazy bones’. In June 1956, the remote control first entered the

American home. On 19th August 1950, the American Broadcasting Company aired

the Saturday morning television shows for children for the first time.

(http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Television.htm) The first remote

control which was called the ‘Zenith Space Commander’ was invented by Robert

Adler in 1956.The first satellite Telstar was launched in 1962 by American

Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) to carry television broadcasts. In the

year 1962 the exchange of television programmes becomes possible between

Europe and America. (Datta, 2005) In 1964 plasma television was invented by

Donald Bitzer, Gene Slottow, and Robert Willson. 20th July 1969 was an important

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day in television history. On that day the first television transmission was done from

the moon and 600 people watched it. It was a great success in television history.

In the early 1900s television was semi mechanical with huge bodies and tiny

screens. Eventually the size of the television became more compact though the

screen stayed small. With the passing year the electric television captured the

market and television became relatively cheaper. By the pre Second World War

period, many countries started broadcasting. But with the outbreak of the Second

World War many channels stopped it. It was after the Second World War, television

started regaining its position and in the next few years television became a

household name. After the end of the Second World War thirteen channels emerged

and with this there was no looking back. In 1950s new developments took place in

the field of television. Television had been changed design wise. After the

devastating effect of Second World War, Japan also started rebuilding its empire on

the basis of technology which led to the production of first real Japanese made

television. Moreover the introduction of the remote control turned this lazy device

into a total couch potato maker. Coming of the colour television in the market gave

a new experience to the people. By the end of the 1980s television became less

expensive and in 1997 Pioneer introduced the plasma television and it became a

possession.

2.5.TELEVISION IN INDIA

The first demonstration of television in India took place in 1955 at an industrial

exhibition in New Delhi. After the end of the exhibition, the All India Radio

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acquired a part of the television apparatus and set up the television project at an

experimental basis. Again, in 1956, at the UNESCO General Conference, the

Government of India introduced a proposal asking UNESCO to organize a

television centre at New Delhi with the objective of educational and community

development. (Dua, 1979) Eventually, a makeshift centre was established at

Akashvani Bhavan (Broadcasting House), New Delhi and the President of India

inaugurated the centre on 15th September, 1959 with the help of a grant of 20

thousand dollars given by the UNESCO to study the use of television as a media of

education and rural upliftment and community development. (Banerji, 1992) 180

teleclubs were set up where free television sets were provided by UNESCO. 21

community television sets were installed in different parts of Delhi. The Ford

Foundation donated television sets to about 250 schools. Gradually this number rose

up to 500. (Vilanilam, 2003)

Earlier the programmes broadcasted on Indian television were mainly the

educational and agricultural programmes meant for school children and farmers. For

this purpose several community television sets were set up in the rural areas of

Delhi and schools around Delhi. (http://downloadvertisement.nos.org/srsec335new

/ch13.pdf) In August 1965 the Federal Republic of Germany gave assistance in

setting up a modern studio in Delhi and with this the first regular general service

began from Delhi. The programmes were telecasted both in Hindi and English and

it included programmes on folk music and folk dances, news and news reviews,

light entertainments, quiz programmes, discussions on topical subjects, and

interviews with noted personalities and experts. During the period 1959 to 1971

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television covered only Delhi area and it was concentrated mainly on rural

programmes and school television programmes. Till the mid of 1965, only two

programmes each with one hour duration per week were telecasted. The duration of

the programme was increased to 4 days a week with effect from 1st June 1965. By

15th August 1965, daily service of one hour duration was started. (Banerji, 1992)

Moreover, from August 1965, entertainment and information programmes had also

been telecasted on television along with social educational programmes on public

demand.

The main theme of the programmes broadcasted during the period 23rd December,

1960 to 6thMay 1961 was the ‘responsibilities of citizenship’. Five subjects were

chosen under this topic with four programmes on each subject. These were-

 Traffic and road sense

 Dangers to community health

 Adulteration of food stuffs

 Encroachment of public property

 Manners of a citizen. ( Dua, 1979)

In 1961, the Ford Foundation helped in telecasting an educational television

programme for the school children of Delhi. This programme included Physics,

Chemistry, General Science and English as well as teacher training programmes on

Science and English. The main aims of this experimental project included the

telecast of programmes useful to the high school students, to install community sets

etc. One of the chief objectives of this project was to make television viewing

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available to the people of Delhi suburbs, especially to the farmers. The creation of

teleclubs for the discussion of the programmes by the viewers was yet another aim

of this project. But till the year 1967, the television transmissions were confined to

the urban centers only. It was only in 1967 that the programmes with rural interest

were introduced. In the year1967, January, Krishi Darshan programme was started

with the help of Department of Atomic Energy, Indian Agricultural Research

Institute, Delhi administration, state governments of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

At first the television sets were imported. The Ford Foundation, the UNESCO and

some other international agencies donated some sets. By 1965, the Central

Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI) situated at Pilani, Rajasthan,

and government owned organization Bharat Electronics Limited also worked on

developing its own television set. As a result, in 1969, the first Indian made

television set has been rolled out of the factory. By 1970, several television centres

were opened in other parts of the country (http://downloadvertisement.nos.org/

srsec335new/ch13.pdf) and duration of service was increased to 3 hours.

Programmes included news, information, entertainment and 2 weekly programmes

running to 20 minutes each for the teleclubs and a weekly programme of same

duration called Krishi Darshan. In 1970 there were around 22000 imported

television sets excluding the community sets. Indian sets were in market by mid

1970s and the number touched lakh. Commercials were started in all the television

centres from January 1, 1976. In 1972, the second television centre was inaugurated

in Bombay and it marked the expansion of television beyond Delhi after 13 years of

  54
 
its introduction in India. By 1975, television centers were established in Srinagar,

Amritsar, Calcutta, Madras and Lucknow.

Finally on 1st April, 1976, television was separated from All India Radio and it was

established under the name of Doordarshan in the Information and Broadcasting

Ministry. Three channels i.e. DD-I, DD-2 and DD-3 were introduced in the four

metro centres- Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. The Doordarshan telecasted

from 36 cities. The 897 transmitters covered almost 87% of the total population.

(Vilanilam, 2003) The chief aim of Doodrdarshan was to help in the social and

economic development of the country. It also aimed at motivating the people with

socially useful programmes and messages in order to make them participate in the

overall development of the country. The chief social objectives of Doordarshan

were

 To act as a catalyst for social change

 To promote national integration

 To stimulate a scientific temper in the minds of the people

 To disseminate the message of family planning as a means of population

control and family welfare

 To provide essential information and knowledge in order to stimulate greater

agricultural production

 To promote and help preserve environment and ecological balance

 To highlight the need for social welfare measures including the welfare of

women, children and less privileged

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  To promote interest in games and sports

 To create values of appraisal of art and cultural heritage (Vilanilam, 2003)

But an analysis of the television programmes shows a different picture. The

television programmes do not promote these objectives and emphasis is given on

the entertainment programmes.

Dr Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of Indian Space Programme, was the first person

in India to visualize the potential and possibilities of satellite television as an

effective medium of mass communication and education. He had a dream of owning

India’s own satellite and for this purpose a programme known as the Satellite

Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) has been launched in India on 1st

August, 1975 by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) with the help of

NASA, UNDP, ITU and UNESCO. The US- supplied Applications Technology

Satellite – ATS-6 has been used in launching SITE. (French and Richards, 1996)

Vikram Sarabhai signed an agreement with the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA) on 18th September, 1969, on behalf of the Department of

Atomic Energy(DAE), Government of India. This agreement was known as the

‘Indo- US ITV Satellite Experiment Project.’ According to the agreement, NASA

provided ATS-6 for 1 year. The SITE was first conceived as a pilot project in 1967-

69 and in 1969 decision was taken to implement the project. Under this programme

community television sets were distributed among the villagers of 2400 villages in

the 20 districts of six states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,

Orissa and Rajashthan. Through this project, various important development topics

like family planning, public health, social and educational improvement of women

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and children etc. were introduced to the Indian masses. ( French and Richards,

1996) The programmes were telecasted twice a day, in the morning and evening.

These programmes mainly dealt with the issues like agricultural information, health

and family planning. Moreover some entertainment programmes like dance, music,

drama, folk and rural art forms were also telecasted. (http://downloadverti

sement.nos.org/ srsec335new/ch13.pdf) This experiment came to an end on 31st

July, 1976.(French and Richards, 1996)

When SITE was launched the social and economic conditions of people especially

living in villages were very deplorable. The children were not able to attend schools

as they had to assist their parents in household or field works. Moreover, schools

were not seemed to be an interesting place for the children. Therefore SITE

concentrated on this age group of primary school. Though the programmes were not

able to cover the syllabus, still they had managed to cover up some important core

issues. Some of the chief objectives of this programme were to make the children

learn the skills of community living, aware them about health and hygiene, teach

them language, aware them about modernization and also promote aesthetic

sensitivity. For this purpose, SITE included programmes like teacher training

programme, agriculture, health, hygiene, family planning etc. Moreover, it also

made science accessible to village kids by teaching it in a friendly manner. The

programmes also made the masses aware of different government plans for the

upliftment of people as well as development in the field of science and technology.

It also aimed at making the masses aware of social, economic and political changes

in the society.

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The experience of Pij village (Ahmedabad) Kheda is a landmark in the history of

Indian television. It was the rural television of India in the true sense of the term.

This project was started in 1976. There were 560 community television sets in the

Kheda district and experiemental television programmes were produced aiming

specially the poverty stricken rural masses which included the landless labourers,

the harijans, the marginal farmers and the other weaker sections of the community.

SITE was a pilot project for the beginning of the INSAT (Indian National Satellite

System) era. INSAT was a joint venture of the departments of Space, Meteorology,

Posts and Telegraph, All India Radio and Doordarshan. India’s first own

multipurpose satellite INSAT-1A was launched on 10th April, 1982. But

unfortunately due to the depletion of satellite fuel it had to be abandoned after

September 6, 1982. This could not stop the scientists from launching another

satellite in the INSAT series i.e. INSAT- 1B. The seven years life span of INSAT-

1B commenced on 15th October 1983. INSAT was India’s first own satellite system

and it helped in the expansion of television in India with its two types of reception

system- the DRS system and the VHF system. In the DRS system (Direct Reception

System) television programmes are directly received from INSAT. The direct

reception sets have been installed to receive the signals directly from the satellite

and convert them into audio- visual messages for instant utilization. The other

system is known as the VHF (Very High Frequency) system. Unlike the DRS

system, in the VHF system, the VHF sets are installed within the range of terrestrial

transmitters. In this system, the VHF sets receive the transmissions from terrestrial

transmitters which in turn obtained the signals from satellite. The two main

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functions of INSAT 1B were to distribute television programmes throughout the

country as well as to provide a development oriented regular service in six specially

selected service areas. These were

 Kurnool, Mehboobnagar and Rangareddy districts of Andhra Pradesh

 Gumla, Lohardaga, Palamau, Ranchi and Singhbhum districts of Bihar

 Jamnagar, Junagadh and Rajkot districts of Gujrat

 Bhandara, Chandrapur, Gadh Chiroli and Nagpur districts of Maharashtra

 Bolangir, Dhenkanal and Sambhalpur districts of Orissa

 Azamgarh, Basti and Gorakhpur districts of Uttar Pradesh

The backwardness of the area, availability of suitable physical and developmental

infrastructure and utilization of existing programme production facilities were the

three main reasons behind this selection of six clusters. (Zachariah, 1996)

The proposed functions of INSAT- 1B were as follows-

 To establish long distance telecommunications (telephone, facsimile etc)

 To provide round- the- clock meteorological earth observation and data relay

 To transmit television programmes directly to the augmented television

receivers (DRS) in rural areas and to facilitate networking of television

transmitters; and

 To further improve regional and national networking of the radio

transmitters.

( Datta, 2005)

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On August 15, 1982, the Indian masses witnessed the Independence Day celebration

telecasted live from Red Fort for the first time through the APPLE(Ariane

Passenger Payload Experiment). APPLE was a space based communication

technology which was launched in June 1981 with the help of French. But the real

expansion of television began in India in November 1982 with the coverage of the

Ninth Asian Games which was held in Delhi. The year 1982 was also important as

the colour television came into being during the Asiad. The Research and

Development Wing of All India Radio started colour television transmission on 17th

November 1982. For this purpose a temporary studio had been put up at the Indian

International Trade Fair at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. People in lakhs watched

Asiad in colour television. The coverage of the Asian games, 1982, was the most

formidable challenge faced by Doordarshan’s professionals. They had no previous

experience of covering such a gigantic and prolonged event in colour. The coverage

included direct live relays, daily highlights in the evening and point-to-point and

multi-point feeds to foreign countries. It was to Doordarshan’s credit that its

professionals came out with flying colours. Along with the Asian games, the Non-

Aligned meet and the Commonwealth meet also gave Doordarshan some scopes. In

short, 15th august 1982 was a red letter day in the Indian mass communication

history as it witnessed four major events through INSAT. These were

 Commencement of National Network for all India relay

 Conversion of black & white to colour transmission

 Utilization of microwave links for television on a regular basis

 Distribution of networking of television programmes throughout the country

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In 1983, the Government of India adopted Rs 68 crores Special Crash Plan for the

expansion of television and to bring 70% of total Indian population under the

television network by 1984. With the help of the sanction by the government,

several transmitters were set up throughout the country and by the end of the decade

more than 75% of the total population was covered by these transmitters. The Rs 68

crores plan aimed at providing transmission and production facilities at new

television centres around the country. Another big objective of this scheme was to

extend television coverage to North East region so that people from that region may

become attached with the mainstream. Again this scheme also included setting up of

permanent television centres at Ahmedabad, Banglore, Gauhati and Trivundrum.

The Kanadigas were also demanding more programmes in Kanadda language. The

plan also included setting up of television relay transmitters at Madurai, Asansol,

Cuttack, Varanasi, Murshidabad, Vijayabada, Panaji and Kasauli. Again the

programme production centres were to be set up at Raipur, Bhopal, Muzaffarpur,

Palina, Gulbarga and Bhubaneswar. DoordarshanBhavan was also to be set up

under this scheme.

Though the North East region was untouched by this development, a major

expansion plan had been taken which was supposed to cover 80% of the population.

To achieve this goal it had been planned to set up three 10 kilowatt transmitters at

Dibrugarh, Silchar and Tura and 5 one kilowatt transmitters at Shillong, Kohima,

Imphal, Itanagar and Aizawl. Again, for the telecasting of common North East

service from Gauhati, a plan had been taken up to link these 8 transmitters. The Rs

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68 crores plan aimed at establishing 180 television stations and relay centres by

November, 1984 in the country.

On September 19, 1984, the channel II of Doordarshan was launched at Delhi on

the eve of the silver jubilee celebration of Indian television. Consequently, the

channel II had been launched in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. The morning

transmission was started from February 1987 and the afternoon transmission started

from January 26, 1989. The mid day service was meant for the housewives, children

and retired people.

In the year 1987, another important development took place. A scheme providing

three tiers of television in India viz. national, regional and local services had been

implemented. It helped in the transmission of programmes in regional languages.

Maharashtra was the first state to get the regional networking arrangements and

Andhra Pradesh was the second one. The main aim of these regional programmes

was to project the cultural and literary heritage of the concerning states. Now, most

of the Indian states have the regional linking facilities.

The Doordarshan had set up the Central Production Centre (CPC) with highly

sophisticated equipments and it was inaugurated in February 1989 in the Asiad

village complex at New Delhi. It had two large studios aided with computer aided

cameras and light- control system. Moreover it also had two post production suites

with latest gadgetry. The complex shows were preferred for production in CPC. It

had been able to achieve a distinct mark both in respect of their production values

and technical slickness.

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In the year 1997, a statutory autonomous body called the Prasar Bharti was

established to convert the Doordarshan and AIR into government corporations. It

was established with an objective of granting greater autonomy to Doordarshan and

AIR. But it failed to defend the Doordarshan from government control.

Doordarshan started as a part of AIR and grown into a major broadcaster with

around 30 channels which included Regional Language Satellite Channels, State

Networks, International Channels and All India Channels like DD National,DD

News, DD Sports, DD Gyandarshan, DD Bharati, Loksabha Channel and DD Urdu

etc. In 1995 Doordarshan introduced a new international channel Doodrdarshan

International to telecast programmes to foreign countries like Europe, Asia and

Africa.

Humlog was the first serial to be telecasted on Indian television. Humlogwas first

aired on 7th July, 1984. It was a story of Indian middle class and their day to day

struggle. It discussed issues of family planning, freedom of choice to find a life

partner or job, and the role of women in society. (http://www.shvoong.com/social-

sciences/sociology/493867-psychological-impact-television-serials-soaps/)

Source: http://www.indiandailysoaps.com/2013/12/hum-
logwe-people-indias-first-daily-soap.html

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Buniyad, aired on 1986, was based on the struggle of two Punjabi families ravaged

by communal riots. The whole plot was based on the life of men and women who

struggled to live and love in an era of aggression and annihilation. The story was of

Master Haveliram who was a patriotic and a very principled man and chose

teaching as his way of constructing an ideal society of dreams. This was the story of

the trials and tribulations that Master Haveliram and his family experienced during

this tremulous phase. Having left most of their material possessions back in the

present Pakistan, armed with nothing but memories, how Master Haveliram, Lajoji,

their sons and daughter try to settle down in their new home in India-the refugee

camp and manage to rise in life, in spite of the limited resources available. The

struggle to start from scratch and create a home in a foreign land…the struggle of

remaining true to principles over the temptation to give in to easier but unethical

ways of life…Buniyaad was the story of struggle that most Indian families faced

during the partition. (http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~sundar/tp/buniyaadvertisement_

sahara.html)

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 Source: http://dumkhum.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Buniyaad_Poster1.jpg

Again, Nukkad was a comedy serial aired in 1986. The story dealt with the struggle

of the urban youths. It is about some nukkad (street) characters that had great

aspirations in life but everyone was happy. Ramayana was telecasted in 1987-88

and Mahabharatain 1989-90. The characters of Ram, Sita, Krishna had a hysterical

mass following. People touched their feet in public, such was the identification with

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their psyche. (http://www.shvoong.com/social-sciences/sociology/493867-

psychological-impact-television-serials-soaps/) During the telecast of Ramayana

and Mahabharata streets wore a deserted look. (Saksena, 1996)

Source :http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=2652751

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 Source: http://www.feminiya.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Mahabharat-1.jpg

Malgudi Days- based on works of R K Narayan which was telecasted in 1986.

Normally, one story was telecasted in one episode.

Source: http://www.feminiya.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/malgudi-days1.jpg

Karamchand aired in 1986 was India’s first detective series. Pankaj Kapoor

portrayed the character of detective Karamchand. Then came the Sword of Tipu

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Sultan in 1990. This serial was based on the portrayal of life and times of Tipu

Sultan, the erstwhile ruler of Srirangapatna. Sanjay Khan played the lead role.

Surabhi was another popular show in 1993-2001 hosted by Renuka Sahane and

Siddharth Kak. This show reflected the length and breadth of Indian culture.

2.6. EMERGENCE OF PRIVATE TELEVISION CHANNELS

Cable News Network (CNN) was the first private satellite channel which became

popular with its coverage of the Gulf War in 1990s. With CNN the era of private

television began in the television history. CNN came to India in January 1991 and

Star Television in April of that same year. Cable television came into being after the

Government of India adopted the liberalization policy under the Prime Ministership

of Narasimha Rao.

In the year 1991 many foreign players like Rupert Murdoch’s Star TV Network,

MTV etc. entered Indian television scenario. 5 channels belonging to Star TV had

been introduced in India. These were MTV, Star Plus, Star Movies, BBC, Prime

Sports and Star Chinese channel. ( Roy, 2009) Later on it expanded its network by

introducing few more channels viz. Star World, Star Sports, ESPN and, Star Gold

etc. Zee TV which was the outcome of an agreement between the Hong Kong based

STAR (Satellite Television Asian Region) with an Indian company became the first

privately owned Hindi satellite channel of India. (http://downloadvertisement.nos.

org/srsec335new/ch13.pdf) Sun TV which was the first private channel in South

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India was launched in 1992. Today it has 20 TV channels in the four South Indian

languages - Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. ( Roy, 2009)

Eventually few more channels made its entry into India which included CNN,

Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel etc. By 2001, HBO and History

Channel were also introduced in India. Channels such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon

Network, VH1, Disney and Toon Disney came into foray in India. Today there are

more than 100 satellite channels among which Star TV, Aaj Tak, NDTV, Zee,

Colors, Sony are the few to name. News channels started to boom in 2003. ( Roy,

2009) Along with these national and regional channels, several international

channels like CNN, BBC, and Discovery etc are also available to the Indian

viewers. There are different categories of channels like news channels, religious

channels, cartoon channels and movie channels etc. The arrival of the satellite

channels in India gave a deathblow to the monopoly of the Doordarshan. By the end

of the 19th century the Doordarshan lost its monopoly due to the privatization of

electronic media and the launch of several new satellite channels.

2.7. TELEVISION IN ASSAM

Television  was  introduced  to  the  people  of  Guwahati  in  the  year  1982.  The  9th 

Asian  Games  hosted  by  India  in  New  Delhi  in  that  year  and  the  telecast  of  that 

event  through  television  brought  about  extensive  changes  in  the  lives  of  the 

people of Guwahati.  

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Initially,  the  Doordarshancentre  of  Guwahati  was  set  up  in  a  rented  house  in 

Panbazar,  Guwahati.  Later  on,  it  was  shifted  to  its  permanent  settlement  at 

R.G.Baruah Road Guwahati on 7th February 1992.  

The first regional serial was telecasted from Doordarshancentre Guwahati on 23rd 

August,  1990.  Again  on  15th  march  1991,  the  Regional  News  Network  was 

launched. But this news network was not able to cover the required news fully and 

the necessity to introduce Batori had been felt. Consequently, it was introduced in 

the morning transmission with effect from 19th December, 1992.  

The Doordarshan centre of Guwahati mainly broadcasts prorammes on information,

education and entertainment and DD North East broadcasts programmes in English,

Assamese and other dialects of North East. DD North East telecasts progrmmes

from Doordarshan. It telecasts programmes in various dialects of North East India.

It also covers a wide variety of programmes like entertainment, informative, news,

current affairs, art, culture etc. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki /DD_North-East)

Here, mention can be made of local channels like NE TV, DY365, News Live,

News Time Assam, Rang, Prag etc. NE TV has converted to Focus NE which is the

first earth station and teleport of the North East. It broadcasts news in various

languages which include Assamese, English, Hindi, Bengali, Manipuri, Nagamese,

Bodo, Mizo, Garo, Nepali etc. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_NE) DY365,

launched on 30th October, 2008, is a 24- hour satellite channel of Assam. It

broadcasts news in four languages, Assamese, Hindi, Bengali and English.(

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DY_365”) News Live was launched on 21st January,

2008. This second satellite news channel of North East India broadcasts news in

Assamese and English. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_Live) News Time

Assam, another local news channel was launched on 25th December, 2010 with an

objective to reach the people from all corners of North East and all avenues of life.

It also aimed at mixing investigative journalism with technological innovations in

order to create social awareness. (http://www.newstimeassam.co.in/misc/about-

us.php) Rang is another channel by News Live which emphasizes on general

entertainment. Prag channel was launched on 4th march 2001. It covers a wide range

of programmes including news and entertainment.

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REFERENCES

1. Datta, K. B. (Ed.). (2005). Mass Media in India . Akansha Publishing House.

2. Dua, M. R. (1979) . Programming Potential of Indian Television : With

Special Reference to Education, Economic Growth and Social Change .:

Communication Publications .

3. French, D., & Richards, M. (1996). Contemporary television: Eastern

perspectives. Sage Publications.

4. Indian Institute of Mass Communication. (1992). Communicator (Vol. 27).

Shri Anjan Kumar Banerji at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication.

5. Saksena, G. (1996). Television in India: changes and challenges. Vikas

Publishing House.

6. Seiter, Ellen, Borchers, Hans, Kroutzner, G. and Warth, E. M. (Ed.) . (1989).

Remote Control : TV Audiences and Cultural Power . Routledge.

7. Vilanilam, J. V. (2003). Growth and development of mass communication in

India/JV Vilanilam. National Book Trust, India.

8. Zachariah, Aruna (Ed. ). (2005) . Communication, Media and Electronic

Revolution : Kanishka Publishers .

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