Television started as a modest affair in India on September 15. 1969 when the AIR set up an experimental television service in Delhi. It was soon converted into a full-fledged telecasting station. Bombay was the second city in India to open a TV centre on October 2, 1972.

A television centre was commissioned at Srinagar (Kashmir) on January 26, 1973 and another was opened at Amritsar (Punjab) on September 29, 1973. A relay centre was set up in Poona (Maharashtra) on October 2, 1973. In August 1975 Calcutta (West Bengal) and Madras (Tamil Nadu) opened TV centres.

The Television set-up was declined from All India Radio and, under the name “Doordarshan”, given the status of a full-fledged Directorate with effect from April 1, 1976. Separation of television from AIR was intended to facilitate fuller development of this medium and the specialised skills peculiar to it. Doordarshan has at present seven Kendras located at (1) Delhi, (2) Bombay (with a relay centre at Pune), (3) Madras, (4) Calcutta, (5) Srinagar, (6) Amritsar and (7) Lucknow, besides 3 Base Production Centers at Delhi, Cuttack and Hyderabad.

The main objective of Doordarshan is development and educa­tion, besides providing rich entertainment through varied programmes like music, feature films, etc. Intended to benefit both urban and rural viewers, Doordarshan tries to project to the people develop­ment plans and their implementation. Doordarshan lends powerful support to the major multimedia campaigns initiated by the Central Government from time to time.

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The most momentous development in television in India is the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) which was inaugurated on August 1, 1975. The exp?riment was jointly conducted by the Department of Space and the Ministry of Informa­tion and Broadcasting, through their agencies, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the AU India Radio (AIR) respectively. ISRO’s Space Applications Centre (SAC) in Ahmedabad is fully responsible for design and fabrication of the ground hardware and for conduct of the Experiment.

SITE is the result of an agreement between India and the US concluded in 1969. Under this agreement ATS-6 satellite was made available to India for a period of one year. This satellite was launched from the US in May 1974, and it had been transmitting experimental TV programmes to parts of the US and conducting a few other experiments.

The prime earth station for the Experiment is ISRO’s Experi­mental Satellite Communications Earth Station (ESCES) at Ahmedabad set up in 1967 with the assistance of the United Nations Development Project (UNDP).

Following the successful completion of the one-year Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) on July 31, 1976 it was decided to continue terrestrial television programmes for at least 40 per cent of the SITE villages. Terrestrial transmitters are being set up at six locations: (1) Jaipur, (2) Raipur, (3) Muzaffarpur, (4) Sambalpur, (5) Hyderabad, and (6) Gulbarga. This service will cover 954 out of 2400 existing SITE villages as well as 8950 additional villages. The transmitters were to become operational in 1977. The first transmitter at Jaipur became operational from March 1, 1977.

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Initially these transmitters would put programmes, ranging from 1-1, 2 hours to 2-1/2 hours every day with a morning service for primary schools and an evening service for adults. The pro­gramme patterns based on agriculture, health and hygiene, family welfare, child care, adult education and such other subjects would be t he same as for SITE.

The purpose of these programmes is to educate the common man in recent innovations and the use of science in day-to-day life, remind him of his civic responsibilities and acquaint him with the traditional and performing arts from different regions of the country. The frequency of both the Science and Civics series is weekly, the duration being 15 minutes and 5 minutes respectively. The Arts series programme is fortnightly, the duration being 15 minutes.

In the past, all Doordarshan Kendras had their own separate Selection Committees for selection of feature films to be telecast. This practice was discontinued and a Central Selection Committee was formed at Bombay to decide selection of Hindi films on a cycle of telecast from all Doordarshan Kendras. Regional films, however, continued to be selected by the respective Doordarshan Kendras.

Commercials on television were introduced, on an experimental basis, on January 1, 1976 with sponsored programmes only. It was found that advertisers both in public and private sectors appeared to prefer advertising with spots to sponsoring programmes. The posi­tion was subsequently reviewed and it was decided to introduce the system of ‘spot’ advertising in addition to the sponsored pro­grammes.

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The rates fixed for commercial spots are in accordance with a graded system of timings, namely, non-peak period, peak-viewing period and supper time. Owing to the limited resources of the ‘ Doordarshan Kendras, the introduction of advertisements or filmed spots has been taken up in a phased manner. Advertisements on 35 mm films were accepted only at the Delhi and Bombay Kendras. Efforts were, however, made to augment the equipment of other Kendras as well, so as to enable them to put out filmed “spots” on a regular basis.