Origin of TV

Television broadcasting was first introduced in 1936 when it was available in London. It was not until 1954 when the FCC(Federal communication commission) authorized the NTSC(National Television System Committee) standard for color television broadcast in the United States.

Scope for channels

Most television sets were capable of providing at least up to four basic channels. However, these channels were only received clearly in larger cities. It was very difficult for television signals to pass through the mountains and rural areas. In order to resolve the problem what is known as cable television was introduced in 1948.

Purpose and expansion of cable TV

The purpose of cable television was to be able to bring existing broadcast signals to rural areas with community antennas placed at high elevations, usually on mountains or on top of tall poles. Since the invention of cable television, it has grown rapidly. By 1960, there were nearly 700 cable systems. In 1971, 2,750 systems were serving almost 6 million homes. In the year 1999, the number went upto more than 65 million.

TV brings changes in culture

The main change in television has become the command center of our culture. Because television is quite different from other media such as film, theater, or music, it must be examined carefully and more in depth. People go to movies to watch movies, they go to the theaters to watch plays, and they buy music to listen to it, etc. However, we go to television for almost everything. Politics, literature, music, religion, news, commerce, you name it and television has it. Therefore, this makes us known as television people, because for anything to be legitimate, it has to come through television.

TV continues to advance
It is clearly easy to figure out that television has and will continue to advance. Now that a few various technological advances and developments have been described, they must be tied into what is most important, and that is how viewer perception and societal influence has been changed from television changing over the past 25-50 years.

Now coming to news broadcasting

The question we ask here is has television changed in a sense that news broadcasts are strictly to make money? When we look back quite a few years ago, most news departments were not expected to make money. It was not expected to make money if anything it was expected to lose money, but to them that was never a problem or an issue. However, that today has changed. News is one of the biggest money making divisions in any television network.

History of news broadcasting

The 1940s-1950s were quite eventful for the still relatively new invention called television. In 1943, RCA demonstrated a new TV Camera that gave the public its first glimpse of an image that was far above the images that had been possible in early television. The format of early TV news had been borrowed from radio and was usually read from a visible script, by an announcer in a small announce booth. A single camera was aimed through the window of the booth. In 1949, the format had not changed much.

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In 1949, the format had not changed much. Newsreel companies usually supplied the shots of news events. But viewers were still mesmerized and by 1955 half of all homes in the United States had purchased a television set.

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Colour broadcasting finally arrived in the United States in 1953 when the FCC approved a modified version of one that RCA(Radio Corporation of America) had created. The first colour commercial was televised, and in 1954, television became the leading source for national advertising.

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There were many technical advances during these two decades of television. During the years previous to 1940, the technology was very primitive. A single camera that forced actors to work in almost impossible conditions captured all of the action that was televised. The cameras did not work well with the color white. The lights had to be extremely hot and the actors were required to wear black lipstick and green make-up. During the years from 1939-1945 because of World War II, progress on the development of television technology stopped. All efforts in technology were focused on winning the war.

Way back in 19th Century

The first step toward executing a method for communicating to the masses occurred in 1854. At that time, Samuel Morse patented the telegraph. To use the telegraph, Morse created an intricate alphanumeric code for delivering information. However, it wasn't until 1898, via facilities provided by Marconi's newly founded wireless company, the Dublin Daily Express, that they were able to receive minute by minute coverage of the Kingstown Regatta(boat race). Additionally, they provided wireless coverage of America's Cup races.(horse races/boat race)

About Radio reporting

Nevertheless, like many communications methods, radio was almost exclusively used by the military. It wasn't until the 1920's that radio reporters appeared. The first event that received mass radio coverage was the "Scopes Monkey Trial" in 1925.

During second world war

In the 1930s, networks organized news organizations. Two major broadcasts occurred in that decade. In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt broadcast to the nation. In 1938, "World News Roundup" airs on CBS for the first time. As World War II commenced, broadcast became an essential method of transmitting information about what was happening overseas. Edward R. Murrow, a pioneer of the television age, made his initial mark as a journalist during this war. He reported many of the major developments, particularly events that occurred after Pear Harbor. Americans were hungry for information about the countries troops.

Television overtakes radio

Eventually, television began overtaking radio as the primary information resource. In 1947, opening session of Congress was televised for the first time. In 1950, Murrow with Fred W. Friendly, starts, "Hear It Now" as a radio series, which becomes the first prestigious television news show in 1951. A year later, in 1952, "Today", becomes the first nationwide telecast of national conventions starts on NBC-TV. This show continues to be a staple of morning television and the model for other morning shows.

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In the 1960s, television united millions of households as a number of historical events took place. In 1963, television was there when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president.They watched as Kennedy was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. In happier times, 94% of homes with televisions witnessed the moon landing in 1969.

A major breakthrough
The next major development in broadcast journalism occurred in 1980, when Ted Turner launched CNN, Cable News Network. CNN became the pioneer in 24-hour news coverage. In the 21st century, broadcast ventured into new realms, producing broadcasts via satellite radio like Sirius.

After that
Several stories helped Americans view the network as a serious and reliable news source. These included, "the 1986 Challenger tragedy, and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989," Rodman explains. Tragedy and war proved to be CNN's most popular news coverage. The Gulf War (1991), OJ Simpson trial (1995) and the continuous coverage of September 11 (2001) ensured its place among the older, established networks.

Now.TV channels in India

TAM Annual Universe Update - 2010, India -134 million households (out of 223 million) with television sets of which over 103 million have access to Cable TV or Satellite TV, including 20 million households are DTH subscribers.

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In Urban India, 85% of all households have a TV and over 70% of all households have access to Cable or DTH services.

How did it all start

The cable TV industry exploded in the early 1990s when the broadcast industry was liberalized, and saw the entry of many foreign players like Rupert Murdoch's Star TV Network in 1991, MTV, and others.

 5 new channels belonging to Hongkong based STAR TV came up-Star plus, MTV, BBC, Prime sports, Star Chinese

 Zee TV was first pvt owned Indian channel 1992/October Subhash Chandra

 After a few years, CNN, National Geographic and Discovery entered India STAR expanded its bouquet with STAR sports, STAR world, STAR gold etc Regional channels flourished at the same time

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In 2001, HBO and History also entered India By 2001-03 other international pvt channels like Nickelodeon, VH1, Cartoon Network entered 2003-News channels started booming..with the live coverage of 9/11 terror attack, broadcast media started acquiring a whole new dimension

Channels
Now there are over 400 channels in India..of which some are fta and some are paid channels Precisely, there are 422 TV channels of which there are 76 FTA channels So there are in all 346 paid channels

Booming news channels

The biggest headache for launching a satellite channel is programme software for round the clock. In this juncture, newsgathering was a major task for the 24-hour news channels. To cater this task, the emerging electronic channels started making an attempt to cover all the incidents irrespective of position, location and time. Thus, these channels not only revolutionized the concept of news on Indian television but also changed the news formats.

Doordarshan-first channel for news

Before 1990s, Doordarshan had monopolized newscast on Indian television and also turned the news programs into a dowdy exercise. Now the private channels made the news an essential commodity like food, cloth and shelter. The strong point of all todays news bulletins is their topicality, objectivity, glossy editing and high-quality visuals. News has traveled a long way from the DD era. From Local events to International events, breaking news to news analysis, television soap to page3 news, every happening comes under purview of news.

Gulf war
Post-1990 satellite television in India has become transnational in nature. It coincided with the entry of multinational companies in the Indian markets under the Government policy of privatization. International satellite television was introduced in India by CNN through its coverage of the Gulf War in 1991. In August 1991, Richard Li launched Star Plus, the first satellite channel beamed the signal to Indian subcontinent.

 Doordarshans earlier mandate to aid in the process of social and economic development had clearly been diluted. Doordarshan had faced a stiff competition in news and public affairs programming with international channels like BBC and CNN. Doordarshan planned to sell some slots for news programme under sponsored category. In February 1995, NDTV becomes the countrys first private producer of the national news News Tonight, which aired on the countrys government-owned Doordarshan set a new landmark for Indian television because of its on-the-spot reporting with pertinent visuals. In the same year, TV Today Network occupied a 20 minutes slot in DD Metro channel and aired a Hindi and current affairs programme Aaj Tak. This programme became popular for its comprehensive coverage and unique style presentation by Late S. P. Singh. Still we remembered the sign-up message Ye Thi Khabar Aaj Tak, Intizar. Kijiye Kal Tak..

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Large number of viewers across India had been watching Aaj Tak as a daily habit because of its innovative style of news presentation. Besides that Nalini Singhs five-minute fast paced, condensed daily news capsule Ankhon Dekhi, TV Today Networks Business Aaj Tak and Newstrack was aired on the Metro channel of Doordarshan. This is the period when satellite channels concentrated on entertainment programmes for their respective channels. Doordarshan was still ruled the most wanted area news

Kargil War
For televised news, the viewers had to watch Dordarshan and some international news channels like BBC or CNN. In this race to provide more news, more information, Zee Television jumped into the battlefield by launching the news channel Zee News in 1995. This News and current affairs channel revolutionized the way news was delivered to the viewers. Since its inception Zee News has endeavoured to be the fastest to provide news, working towards a single goal of Sabse Pahle (Always First). The other round-the-clock news channel, the Murdoch-owned Star TV beamed its exclusively 24-hour news channels, Star News in 1998. Star made a contract of five year with Prannoy Roy-owned NDTV (New Delhi Television Company) to provide news content for this news channel. The untiring exhaustive coverage of the Kargil war between India and Pakistan gained more publicity and attracted more viewers towards the electronic channel. This televised conflict also sets a news benchmark for wartime journalism. During the Kargil war, common citizens witnessed how their brave Jawans fought despite in hostile conditions and watched the war front live by the exclusively news channels, Star-TV and Zee-News. The live coverage of the battlefield helped to create a euphoria of patriotism among the Indian masses, which later facilitated into collecting huge funds for the welfare of the families of Kargil martyrs. Every news programme draws the attention of large number of viewers but Kargil war attracts private broadcasters to invest more money in the broadcasting business by launching a news channel.

 After the huge success of news programme Aaj Tak, TV Today group launched a 24-hour Hindi news channel with the same name Aaj Tak, in December 2000, which covers India with insight, courage and plenty of local flavour. Within 11 months of its launch, Aaj Tak emerged as Indias number one news channel and was awarded Best News Channel award from Indian Television Academy Awards. Some mega events apart from regular interesting items (such as Kandhahar hijack, September 11 attacks, Afghanistan war, attack on Parliament, Iraq war, Godhra carnage and riots) have driven up the viewership. As time passed, NDTVs five years contract with Star group for outsourcing of news and related programming expired on March 2003. With the expiry NDTV forayed into broadcasting business by simultaneously launching two 24-hour news channels; NDTV 24X7 English news channel and NDTV India Hindi news channel, which targets the Indian diaspora across the world. News crazy Indians received more news at faster speed from different channels. Any unusual happening can be caught by the television camera anywhere form Rastrapati Bhawan to bedroom. The power of TV journalism was become more visible by the major sting operations.

Conlusion
Now the television industry becomes more specific. In this competitive market, channels are targeting specific viewers. News channels attract more viewers beyond their target by producing interactive and interesting programmes. Every channel needs to do an extensive research on different concepts and different themes to attract more viewers and in the same time more advertisers. After all, advertisements are the bread and butter for the channels. With increased consumer preference for news programmes, television news channels have grown faster than other niche channels. News channels are booming just like sky as the limit. Those days are not far away, when we will get satellite news channel for every major city in India. Staying in abroad, we can update ourselves about all the happening of our hometown. Now news is not restricted to political happenings. It will be extended its limit to every unwanted and hided corners of the society. At last we can reach in the conclusion that anything, which is strange or disgusting, is news. There are no rigid rules, which defines news.