Channel war: The fuss over English news

Hindi and Telugu are the dominant languages of television news in India. News is one of the most-watched genres of programming on TV, on a par with kids television and much higher than sports. And not a single English news channel made it to the top-10 news channels in India, in the last three years.

Those among other things is what the television audience measurement data for 2013, sourced from news broadcasters and analysed by Business Standard shows. (Click for tables)

As we race towards the end of, arguably, one of the most scrutinised-by-media elections, these numbers are a telling commentary on the state of the media in India. The over one per cent share that Telugu news channels get nationally looks good. However, Andhra Pradesh, where most Telugu channels originate from, is one of the most chaotic and fragmented news market. At last count there over 20 channels undercutting each other. It is an accurate reflection also of the pathetic state of news broadcasting in India. At 135, India has a world-beating number of news channels in a Rs 1,800 crore stagnant market. Only four news broadcasters of the dozens operating in India, make money. Many of the others are funded by politicians, real-estate barons or people who are in it to use the channel as a lever for their main businesses.

The good part of the report is the slivers that languages other than Hindi and English show, especially Assamese, Gujarati, and Oriya. It indicates that diversity is creeping in, albeit at a very basic level.