Untitled - socium.ge

Community mediation in multicultural India 405remained limited to the northern and western parts of India. In comparison,business logic dictates that programs are designed to reach the largest numberof Indians. Since then the policy preferences of the BJP-led coalition, whichcame to power in 1998, also indicate the significance of commercial objectives.In 2001, it further deregulated the communication space by permittingforeign investment in the press sector. Interestingly, external players have yetto contradict the BJP’s cultural preferences.COMMUNITY CHANNELS: REORGANIZING INDIANTELEVISIONFollowing liberalization, the challenge to the state’s television monopoly wasexpected to come from well-resourced external players. Instead, the moresignificant challenge to the national commercial policy has come fromcommunity channels allied to regional political groups. The diverse languagecommunities provided an existing set of audiences with historically determinedconsumption patterns. These community channels were able to successfullytarget language communities establishing a lead for others to follow.Table 18.1 delineates the expansion of the media across selected languagecommunities since 1991.Table 18.1 Community language channels, 1990–2002Domestic ownershipTargetedwith foreign investorslanguage Foreign-owned Domestically (including expatriategroup channels owned channels investors)Hindi Sony, MTV Doordarshan 1 and 2 Zee TV (1993–2000)(1995) (1959, 1982)Star Plus (1998)Punjabi Star/Tara Punjabi Doordarshan 18 (1997) Lashkara (1999)(2001) Alpha Punjabi (2000)Telugu – Doordarshan 8 (1995) –Eenadu (1995)Gemini (1995)Malayalam – Doordarshan 4 (1993) Asianet (1993)Bengali ATN Bangla Doordarshan 7 (1994) Alpha Bangla (2000)(1997) ETV Bangla (2000)Tara Bengali(2001)Gujarati Tara Gujarati Doordarshan 11 (1994) Gujari (2000)(2001) Alpha Gujarati (2000)