Today, the Indian media industry, one of the world’s fastest-growing media ones globally, awaits government approval for more than 100 new channels.
Applications from more than 50 companies have been received by the Indian Broadcasting Ministry to launch 130 channels in the next 12 to 18 months. These companies include Zee TV, NDTV, Reliance ADAG, BAG Films, INX Media, UTV Broadcasting and Viacom 18 (a joint venture between Viacom, US, and TV18, India).

UTV Broadcasting plans to launch nine channels including a movie channel and a general entertainment youth channel ‘Bindass’. It proposes an investment of more than USD 200 million over the next three years. INX Media also plans to launch 12 new channels.

In spite of the above developments, established media houses believe that the market has a long way to go before it reaches saturation point. Their belief stems from the fact that there are 110 million television households in India, of which about 70 million have cable connections. Further, with 15 million new television sets sold every year, the number of cable users is also set to double over the next few years. Broadcasters hope that this will provide space for more niche channels in the country.

According to media analysts, it will be difficult for standalone channels to operate, and only few powerful media houses will survive in the long haul. Distribution backlog, lack of qualified production staff and high content creation and carriage costs are seen as the likely impediments. An additional hurdle is the introduction of mandatory set-top boxes for big city viewers.