History of TV in India

Background post- independence

Broadcasting was expected to contribute to
national integration and development in the
country
The government was reluctant to invest in
television - it was felt that a poor country
like India could not afford the medium.
Post independence, for more than a decade
only radio news
Government apprehensive that television
was a costly medium for a poor country

Early Days (1959-75)

Television was introduced in 1959.

It had to prove its role in the development process.
First TV Broadcast in Sep 1959 as part of All India Radio's
services.
Programs - broadcast twice a week for ONE hour/DAY
Programs related to the development and social issues
awareness on health and citizen rights related issues.
In 1961 the broadcasts were expanded to include a
school educational television projects.
Slowly followed by entertainment - Indian films and
bollywood songs
Few old U.S. and British shows were also telecast
sporadically

First Breakthrough - SITE

SITE - Satellite Instructional Television

Experiment
Year long August 01 1975 to 31st July 1976
Marked the beginning of a series of
innovative, constructive educational
television programmes for national
development
It was designed to test whether satellite
based television services could play a role in
socio-economic development.

What was the

experiment ?
It was a system test of satellite broadcast
technology in India
ATS-6 was the satellite for this experiment
provided by NASA( National Aeronautics and
Space Administration) USA
the ground segment prepared by the Indian
Space Research Organization (ISRO)
working in collaboration with first All India
Radio and later Doordarshan

Doordarshan
1976, the government constituted
Doordarshan, the national television
network
1976 witnessed a the advent of advertising
on Doordarshan and in the history of TV in
India
Commercialization of Doordarshan saw the
development of soap operas, situation
comedies, dramas, musical programs, quiz
shows.

Phool Khile Hain Gulshan

Gulshan

Successful Satellite
Experiment

The educational and developmental

programmes were beamed up to the
satellite from earth stations set up in
Ahmedabad and Delhi and were broadcast
towards India using the high power
transmitter and the large antenna aboard
ATS-6. These programmes were received in
about 2400 villages in six different states of
India.