< Previous | Contents | Next >
Radio, Television, and Cinema
Radio, television and cinema (films) are the electronic media of mass communication, unlike postal, telegraphic, telephone, and telex services which arc essentially of personal nature. Unlike telephone, radio is a means of wireless communication. It is a very powerful medium to transmit and receive useful information, news and variety of entertainment programmes including sports.
At the time of Independence, there were six radio (Akashwani) stations. At preset All India Radio is accessible to almost 98.5 per cent of the total population of the country.
Doordarshan is the national television service of India. It started in 1959. It is one of the largest and essential networks in the world with over 900 transmitters. Its programmes are watched by over 500 million viewers in their homes. Its commercial advertisements brought in a huge revenue of over Rs.10,000 million in 2005-06. Now under the open skies policies a large number of private parties registered in India. It manages radio and television channels and have been assigned to private parties registered in India. It manages radio and television services under the supervision of parliamentary Committee.
Cinema is the most popular means of entertainment in India. It is the largest producer of feature films in the world. Hindi fdms by far is the most dominant section. Almost all the regional languages bring out their own fdms almost continuously. Personal computers and Internet services have brought about a new revolution in the age of explosion of information technology.