Emerging trends of regional news channels in India a comparative study of kerala and Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

The critical transformation of Indian TV news channels occurred in the early nineties when commercial media used satellite, which was earlier the monopoly of the government. According to some media analysts, it was due to the advancement in technology, that establishing a TV channel became cheaper, thus easily possible in the country. With approximately a budget that was between rupees twenty to thirty crore, it became possible to establish a news channel. This was complimented by the steady growth in human resources, as many media schools and institutions bloomed to provide degrees in journalism and mass communication. This coupled with the extended multicultural, geographically huge space and becoming the world s second highest population, allowed news to thrive; for newly emerging news channels in general and regional news channels in particular in terms of news collection and news quantity in affordable even in much cheaper cost. Contrary to this version many insiders (Vivakar, 2013; Atul, 2013) says, through the initial investment needed for the establishment of the news channels the running cost is higher, as a large number of human resource is needed along with the ever-changing technology for which many times only launching a news channel may not give you the expected revenue for even survival. This has sometimes led to the closure and dysfunction of many news channels in past. The revenue earned from selling airtime to broadcast advertisements is much higher than from subscriptions, one may ask. According to Some media insiders even if many news channels are occurring loss, the management or owner does not close the channels because in those instances the news channels despite being not profitable, function as a mouthpiece to the voice of the owner and ideology. But can a loss-making venture survive so long? Can an owner or a proprietor go on huge lose making to express his/her viewpoints? The present study will try to answer these questions and the confusion raised in the context of regional news channe