Privatizing the airwaves: the impact of globalization on broadcasting in India

Abstract

Media globalization and the resultant expansion of mainly Western transnational media empires have transformed broadcasting in India. An exponential growth in the number of television channels from one state-controlled channel in 1991 to nearly 70 in 1998 (18 of which are national in reach and in Hindi or English, others are regional), within such a short span of time, has profoundly changed the electronic media landscape, as India adapts its broadcasting industries to the deregulated and privatized media environment of the late 1990s. India’s growing economy, a vast, rapidly expanding middle class (variously estimated to be between 200 and 250 million) with aspirations to a Western lifestyle, and a fast-growing advertising sector have made the Indian media market exceptionally attractive for US-dominated transnational broadcasters. With its huge numbers of potential consumers, India provides transnational media corporations with unrivalled opportunities — it is one of the fastest growing and potentially one of the biggest English language media software markets in the world. An established satellite network provides cheaper and quicker nationwide coverage of broadcasting in a continental-size country, while the diversity of cultures in India means that demand for a wide array of satellite channels, catering to different languages and tastes, is even stronger than in Europe or the USA. The impact of globalization on the Indian media should be considered in the context of the media’s evolution and the role of the press as a fourth estate in the world’s largest democracy, where the past 50 years of multi-party polity have ensured a diverse, vibrant and relatively free press. On the other hand, as in most countries of the South, electronic media in India were, until recently, for the most part, a propaganda tool for the government.