National cost of television in India in the year 2000. Socio-economic and political implications and issues.

Abstract

The recent expansion of television coverage in India opens new possibilities for this medium to be used as a development communication vehicle. However, although 63% of the country's population is within the reach of television transmissions, only 12% of these people can watch television at the present time due to a lack of availability of television sets. The annualized cost of owning and viewing a color set is about Rs 1488. Most sets are thus concentrated within the upper income brackets in urban and metropolitan areas. Projections of increases in the number of new television sets purchased in the years ahead indicate that, by the year 2000, only 39% of the total population covered by national transmitters will actually have access to television. By 2000, the annualized private cost of owning and viewing television will increase to Rs 20,991, despite the fact that the public cost of production and transmission will show rapid decreases in the years ahead. A multipronged policy approach is demanded to correct the skewed access to television in India. The government is urged to use the existing market structure to bridge the gap between rural and urban access to television and to make sets available to rural communities and schools at public cost.