Radio and TV in India

Britbat

So, what's it like? In the UK I listen to the Today programme for John Humphreys' (and colleagues) relentless political interviews. Womans Hour (yes, wanna make something of it?), the
plays, the sport (TMS), the funnies at 6.30 (pm). On TV I watch Newsnight (Jeremy 1), Top Gear (Jeremy 2), the funnies, nature
programmes (David), and the occasional movie. I work at my desk so I tend to have the radio on most of the time, or play music.
Will I be as stimulated by radio and TV in India? I'm subscribed to The Times of India so I know my morning reading will keep me informed when I'm finally settled.

To spare you the tedium of looking me up, here's my potted IM history - I'm planning to retire in India next year, finding out all I can in the meantime.

Khak

Hi
there is no dearth of tv channels in India, albeit in more than 20 languages ; however there are many decent channel in english also like

• sports channels - espn, star sports, ten sports, star cricket, zee sports, dd sports
• news - ndtv, cnn-ibn, times now, bbc, cnn,
• travel & living - discovery, ndtv goodtimes
• movies- hbo,star movies,pix,
• cartoon channels
• discovery, natgeo, histroy etc

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capt_mahajan

Equivalent to what you watch now

English Movie channels. At least 4.
News. BBC. Including Top Gear.
Sitcoms and other such: two or three channels.
Radio: Worldspace satellite radio is supposed to be good. Normal FM channels will not be in English, and will play local/Hindi movie stuff.
http://www.worldspace.in/

Britbat

More than enough.

Nick-H

I don't watch much TV at all, haven't done for quite a while, even back in London --- I prefer Internet and novels!

I can tell you that a lot of India's TV seems to be owned by politicians: so if you are expecting the sort of reporting that happens in UK, or the sort of satire, you will be sadly disappointed.

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Britbat

I wish there was programming in Hinglish. I'm getting on quite well with my Hindi but it will be a while before I'll be able to take in local broadcasting. Mind you, I bet there'll be a quantum leap in my oral, not so say aural, Hindi once I've been outnegotiated by a few rickshaw wallahs.

shashank.aggarwal

Thats the case in Tamil Nadu and Local language media...I am aware of Jaya TV etc..

Otherwise the industry is pretty much independent..what with the largest players being Star, Sony and Zee. The big players in news as well are all independent, India Today group, Times group etc..

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shashank.aggarwal

Even though I am not a radio listener, but I believe in metros the programming is more or less Hinglish...however the music would be primarily Hindi ..

Britbat

I'm not an avid TV watcher, I must say. I agree about the net and reading. 30/70 fiction/non-fiction. I have Ian McEwan's Atonement standing by, and Le Carre's Mission Song. I've just started Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain. You could commit suicide jumping off the stack of India books I have to hand.

dhans

Pogo, Pogo and euhhh Pogo.

Hans

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Aishah

I am envious - you guys have some great stuff on your TV! We have cable and only available in English is Star Movies, HBO, Star World, Times Now, NDTV News, and that is it - all other channels are in Hindi or Hindi dubbed e.g. National Geographic,History Channel (good Sherlock Holmes story last night but all in Hindi.. o.k. good for learning but my vocab is not yet up to complete understanding and i am forever interrupting Mr K 'What is she saying?" etc.
Like Nick - internet and novels are my thing these days. I tried to get Radio National Live (Australia) on my computer, worked well while connection normal but GPRS goes slow all the time and you get it dropping in and out so gave up on that one.

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Dilliwala

Time to get Tata Sky or Dish TV, Aishah. U can even choose the soundtrack of your choice (for those channels that offer 2 langs).

patrickgill

The ToI is a pretty poor newspaper. Sadly, I can't really suggest any other English-language newspaper that's much of an improvement. The British press has its many flaws, but you'll probably forgive them all once you've seen the lackluster quality on offer here; I also surprisingly found myself missing a good meaty obituary section -- the concept doesn't appear to exist here, only paid-for death notices. I suppose the Indian Express has its journalistic heart in the right place compared to most of the competition -- if only it wasn't so terribly written. It's full of acronyms, dry, long-winded prose and jargon. In any case, you'll need an internet connection or a subscription to a foreign news outlet to properly follow all the international news that doesn't directly concern India.
Some of the weekly magazines are better -- Outlook, Frontline and Tehelka are worth checking out. The reporting and writing tends to be better, although the lasting impression still tends to be one of boredom.
Maybe spend the time with a good book instead? Check out Siddartha Deb, Amitav Ghosh, maybe Ramachanda Guha's new history book India after Gandhi....
I don't know anything about radio here, though.

p