Indian television in the era of globalization

India and the world
Juliette Delain
May 2013

Indian television in the era of globalization

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OUTLINE

I. On the path to globalization: Indian television as the reflection of a changing

society
A. From television monopoly to the explosion of the satellite television industry
1. The Indian government on display (1959-1991)
2. The renewal of Indian television (1991-present)
B. Indian television in the face of globalization : an audience between tradition and modernity 1. A rejection of the new television practices in the name of national identity and morality 2. The rise of the urban middle-class: a more and more westernized programming offer

II. The specificities of Indian television in a globalized context
A. Indian television at the time of transnationality
1. Large media companies versus local television
2. Crossing India’s borders: diaspora television
B. Indian television and the process of “glocalization”
1. The “indianization” of television
2. The “hybridization” of television

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INTRODUCTION

Since its birth in 1959, it seems that Indian television has developed in a way that is similar to most of the world’s broadcasting sectors. Conquered by technological progress, particularly by the major advance that the introduction of satellite transmissions represents, the Indian television sector broke with its old practices to enter the era of globalization to which the opening to foreign players, the competition regime and the respect of commercial requirements are essential components. The successive evolutions that Indian television underwent seem to confirm Marshall McLuhan’s theory of a “global village”, which describes how the world has been contracted into a homogenized space by the media revolution.

However, this simplistic vision denies the specificities of India as a culture and as a country, which became the specificities of Indian television. With 22 official languages, an enormous and heterogeneous

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