TV broadcast in India depends on cable or DTH. TV is viewed by 878 million Indians, and has advertising and pay revenues of Rs.72000 crores a year. There is marginal decline in TV’s position last year (2021).

Digital videos are picking up. At present the tech-media firms Disney+Hotstar and Sony LIV are both owned by the television companies. There is the rise of internet as the latest distribution technology. We witness connected TVs or internet-enabled smart TVs. Both the top end and bottom end of the market drive growth — the migration of viewers at the top end to ‘pay OTT’ or subscription-based streaming platforms and at the bottom end to free-to-air TV and free OTT. It means decline of TV on older distribution formats ( cable and DTH) and its concurrent resurrection online.

The biggest loser is cable TV. The future of TV depends of free eco-system and the rise of pay OTTs.

The GEC channels, both Hindi and regional, have good viewership. There is reasonable viewership for kids channels and news channels.

TV, no doubt, is undergoing transformation. The upper-end audience is shifting to OTTs and lower-end to free-to-air TV and free OTTs. The people in the middle remain committed to TV. It has 878 million viewers and by far remains the largest video medium in India.

In pay TV, cable is on the decline, and IPTV or internet protocol TV is on the rise. It is video delivered on a closed proprietary network — either LAN or WAN. OTT on the other hand, is delivered on the open internet.