ARGUING FOR A MEDIA LAW: THE RELEVANCE OF CABLE CHANNELS IN CREATION OF ‘LOCAL’ IN ASSAM

I forward the idea of the existence of local cable channels, a distinct media which beams programmes in the local language, on topics that are relevant and belongs to the local area. The ‘local' which has lost out in the mainstream media gains importance here, infact the local becomes the site for production of ‘culture'. But the existence of such local cable channels which is popular almost all over the country exists by virtue of legal loopholes in the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995. The importance of these channels broadcasted over a limited area cannot be discounted as I show with the help of two case studies in my paper. These channels act as essentially selling points for the networks, catering to customer requests and also programming which are uniquely local. These spawn a large number of such channels in every small or big town so much so that their exact numbers can hardly be predicted. Thus, I argue the case for legalizing the role of local cable channels in creation of an alternate reality, a role which essentially the ‘mainstream' has failed to deliver in the course of the last few decades. It is the space left vacant by National and regional media that is essentially covered by local cable channels and it becomes imperative to safeguard this very important democratic tool by proper legal framework.