Media - TV, Radio, Newspapers and Magazines

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By Rajkamal Rao 
 
Go back to Comparing Life US v. India

In the US, no matter what your hobby or political persuasion is, you can find a media outlet to fulfill your need.  The breadth and depth of media offerings is overwhelming and includes Cable/Satellite/Fiber Optic TV; network TV; radio; video on-demand (Netflix, Hulu); audio on demand (iTunes); newspapers; magazines; blogs and social media.  And the delivery methods are diverse - print, TV, PCs, e-book readers, tablets and even smart phones - allowing US residents to access their favorite outlet on demand and at will.

The Indian scene is not all bad.  Indian media is largely commercially owned and operated, although a few state-run entities (All India Radio, Doordarshan) continue to exist. Cable companies offer 200+ channels of entertainment for unbelievably low prices - about INR 175 a month - in most major cities.  The fare includes some western channels such as ESPN, CNN, BBC and HBO - although the programming is tailored to Asian consumption.  News channels follow the model of the US Headline News channel showing with some news or other breaking most times of the day.  Split screens with multi-line banners screaming something provocative struggle to catch the viewers’ attention.  Commentary and opinion programs exist as well.  Business programming is mature with the up to the minute updates about financial markets.

If you subscribe to digital satellite services such as Tata Sky, you can get these same 200+ channels with about 10 channels in High Definition.  You could also get a DVR to time-shift programs and with the same features as a US TIVO.  A Tata Sky subscription costs about INR 600 a month if paid in full for the entire year - a steal, at about $12 a month - with a one-time setup cost of INR 6,000.  Tata Sky also offers video on demand programming through its Showcase feature where subscribers can watch movies for INR 75 each.  Options are limited to just a few titles. 

For licensing reasons, most US streaming services including Netflix, Amazon Prime Videos, Crackle, Hulu and Smithsonian are not available in India.  This blackout extends to sports programming on the major networks, ESPN and even Google Play (the venerable source of online books).  For diehard fans of US TV and other online entertainment, technology provides a work around.  Returning families can consider piggy-backing on the current TV infrastructure of a relative or friend still in the US to stream US programs to laptops in India.  This requires a purchase of a video place-shifting product such as Sony’s LocationFree; or Sling Media’s Slingshot which retails for under $300 online.  These, when connected to your relative’s DVR/tuner in the US use a home WiFi signal to transmit programs via the Internet to your home PC in India.  The nice thing is that the two families can independently watch programs, although given the time difference, there is likely to be little conflict.   And this method is 100% legal. 

The Indian Radio industry has matured significantly in the last two decades.  Indians may fondly remember the Vividh Bharathi from All India Radio as the only station broadcasting music. Now, most Indian cities have 10+ FM channels dedicated to various genres including Hindi, regional language, classical and English language programming.  The distribution of radio programs has changed too with even the most basic cell phone model being able to play FM music if a headset is plugged in.  Car stereos are relatively inexpensive to buy - about INR 5,000 for models which include a USB drive into which fits your iPod or MP3 stick just in case you tire of the fare of radio programming.

The Indian magazine and newspaper industry is 100% commercial.  Freedom of the press is vibrant and compares to that of any developed nation.  Magazines such as India Today and the Week cover stories in the same vein as Time or Newsweek.  Thought-provoking opinion journalism is generally absent from daily newspapers and sensing this void, a media company in 2005, launched a newspaper called DNA (for Daily News and Analysis) to good reviews.  The delivery mechanism is primarily print.  While most of the majors have websites, these are poorly designed with loud graphics, photos and too many display ads.  Anyone who expects the quality of the The New York Times or the Washington Post will be disappointed.

The returning Indian family will find that the quality of English language daily newspapers is generally substandard when compared to those in the west.  Most stories are short and provide the reader with little context.  The quality of English is poor especially in stories from beat reporters.  It appears sometimes as though editorial oversight is completely amiss. 

All the major newspapers have felt the need to include splashy daily supplements, the content of which is racy and mostly cheap.  Discussions of sex, intimacy and bar scenes are common.  Provocative photos almost in the same league as British tabloids are a staple.  For example, the DNA edition of Sunday, Oct 7, 2012, had so many pieces that bordered on X-rated content that we refuse to even identify their titles.  This kind of content degeneration is sure to shock the returnee Indian family which may want to raise children in a more traditional cultural setting. 

The best solution may be to not subscribe to the daily newspaper at all and advise children to not read these newspapers outside the home.  The workaround is to subscribe to newsfeeds about your city/area from a news aggregator (such as Google News) and read content online.  And buy weekly magazines to supplement the lack of detail from daily online content.

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