1st Edition
Regional Language Television in India Profiles and Perspectives
This book examines the evolution and journey of regional language television channels in India. The first of its kind, it looks at the coverage, uniqueness, ownership, and audiences of regional channels in 14 different languages across India, covering Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Urdu, Assamese, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Odia, Punjabi, and Malayalam. It brings together researchers, scholars, media professionals, and communication teachers to document and reflect on language as the site of culture, politics, market, and social representation.
The volume discusses multiple media histories and their interlinkages from a subcontinental perspective by exploring the trajectories of regional language television through geographical boundaries, state, language, identities, and culture. It offers comparative analyses across regional language television channels and presents interpretive insights on television culture and commerce, contemporary challenges, mass media technology, and future relevance.
Rich in empirical data, this book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of media studies, television studies, communication studies, sociology, political studies, language studies, regional studies, and South Asian studies. It will also be useful to professionals and industry bodies in television media and is broadcasting, journalists, and television channels.
Foreword by Farrukh Dhondy
Introduction – Regional Language Television Channels: An Indian Story
Mira K. Desai
Part I. Scheduled Languages
1. Regional Hindi Channels: Origin, Development, and Challenges
Aman Vats
2. Ownership and Content of Bengali Television Channels: An Analysis
Mou Mukherjee Das
3. Marathi Television: Beginning and Development
Ujjwala Barve
4. The Politics of Telugu Television
G. Nagamallika
5. Tamil Television: Rethinking Form and Content
Gopalan Ravindran
6. Urdu Television: Connecting Communities and Audiences
Mohammad Fariyad
Part II. Other Languages
7. Mediating Identity in the Time of Infotainment: 24x7 Television in Assam
Kazimuddin Ahmed
8. A Rising Star in the Regional Segment: Bhojpuri Television
Padma Rani and Kashif Hasan
9. The Tale of Gujarati Television: Analysis of Market Forces Shaping Content
Punita Arun Harne
10. Growth and Development of Kannada Television
N. Usha Rani
11. Broken Language, Fractured Identities: Role and Relevance of Kashmiri Language Broadcasts
Maithili Ganjoo
12. Tracing History, Status, and Trends in Odia Television
Mrinal Chatterjee
13. Punjabi Television in the Global World: Capturing the Native and the Diaspora
Kulveen Trehan
14. TV in Kerala: Vision, Visibility, Viability
A. Chandrasekhar
Part III. Perspectives
15. Doordarshan Kolkata: A Cultural History
Sagarika Golder
16. Indian Regional Television and Language Acquisition Amongst Children
Meenakshi Upadhyay
17. The Business of Bengali Film and Television Industry: An Overview
Debanjan Banerjee
18. Regional Contours: The Many Modernities of Indian Language Television
Sunitha Chitrapu
The Market Idea in a Multilingual TV Milieu: A Postscript
Vibodh Parthasarathi
Biography
Mira K. Desai teaches at the University Department of Extension and Communication, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, India. Her area of work is in print and television production (as reporter, researcher, scriptwriter, and anchor), newsletter editing, and documentary filmmaking, and is a media educator for over three decades.