TELEVISION:INTRODUCTION

Television came into our country as late as in September, 1959, that too only in Delhi. By that time
the advanced countries were having colour television. To begin with, it was an experimental venture
and viewership was confined to 180 odd community sets located in tele-clubs' formed in and around
Deihi under a grant-in-aid by UNESCO. The transmission timings were just about 20 minutes, twice a
week. School television (STV) was started in 1961 and entertainment programmes in 1965, by which
time daily transmissions too were introduced.

After long years of lull, TV expansion made a quantum leap with Bombay TV coming on the air in
October 1972. A year later, Srinagar and Amritsar stations were inaugurated. Calcutta, Madras and
Lucknow stations were added in 1975.An important milestone in the history of Indian television is
the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) Conducted during 1975-76 with the help of an
American Satellite ATS-6. Educational and developmental programmes were beamed to 2400
villages across the country which received them through Direct Reception Sets (DRS). The success of
this unique experiment has paved the way for satellite television in our country through our own
Satellite system INSAT, at a later stage. Television as a separate entity from All India Radio was
announced in 1976 and was christened as Doordarshan on April 6 that year.

The 1980s saw major strides in television expansion. National programme was initiated in
1982.Colour television was also introduced in the eve of the Asian Games in 1982. Close on its heels
followed satellite television through the INSAT system. In 1984 the University Grants Commission
(UGC) telecasts (later called 'country wide classroom") were introduced. The second channel of
Doordarshan from Delhi was also commenced that year. The VCR (Video Cassete Recorder)
revolution too made its beginning in the 80's, and soon made inroads into the nooks and corners of
the country. Theatrical viewing of feature films, which till then had been the most popular pastime
of the masses, suffered a setback as the 'video boom' readily offered everyone the more convenient
and cheaper alternative of domestic viewing through VHS (Video Home System) cassettes.

Then the 1990s was marked by initiatives like development of transnational TV channels through
satellites and the spread of cable. The hitherto unchallenged dominance of Doordarshan gave way to
dozens of foreign as well as domestic TV channeis, which competed fiercely with one another for
vIewership and advertisement revenues. While most of these channeis are entertainment-oriented.
there are notable exceptions like the Discovery Channel' and the 'National Geographic which are
dedicated to exploration and adventure documentaries.

IGNOU telecasts on Doordarshan made a modest start in 1991 with half hour slots on alternate
days. In due course. they were extended to all days of the week. A separate educational TV channel,
Gyan Darshan' was started on 26 Jan. 2000. Gyandarshan is a satellite-based channel airing
programmes contributed by major educational bodies in the country such as IGNOU, UGC-CEC,
NCERTCIET, National Institute of Open Schooling, etc. Another significant development is the birth of
the technology channel Ekalavya' which started on 26 Jan, 2003. as part of the Gyan Darshan
bouquct, to cater to engineering students. Gyan Darshan (GD), a fully digital 24 hour exclusive
Educational TV Channel, is a digital bouquet of 4 channels. The transmission of GD channels is almost
completely automated through the installation of the video server

While these are undoubtedly major developments on the educational TV scene, the limitation at the
moment is the apathy of the cable operators who, in most cases, shy away from including the
educational channels on their networks. So most of the homes in the country do not in practice
receive them. Although satellite television is becoming common but the companies offering these
services too did not include these channels till at the initial stage. However, developments like DTH
services (Direct-to-Home TV of which you will study in detail in Unit 4 of this Block) and Conditional
Access System (It is a system introduced by the Union of India under the provisions of Cable
Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment. 2002 to regulate the functioning of cable services in
India and to give consumers a choice to view and pay for channels of their choice, are taking care of
this problem to some extent.

TELEVISION MILESTONES

The world

 1925 Mechanical Television invented by J.L. Bạird in UK

 1930-35 Electronic television by Baird in UK, Gaborisky in Russia. Takayenagi in Japan,
Jenkins and Zworkyin in USA.
 1935 First regular TV services in the world, from Berlin.
 1954 Colour TV starts in USA(NTSC system)
 1967 Birth of PAL and SECAM colour TV systems in UK and France respectively
 1968 Birth of Satellite Television(USA & Europe)
 1974 First Video Cassette Recorder(VCR) by Japan
 1988 High Definition TV Broadcasting starts in Japan
 1990s -World-wide boom in Satellite and cable networks
 1985 onwards DTH (Direct-to-Home) makes inroads in developed countries
 India
 1950 Experimental TV service(from Delhi) starts 965 Regular TV service(trom Delhi) starts
 1975-76 Satelite Instructional Television Experiment(SITE) 1982 Colour Television and
satellte relays start on the eve of Asian Games
 1985 Teletext service from Delhi
 2000 Gyan Darshan(india's first educational TV channels) starts 2003 Eklavya Technology
Channel starts.
 Since 2005, DD Bharati channel carries a special slot called Gyan Sarita offering enrichment
programme in science, technology. etc. produced by IGNOU.

WHAT IS TELEVISION BROADCASTING?

Television broadcasting is a form of broadcasting in which a television signal is transmitted by

radio waves from a terrestrial (Earth based) transmitter of a television station to TV receivers
having an antenna.

Basically, broadcasting serves three broad purposes; to inform, educate and entertain the
audience.

IMPORTANCE OF TV BROADCASTING

 Among all mass media, television attracts the largest number of audiences
 TV is able to cater to audiences both young and old, literate or illiterate and of all strata in
the society
 TV has been able to influence people living in the remotest part of the country and tribal
pockets
 It provides a leverage for information explosion
 It helps to disseminate the message of development and modernization to generate
awareness for public participation
  It supports government plans and programmes for bringing about social and economic
changes and to promote national security as well as advance the cause of national
integration
 TV can be used as an effective weapon against ignorance and illiteracy
 It brings about awareness on sociological issues and make them conscious of national goals
 It cultivates civic responsibility among the masses by making them conscious about law and
order, public morality and so forth
 Moreover programmes on health, nutrition, environment, agriculture, family planning, etc.
are being telecast on television
 Television is a fantastic educational tool.
 It broadens knowledge of different cultures, promotes tolerance and global understanding
of international issues.
 Through current affairs, discovery, lifestyle, cooking shows and children's programmes,
television encourages scientific and cultural curiosity.
 Hence, it plays an important role in empowering communities around the world, bringing
people together and fostering positive dialogue for change

ROLE OF TELEVISION IN MASS COMMUNICATION

 Audio-visual: The audio visual character of television makes it a magic medium which allows
us to watch the world from our drawing rooms.
 Domestic medium: Television is generally regarded as a domestic medium. It provides
entertainment and information right from our homes and has integral part of our everyday
lives. It can actually pattern our daily activities.
 Television is a live medium: This capacity of the medium makes it ideal for transmitting live
visuals of news and sports events.
 Television is a mass medium: Any one with a television receiver can access the information
shown on television. This makes it an ideal medium to transmit messages to a large
audience. In a country like ours, with a huge illiterate population, this characteristic of
television makes it an ideal instrument for transmitting social messages. Television also has
very wide output, range and reach. It is truly a mass medium
 Television is a transitory medium: Due to the large output and lack of permanence,
television programmes are not easy to be recorded by viewers. It may be practically
impossible to record every programme which appears on your television. Therefore,
television is generally identified as a transitory medium.
 Television is an expensive medium:It requires lots of money, machinery and experienced
people. Broadcast media in general and television in particular involves complex technology
and organization. You will need crores of rupees to start a television station.

NATURE OF TV BROADCASTING

 News: Programmes reporting on local, regional, national and international events. The
programme that may be shown may include weather reports, sportscasts, community news,
and other related features that revolve around news programmes
 Analysis and interpretation: Programmes that discuss various topics which requires
analyzing and interpreting a variety of events. For eg talk shows, review channels etc
 Documentaries: True stories that are made and discovered which is primarily used to
educate, inform and entertain.These shows provide a much more critical and in depth
analysis of a subject from different point of views
  Reporting and actualities: It focuses more on the coverage of conferences,opening and
closing of events and political debates

ESSENTIALS OF TV BROADCASTING

The elements of a simple broadcast television system are:

1. An image source. This is the electrical signal that represents a visual image, and may
be derived from a professional video camera in the case of live television, a video
tape recorder for playback of recorded images, or telecine with a flying spot
scanner for the transfer of motion pictures to video).

2. A sound source. This is an electrical signal from a microphone or from the audio
output of a video tape recorder.

3. A transmitter, which generates radio signals (radio waves) and encodes them with
picture and sound information.

4. A television antenna coupled to the output of the transmitter for broadcasting the
encoded signals.

5. A television antenna to receive the broadcast signals.

6. A receiver (also called a tuner), which decodes the picture and sound information
from the broadcast signals, and whose input is coupled to the antenna of
the television set.

7. A display device, which turns the electrical signals into visual images.

8. An audio amplifier and loudspeaker, which turns electrical signals into sound
waves (speech, music, and other sounds) to accompany the images.