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Community mediation in multicultural India 409utilizing pre-existing telegraph poles owned by the government. Sashi Kumarlaunched Asianet with initial funding from a Moscow-based Indian, RajiMenon. A Russian satellite provided the initial transponder. By 1995, Asianetclaimed viewership of 14 percent of the state’s TV audiences, which translatedinto all of Kerala’s cable and satellite homes. Currently, cable and satelliteconnections are found in 24 percent of the state’s households. Asianet continuesto dominate this space (Page and Crawley, 2001: 103). Such rapid developmentsin the south prevented external players from venturing into the regiondominated by media embedded in their community’s political system.These developments caused national Doordarshan to establish regionaltelevision centers for producing specific language programs. Initially,Doordarshan’s origin as part of the national administration and its dependencyupon central government for finance kept it aloof from regional institutionsand insensitive to preferences among diverse communities. However, itscommercialization compelled it to consider audience preferences at regionallevels. In Kerala, Asianet was launched in 1993; Doordarshan Malayalamfollowed in the same year. In Andhra Pradesh, two private Telugu channels,ETV (Eenadu) and Gemini TV were launched in 1995. Doordarshan Teluguexpanded its Telugu programming to four hours on a daily basis.Doordarshan’s regional channels currently form the secondary layer of competition(see table 18.2 for Doordarshan’s audience share).LANGUAGE PROMOTION AND MEDIA INSTITUTIONS:EXPLAINING THE VARIATIONSTelevision in Punjab provides a contrasting example to the southern channelsthat emerged immediately to take advantage of the resources available at theglobal level. Punjabi channels did not appear until 1998. As a result of thisslower development, the Punjabi community presented a different marketstructure for external players seeking regional audiences. By 2000, severalexternal players, including several transnational companies, were operating inPunjab. Although Punjab consists of only 2 percent of India’s population,Punjabi audiences also include Punjabi communities in other parts of NorthIndia, such as Haryana and Delhi. In addition, a large number of Punjabispeakers in neighboring Pakistan augment the Punjabi audience market.Punjabi speakers in Pakistan consist of 48 percent of the nation’s population. 8The slow progress of private Punjabi language television is not necessarilya reflection of Punjabi audiences’ lack of preference for Punjabi programming.For instance, Doordarshan’s Punjabi channel, started in 1998, claimed theattention of 73 percent of Punjabi audiences in 1999. Nor is it a reflection ofthe state’s economy, which ranks as the wealthiest in the country. 9 The cable