People are seldom satisfied. They're always complaining. ``Why, there's nothing to watch on TV'', is a common comment. ``Every channel is the same'', is another frequent criticism. If the number of film-based shows and serials based on family/business feuds in Mumbai's high society were to be counted across channels, then these remarks appear so obviously true that it seems absurd to even make them.But people do make them all the time. And they follow it up by comparing Indian television to foreign (by which they mean English or American) TV. Why can't an Indian programme be more like an English one, staunch colonialists want to know. Which is like asking, as Rex Harrision did in My Fair Lady, ``why can't a woman be more like a man?'' The truth is many, nay, most of our television programmes are made in India but designed in London or Hollywood. We have taken their formats, their schedule patterns (even the length of our TV shows are the same), their storylines (or subject matters), their archetypal characters, their styles in presentation (even the clothes we wear are the same), their commercial breaks . and, hey presto!, we've created a TV channel.If this is true, and patently, it is, then logically the question - why aren't our programmes like theirs - is all wrong. Our programmes are not only like theirs, but their programmes are our programmes. With two vital differences; quality, variety. Our TV serials, talks shows, news and current affairs are imitations of foreign models, but they're pale, poor ones. They're simply not as good as what you see on STAR Plus or BBC, CNN (always supposing that TV can be good). And we're not even receiving the best (or worst) of British and American TV.Which brings us to the next important question: why? If we have copied their programmes, they why is it that our programmes are poorer in terms of quality and variety? For many reasons: we don't, can't spend as much money, time, effort or research on them; hence, we have weak scripts, inept performances and technically substandard shows. Then again, most people in the industry are new to the game, which is not a very good excuse because when Manohar Shyam Joshi wrote Buniyaad, and Kundan Shah directed Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi and Govind Nihlani made Tamas, they were new to the TV game, too. Still, it does mean that we don't have enough trained, professional manpower, be it technicians or TV scriptwriters.There are other reasons too, but none more compelling than the fact that Indian TV has gone from being a small scale industry to a giant multinational one in the space of five short years. In 1992, there was only Doordarshan. Now count the Indian channels which exist today (by which we mean the ones with Indian content, rather than ownership). Just count the number of Hindi omnibus channels: Zee, El, ATN, DD2, NEPC, TVi, Sony, Home. This list ignores DD3, cable channels such as In Mumbai and Siticable and the STAR Plus khichri. Even so, that's eight new channels (remember, we're still talking of only predominantly Hindi, general entertainment channels. We haven't even got to the likes of Channel [V], Sun.). All hungry for programmes, all hungry for advertising support. Obviously, there's not enough of either to go around. Obviously, therefore, you'll get poor quality programmes with a lack of variety.It is either a stupendous achievement or a monumental folly to have nine Hindi free-to-air omnibus channels (including DD1). In the USA and Britain, they don't have that many. They have many more channels but those are niche channels: music, films, sports, cartoons, history etc.So, in a sense, our experiments with television have been unique.There are too many channels around. Some will have to go. Most are running up huge financial losses. Channels such El, TVi, Home TV, NEPC, receive almost no advertising support. They are desperately looking to change their schedules, their programme mix to attract viewers and advertisers. Some of them are trying to imitate, repeat successful formulas from other channels. Like Zee. Thus, the lack of variety will probably increase and quality decrease.Most viewers wish to see something different that is also good. A channel, or channels, offering a new agenda should succeed. In the long run. For that television in India, requires people with very deep pockets, nerves of steel, supreme self-confidence and infinite patience.
