Television in India: The starting point for digital switchover

Abstract

Starting from two channels of public broadcaster Doordarshan in the 1970s, today there are more than 500 television channels in India, making it one of the most vibrant in the digital communication sector. Digitization, however, is only just beginning. In 2005, plans were developed for digitizing the largely analogue cable TV service in India and a timetable set for completing the process by December 2013. Meanwhile, the analogue terrestrial TV spectrum continues to be used only by the two public broadcaster channels, while all the private television channels operate via satellite. The public broadcaster aims to digitize production of content, carriage and distribution by 2015. The resultant empty spectrum has been a greatly contested space between the broadcasting and mobile telephony sector. The broadcasting sector has plans to use the spectrum for digital terrestrial television, whereas the mobile telephony sector has plans to use the same sector for 4G and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA). This commentary outlines the background to the present position and the challenges ahead for the TV sector to become completely digitized from end to end.