[icernet] Indian news channels make a splash

[Arul Selvan]

  It is not as if news channels are an entirely new phenomenon on the 
Indian small screen (the first 24-hour news channel was launched in 
1998). So why the sudden rash of new news channels now? Of course, the 
statistics in the paragraph above speak for themselves, but there are 
other compelling factors. One major reason for the news boom is the 
fatigue that has set in among Indian viewers toward daily soaps that 
churn out the same sagas of family infighting, night after night. 
Calamitous events on the world stage - cyclones, earthquakes, war, 
religious strife, terrorist attacks - have also driven up the 
viewership. Closer to home, the news grew steadily worse - after-effects 
of the World Trade Center tragedy, growing tensions between India and 
Pakistan, two months of communal violence in the west Indian state of 
Gujarat. All this added to the growing viewership for television news. 
Again, news channels could score with advertisers and advertising 
agencies because they offer fairly competitive ad rates when compared 
with the tariffs on general-entertainment channels. News channels charge 
about a tenth of the cost for an off-peak spot on an entertainment channel.

Source:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/EE28Df01.html