World Television Day 2025 was on November 21, but even in its absence from major public celebrations, the story of Indian television remains one of the country’s most powerful narratives of social and technological transformation.

With 900 million viewers across 230 million households, India today hosts one of the world’s largest and most diverse broadcasting ecosystems. From the hum of the first black-and-white sets to sleek 4K Smart TVs merging OTT and broadcast content, television has remained the country’s most accessible and deeply embedded medium—educator, entertainer, and national storyteller all at once.

A Nation on Screen

Television in India has always been more than a box in a corner. It has been a mirror of changing aspirations, a tool of development, a carrier of culture, and a unifying force across regions and languages. This journey—spanning 66 years—maps India’s evolution from a newly independent nation seeking communication tools to a digital powerhouse forging its own technological path.

The Experimental Years: 1959–1965

India’s television story began modestly on 15 September 1959, when All India Radio, with UNESCO’s support, launched experimental broadcasts in Delhi. These early programmes—school lessons, agricultural updates, community education—were utilitarian but transformative. In a period when literacy was limited and hope was abundant, TV became a tool for learning through listening and watching. The seeds of a mass medium had been sown.

Expansion and Institutionalisation: 1965–1982

By 1965, television had its own identity—Doordarshan, born as a separate service under AIR. Throughout the 1970s, centres opened in Mumbai, Srinagar, Amritsar, Calcutta and Chennai, making TV a national rather than metropolitan phenomenon.

A turning point arrived with the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) in 1975–76. Conducted by ISRO and NASA, SITE broadcast educational content to 2,400 villages across six states. It was one of the largest sociotechnical experiments of its time, proving satellite TV’s potential in transforming rural education and public communication. SITE was the rehearsal for India’s future space-communication ambitions.

Colour Television and National Reach: 1982–1990

The 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi ushered in the era of colour TV. Suddenly Indian homes glowed with vivid images, reshaping the emotional power of storytelling. By the end of the decade, Doordarshan’s terrestrial network was covering 70% of the population and 80% of India’s landmass. Regional centres flourished, reflecting India’s linguistic mosaic.

Doordarshan wasn’t just broadcasting—it was documenting India’s colours, cultures, and contradictions.

The Golden Age of Programming

The 1980s and ’90s created a collective nostalgia that still binds generations. Iconic shows like Ramayana, Mahabharat, Hum Log, Buniyaad, Fauji, Malgudi Days and later Shaktimaan became household rituals.

Television was a shared experience then—families gathered around a single set, streets emptied during Sunday epics, and actors became national icons. But alongside entertainment, DD continued its mandate of public service, with health campaigns, educational serials, and rural development programmes.

Liberalisation and the Satellite Boom: 1991–2011

Economic liberalisation rewrote the broadcasting script. The arrival of Star TV (1991), Zee TV (1992), Sony (1995) and dozens of others reshaped viewing habits. Content diversified—news, lifestyle, music, cinema, soaps, reality shows. Choice became the new normal.

Doordarshan adapted with DD Metro, DD News and DD India, but private players dominated urban attention. Yet, DD made a historic move in 2004 with the launch of DD Direct Plus—now DD Free Dish—India’s first free-to-air DTH platform, opening access to millions of rural households.

Digitisation and the New Broadcasting Age: 2012–Present

India’s Cable TV Digitisation (2012–17) brought clearer signals, more channels, and transparent pricing. DD Free Dish exploded in reach, touching 6.5 crore homes by 2025, hosting 482 channels, and becoming the backbone of free digital inclusion.

Today, India hosts 918 private satellite channels, offering an unparalleled diversity of languages, genres, and formats. Television has entered a hybrid era—broadcast meets broadband, with Smart TVs streaming OTT content while retaining linear viewing.

Television as India’s Lifeline During COVID-19

When the pandemic closed schools, television stepped in as India’s classroom of equality.

Doordarshan’s PM e-Vidya initiative launched “One Class – One Channel,” running 12 dedicated curriculum-based channels for Classes I–XII. For millions without internet access, television was not just a source of entertainment but a lifeline of learning.

Economic and Cultural Impact

India’s Media & Entertainment sector contributed Rs 2.5 trillion in 2024, with TV accounting for Rs 680 billion. Beyond revenue, TV fuels an ecosystem—writers, actors, journalists, technicians, satellite operators—millions of livelihoods interlinked.

Television is also India’s cultural stitching, bridging linguistic and geographic divides across a nation of 1.4 billion.

Innovation and the Future

India is now transitioning to Digital Terrestrial Transmission (DTT) using DVB-T2, promising sharper visuals, mobile TV access, and better spectrum use. Doordarshan has phased out most analog transmitters to free spectrum for 5G broadcast services.

AI is entering the medium—real-time translation, adaptive subtitles, multilingual content creation, and interactive public engagement. Television is evolving from a one-way broadcaster into a participatory digital platform.

Television as India’s National Mirror

From its experimental birth in 1959 to a digital ecosystem serving nearly a billion viewers, Indian television has been a steady companion of the nation’s growth. It has educated farmers, empowered women, connected remote villages, and celebrated cultural diversity.

On World Television Day 2025, India salutes not just a device, but a movement—the movement of information, imagination, and inclusion.

From black-and-white beginnings to digital horizons, television continues to be India’s window to the world and a mirror to itself.