<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (December 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (December 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> In January 1950, The Indian Express reported that a television was put up for demonstration at an exhibition in the Teynampet locality of Madras (now Chennai) by B. Sivakumaran, a student of electrical engineering . A letter was scanned and its image displayed on a cathode ray tube screen . The report said that "(i) t may be this is not the whole of television but it is certainly the most significant link in the system" and added that the demonstration of the sort could be the "first in India". </P> <P> SITE was an important step taken by India to use television for development . The programmes were mainly produced by Doordarshan which was then a part of AIR . The telecasts happened twice a day, in the morning and evening . Other than agricultural information, health and family planning were the other important topics dealt with in these programmes . Entertainment was also included in these telecasts in the form of dance, music, drama, folk and rural art forms . Television services were separated from radio in 1976 . National telecasts were introduced in 1982 . In the same year, color TV was introduced in the Indian market . Indian small screen programming started off in the early 1980s . At that time there was only one national channel Doordarshan, which was government owned . The Ramayana and Mahabharata (both Indian spiritual epics) were the first major television series produced . This serial notched up the world record in viewership numbers for a single program . By the late 1980s more and more people started to own television sets . Though there was a single channel, television programming had reached saturation . Hence the government opened up another channel which had part national programming and part regional . This channel was known as DD 2 later DD Metro . Both channels were broadcast terrestrially . In 1997, Prasar Bharati, a statutory autonomous body was established . Doordarshan along with AIR was converted into government corporations under Prasar Bharati . The Prasar Bharati Corporation was established to serve as the public service broadcaster of the country which would achieve its objectives through AIR and DD . This was a step towards greater autonomy for Doordarshan and AIR . However, Prasar Bharati has not succeeded in shielding Doordarshan from government control . </P>

When was the first tv invented in india