Globalization, nation, and television in Asia: the cases of India and China

Abstract

In the context of the globalization of television, India and China represent immensely attractive markets to the major corporations that provide television program content and services across borders and regions. However, globalizing pressures on both countries have achieved quite different kinds of liberalization. In the same process, local resistance and adaptation have opened up greater pluralism of cultural choices, as well as new forms of modernization to pursue. Apart from the massive size of their populations and the considerable degree to which they define the centers of two of the major cultures of Asia, India and China are important as the sources of two of the world’s greatest diasporas, so each has substantial although dispersed overseas markets to cultivate in pursuit of its own globalization. This article backgrounds the current industry structure of television in each of these nations and outlines the apparent impact of globalization on them. (Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd from Sinclair, John and Harrison, Mark (2004) Globalization, nation, and television in Asia: the cases of India and China. © 2004 SAGE Publications).