When the Dish Knocked Down the Antenna

A technology switch in television affects different income groups differently. In India the digitization of TV signals is putting an end to the free-to-air telecast regime. This study, the first of its kind, goes to working class TV viewers, people at the bottom of the income pyramid, to discover how digitization is impacting them. Has it increased or reduced their access to television? What are people’s entertainment and information needs? Has digitization served those needs? Are there barriers to the use of television itself? The Media Foundation presents this study primarily as a data report, conveying snapshots from the ground in five states, in an attempt to answer the questions cited above and looks at how digitization has impacted access to public broadcasting, and examines the relevance of the programming on the public broadcaster for the lives of the rural and urban poor.