Ravana's airforce: A report on the state of Indian television

Abstract

With over 800 television channels, India is not only the world's third largest television market but also its most varied. Indian television for the past decade has been defined by an upward trend of continuous growth-in viewership numbers, revenues and advertising-and equally with a severe crisis of content across genres. Overall, Indian television is beset by three fundamental challenges: a failure to evolve a comprehensive system of regulation, the increasing political control of regional television channels and distribution networks and a structural problem with its business model and delivery platforms, which is reflected in problems over quality of content. © 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.