The uplink-downlink puzzle

The new policy for satellite television channels is a move in the right direction. But for a sector facing existential questions, it doesn't mean much

In 1984, a US-based non-governmental organisation approached the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) in India. The idea? A family-planning message couched as entertainment in a TV show. In Catholic Mexico, where direct family planning messages could not be used, a similar experiment had helped push down birth rates. Since population growth was a huge concern in India, the idea found favour. That is how India’s first soap opera, Hum Log, began airing. In entertainment starved India (then) Hum Log was a huge hit. More than 80 per cent of the country’s 3.6 million television sets tuned in to it