Desicritics Category: Media: Advertising

"Oh Boy!"

Seema Dhindaw — Thu, 15 May 2008 03:43:09 EDT

“Thank god, it’s a boy! How wonderful! Congratulations” I remember the desi uncles and aunties saying with abandon even as I stood right next to my parents. My memories of their uninhibited exclamations of “Badhaai ho, munda hua!” ring loud and clear even today. Being their first-born, a daughter, I couldn’t help being overcome with feelings of jealousy and apprehension. The realization that someone else was going to steal my parent’s attention was enough to get my 6-year old heart racing. My big brown eyes widened and filled with fear as I looked up at my parents and repeatedly asked “Do you still love me?”

As my brother and I grew older, sadly my fears became reality. The favoritism had become strikingly apparent not just to me but others as well. My aunt and neighbors noticed and did what they could to make me feel special. My grandmother, on the other hand, visiting from India could not see past my brother.

I faded into the background and all my tiny accomplishments in kindergarten and elementary school went unnoticed. I began to realize just how important it was for my parents to have a son, particularly my mother. As teenage years approached, the treatment meted out by our parents was obviously differential. He got to stay out later than I did. His mistakes were more readily forgiven. His anger and outbursts excused with “Boys are like that, its ok.” He was bought an expensive car because “it would stay in the family.” His announcement of having a girlfriend was met with pride and encouragement while even a mention of my boyfriend would probably inspire histrionics. Over the years my hostility towards him manifested and our relationship floundered.

Many Indians including Punjabis tend to agree upon the value of the male child. In Indian households and particularly in North Indian families, the son is expected to live with his wife and children while caring for his aging parents in the same house. This can be quite a lot of pressure for any son. Financial responsibilities and the lack of privacy can make life pretty miserable for everyone.

What is bothersome is not that these biases exist but that many families strive relentlessly to preserve and propagate those here in America. My own family, I feel, has been guilty of this. Many a times my mother has made statements such as “He’s a boy, so it’s different. You should be more understanding”, ” We feel sad for so and so. They just have two daughters. Who will care for them when they’re old?!” A daughter can take as good if not better care of her parents than any son could. Why such a strong bias especially when you have a daughter who cares for you? A gift from me is “no big deal” but any small card or gesture from my brother is received with open arms and praise.

How does being female somehow make us inferior? The last time I checked we were in the year 2008, weren’t we? Not 1930. One would think these views about women would be the height of the matter but surprisingly they are not! It actually makes a difference if you are thin and fair. Even Bollywood has adopted the “gori chitti aur patli” (fair and skinny) paradigm. Recently, Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor has made headlines for becoming an unhealthy and perhaps anorexic size zero. “Zero” not only describes how good she looks but also her acting abilities.

Bollywood actresses like her wear drag-queen-style make-up to match the desired skin color to appear beautiful. Up until recently no significant effort was made towards making the nearing 40 year old balding male actors with receding hairlines and age inappropriate clothing, more appealing.

No doubt Bollywood is guilty of such nonsense but what does one say when the almost 300 lb aunties in sarees with bulging love handles, blouses that barely fit and extraordinarily huge hips casually comment on how so and so’s daughter should lose weight. “She would look so much prettier.” What about their own short chubby sons? I'd like to ask. The standard response which I've heard so often is "Oh, but they are boys, so looks don’t matter as much. It is the girl that has to get married off.” Such a mentality is difficult to change.

Enforcing these beliefs in girls raised in the United States is ridiculous. It breeds low self-esteem within an environment that values confidence and grooming over skin color and weight. Tanning salons have opened up all over and constitutes a multi-billion dollar industry. Yet you still have Indians saying “Hai! Kitni gori hai, patli hai! Changa munda milega”.

As a woman born and raised in the US, I now find myself rolling my eyes at these comments but I have to admit, they affected my self-worth deeply as a teenager. Perhaps on a subconscious level they made me rebellious as well. Why do the women have to endure phone calls and comments centered around their weight and looks? How fair is it that no one seems to notice the nice developing potbelly on my brother or the man boobs that have appeared on Kunal? Women have to deal with comments such as "moti hogayi hai na?"

It doesn't matter that you might be a successful researcher or a prominent scientist or an engineer. Fat is of utmost importance. It is the men,the sons who are complimented on their careers. Even your female friends who happen to get in touch with you online after years have past don't care about your professional accomplishments. "You've become chubby" "Moti, fat jaadi....i".This obsession with weight among Indian women in particular is upsetting.Why aren't such comments directed towards men?

Hearing such female-degrading comments from families and friends at social gatherings has become commonplace for me. However, it was astonishing to face such comments in a professional setting. My very own Indian ex-PhD advisor wasn’t afraid to reveal and act on her biases. At a lab lunch celebrating my birthday, she in a very matter of fact manner said “Indian women need to be subdued, as Seema will learn.”

On other occasions, instead of providing advice regarding my project she would make comments about how I should “lose weight” so that I can “get a husband.” “ You should work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week because you don’t have a husband or kids. Look at all the other people in lab,they aren’t single. They have families. Even XYZ has a girlfriend.” As I listened to these unprofessional comments, I couldn’t help thinking ”aren’t you a woman too? Don’t you have a daughter? “ At the time being her student, I was too scared to say anything for fear that she would jeopardize my future. As fate would have it, I didn’t have to say anything, I guess just being an overweight, single American woman of Indian descent was enough for her to screw me over on a whim.

It’s depressing that such strong biases exist in the US among Indians even today. It takes a toll on you when you hear the same comments so many times from the people who are supposed to be your strongest supporters. It is even more alarming that people with these views can abuse their power and get away it. Isn’t it about time that people do away with this mentality and accept each other with fairness and equality? Man, woman, short. Tall, fat, skinny—what does it matter? Aren’t we all human?

Travel Report: Korba Street Festival - Heliopolis, Cairo

Kim — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:19:02 EDT

Last Friday was the annual Korba Street festival in Heliopolis - a residential suburb in Cairo.

Baghdad street was closed off to traffic and stalls were put up along the sidewalks. There were stalls from the Asean countries selling native food and some handicrafts.

The Indian stall just had posters urging visitors to visit India. Nothing else. :(

There were tables along the sides for families to relax and grab a bite and the main road was left free for kids to express their creativity on the road with chalk and paints.

Marriott's Bakery, Swiss Inn, Sultana Ice Cream had tables on the road and were serving food there. The Swiss Inn even had a buffet set up on the road. But the more exciting stuff to eat were the street stalls which were selling things like cotton candy,the hummus drink and beans.

I attended in the morning half and left by 1:30pm, before the crowds really started to pour in. This meant I missed out on the musical performances (by Wust el Balad among others) and the puppet show, but what I managed to catch was great anyway.

My friends tell me, there was a short parade later in the noon with flower covered floats and giant coke bottles. More of advertising than Spring flowers was a comment I heard.

What I got to see, kind of reminded me a bit of the Kala Ghoda festival in Bombay, but just a little bit. The concept is similar, but there is so much further that the Korba festival can go. Its a good start though, just to have an open air event in a residential area of Cairo.

I would definitely try to catch it again next year.

Prasar Bharati, Cricket and a Free Lunch - Not!

Sathya — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:18:42 EDT

Expecting Prasar Bharti to screen test matches on Doordarshan; is it our way of seeking refuge in socialistic benefits, when being chased by capitalistic behemoths? I would nod my head in agreement and say, “yes it is.”

After all whether we like it or not, Doordarshan is a free lunch, where unlike the BBC in Britain, we don’t pay a license fee to the public broadcaster. In England, every citizen possessing a radio or television is expected to pay a license fee to the BBC. But aren’t we doing the same in our telecom sector, each of the private players pays an Access Deficit Fee to the state carrier – BSNL, for provision of rural connectivity. It is common knowledge that this is passed on to the end user, who probably doesn’t complain much, thanks to the cut-throat competition that has resulted in a geography which boasts of the lowest telecom tariffs. Worthy of mention here is the strategy adopted by Virgin Mobile, a new player in the telecom space. They claim to pay you one tenth of a rupee for every minute of an incoming call. And to think, when you are in Big Brother’s land you would wonder why you are having to pay for an incoming call – The merits of a fledgling market!

Back to the rant. The same Prasar Bharati that would fight in Madras High Court with some of these broadcasting companies, the same Prasar Bharati that would push the parliament for legislations about what it called “Sporting events of National Interest,” this time folded without giving a fight. This time it is not fighting with the Nimbus promoted Neo Sports, for broadcasting the India South Africa series.

The socialist in me is crying foul.

One, I feel the broadcasting rights in our country are extremely overrated. I don’t have any numbers with me, but the amount that broadcasting rights for these matches fetch can be only described as vulgarly excessive.

Two, the way every inch of the television space is littered with advertisements in an effort to monetize every pixel, can just be described as obscene. I didn’t complain, when advertisements between overs overshot the available time. I didn’t complain when a logo of a sponsor was embedded into the on-screen graphics. I didn’t complain when another graphics appeared for a replay, cutting off one corner of the screen. And then another one appeared, and then one more.

Today when I see a ticker/advertisement ticking over the top end of the screen taking along with it a good amount of the players’ faces, I want to look away from the game. The game doesn’t deserve me anymore.

The only way, this overrated broadcasting bubble would have been deflated to a more manageable size would have been if Prasar Bharati had put in a fight for the free signal. The companies would realize that it is not so profitable, if they were to share the signal with the state broadcaster.

Before I get onto how the bubble is only being inflated further by the emergence of the two cricketing leagues, I think I should stop and ask – Does your cable operator provide Neo Sports? Maybe he says it's overpriced. Maybe he says you would have to pay some amount more by way of monthly subscription. Maybe he is the sort who pilfers a signal and ensures that you get to watch the game. Maybe I dream of a day when I can get to see a cricket match, with fences for boundaries unlike advertising hoardings, where the ground is of green grass not painted with the motifs of some corporation and maybe a telecast sans that annoying commercial.

But alas! Like that cliché goes – There ain't nothing called a free lunch!

Indian Media-Leader Oriented, Reader Neglected

Abhinandan Mishra — Thu, 6 Mar 2008 02:37:44 EST

'Freedom of media' is a relative term. It is just not limited to the freedom enjoyed by the media to report everything without being stopped forcefully but also obliging the members of media fraternity so as to stop them from giving out a true picture. The term "obligation'' assumes enormous proportions in the backdrop of media ethics. The modern media is like the now banned 'Mumbai's Bar Clubs' with Market guiding them in all respect. Editors have become Bar Girls? .
All major Indian newspapers with few exceptions have now turned into what is popularly known as "Response run" rather than "editorially run" papers. There was a time when management people were given independent responsibilities to generate revenue and the editorial wing was consider sacrosanct. Now the most of the editors of these papers have to cut a sorry figure in face of a Harvard, IIM or any management institute educated manager, and wisely they have now learned to buckle under the demands and whims of the Response. These days an MBA has more say than an editor in deciding the contents or colour of a newspaper.
As a result of this approach content and quality wise these newspapers are heading southwards and there is nothing astonishing in it as when Ad and revenue generation becomes important the priority than the quality of newspaper goes down. This is a cardinal principle which is always true. The newspapers and magazines have now become any consumer product with perishable value.They have lost their retention capacity by the readers.
The Correspondents are now given the additional responsibility of procuring state sponsored advertisements for their respective newspapers. There are examples of the state and district level or even block level stringers being asked to collect advertisements for special supplements to be brought on Republic Day, Independence Day, State Foundation Day and even foundation Day of the newspaper itself. This is happening even in the villages of Bihar, UP and Jharkhand, where Hindi readership is very large.
This is true for almost all the publications, and in this context it would be foolish to expect that a newspaper will encourage the correspondent to report against the same government which is providing the publication with advertisements that runs into crores.
The 'old lot of journalists' who started their career in the 60s or 70 now find it increasingly difficult to function in this comparatively new Response oriented market environment which demands from them a lot more than just good writing skills.
Everyone knows that Vinod Dua, Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt recently accepted the state sponsored Padma Shri but not many are aware of the fact that Pranoy Roy declined the same when it was awarded to him just after the UPA came into power.
There was a time when even the fear of state sponsored prosecution was not able to stop media from speaking out against Indira Gandhi and emergency. Sadly the times have changed.
Readers who have been committed readers of the the self proclaimed Leader of newspapers ,particularly those preparing for the Civil Services now do not subscribe the paper as they are getting better contents in other newspapers. They are getting thought and views from non-leader newspapers as the Leader has lost its serious reader value contents. The Leader is growing in the Market, but not among the Minds as its has lost its "Retention Value". The Leader is more concerned about its TRP now giving good bye to quality reading materials and news. The Response oriented editorials are not liked by the serious and committed readers.
Readers loyalty has shifted from the Leader as the paper has now turned into a 'skin-friendly' paper of the establishment of the Day. The Leader's editorial page which perhaps was its best part too has deteriorated and as for the Sunday pull-out page the less said the better. It is neither interesting nor entertaining leaving alone educative.
This nexus between media-politicians, media-industrialists has always been there but earlier it was healthy interface and the media always knew that being the fourth estate it is under the obligation to keep a check on the other institutions of democracy. And I don't deny that the checks and the controls are still there but now it is more of a "manipulated checks''.
The Freedom of Press is meant only for the Leader and its subsequent followers, not for Readers is confirmed now.

Offensive Ads - The Cad Fad

IdeaSmith — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:34:09 EST

I'm quite offended by this new Sprite ad. A lot of ads seem to be offending me these days. No, it isn't because ads have suddenly become offensive, it's because I'm watching more TV, and being increasingly appalled by what popular culture is shoving down our gullets.

To come back to the baki-sab-bakwaas drink, the ad features a guy telling his lady love that he must leave. When she asks Juliet-like why he has to go so early, he replies,

I've a date with my other girlfriend.

*Giggle giggle at boyfriend's mischieviousness*

Cut to boyfriend sliding into seat facing girlfriend no.2 who inquires pettishly, why he's late. And he drawls,

Had a date with my other girlfriend.

*Giggle giggle at boyfriend's mischieviousness*

Underline the "At least I'm honest!!" line along with the standard all-else-is-crap funda. Ting tong.

Tell me again why it's cool to be a cad? Of course I'm peeved by the sexism in that played up by popular culture. Anybody remember an Indipop song a few years ago featuring Lara Dutta double-dating two guys? The song was quite tellingly titled,

Tu chaalu hai re...

Then let me tell you what pisses you off the most. Having to have the following conversation with a close girlfriend:

She: Why on earth do we fall for men like this??
Me: Simple. Lousy taste.

It's not a crime to be a cad, but it should be. Just recently I was called on to testify in one such case (if we may look at things in that light). It's hard to tell whether my testimony would have swayed the verdict but the evidence certainly was damning. And yet, the culprit walked off scot-free. Damn him, damn his ilk. Don't bother telling me that men aren't all the same, please. One rotten creep is enough to ruin the entire barrel of trust. So, how you ask, did I speak? I didn't. Like I said, I doubt my testimony would have changed much.

Lousy taste is something we're all guilty of and I suppose we should be in handcuffs for it, in the same moment that the cads hang.

Gender Imagery: How Advertising is Shaping Attitudes

Shantanu Dutta — Wed, 6 Feb 2008 13:43:09 EST

For years, we have been used to seeing a certain kind of advertisement- especially advertisements from the financial sector. The advertisements would exhort you to save, so that there was enough in the kitty for your daughter’s wedding and of course enough to fund your son’s education. The financial planner’s marketing buzz was to make these basic inquiries and then suggest a savings plan to meet those goals.

But for some time now I have been watching a series of advertisements which go against this grain. In one of them, the daughter of the house comes lamenting that she has secured admission in a good university abroad but doesn’t have the resources to pay the fees and her scholarships will not pay the full amount. Various alternatives are suggested including a loan from a wealthy uncle but they don’t find favor. Finally the father hugs his daughter and says that there is some one who has been saving for this very day for years and the girl gets the point that it is none other than her dad. The advertisement is for a children’s’ savings plan for a particular insurance company but the treatment of the subject is touching.

The same company has recently begun airing another advertisement. In this, a couple has retired and their income plummeted. As they cope and adjust with their life style (the man is shown repairing his old car), the man’s daughter coaxes him to buy a new one. As the man demurs, his daughter provides him the cash, because she has been saving up so that she can be of help and support to her parents in their old age. Again, this is an advertisement for a pension plan of the same insurance company but the manner in which the company has tried to break though the layers of social stereotypes that it is the son who needs an education and the daughter a husband is refreshing. Or the equally prevalent imagery that in times of need particularly financial need, it is basically the son, to whom you turn to for help.

Advertising has a nasty connotation with many individuals - implying the promotion of excess and useless mass consumerism. But in some cases, advertising can be a powerful vehicle promoting ideas for positive social change and this series of advertisements is an example. Typically socially relevant messages can tend to be preachy and sound and look like the old Films Division documentaries which nobody liked to sound and watch. But it is important to recognize and look out for messages couched in commercial imagery but which challenge and replace norms – to begin with in the world of small and big screens and then in real life.

As Suzanne Keeler of the Canadian Advertising Foundation puts it,

“Social change doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't ever happen quickly. Permanent social change usually requires commitment, tenacity and real action on several levels - the public, government and industry. It requires attitudinal change at all these levels as well and that doesn't take place overnight either. Social change is already happening in advertising and it is being furthered by the industry”

Meanwhile, for many of the rest of us, so used to devilling the advertising world as peddlers of greed and consumerism, it may be time to applaud and commend the bright spots around that we see. For there is hope that one day they will turn into beacons of light that will transform the social landscape as we see it today in many significant ways.

The Indian Fairness Obsession

taranveer1984 — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:24:59 EDT

Have you read a matrimonial column recently?

It's an interesting piece of reading material if you have nothing else to do on a Sunday morning. Well, here’s how it goes :

… 28 yr man looking for a tall, beautiful fair girl from a good family…

…. Looking for a well -settled boy 23-28 yrs for a pretty, fair 22 yr maharashtrian girl…

…33-yr-old divorcee looking for an open-minded, good-looking fair life partner….

Do you see any similarity? At first glance, all of them seem to be very different people looking for a suitable partner for themselves or their children. But one common requirement is for the girl to be FAIR. So much so that the third one has the audacity to mention the words good looking and still mention the word "fair."

Don’t get me wrong - I am not judging anyone, who am I to do that? The point I am trying to make is that when the majority of us condemn and snicker at the advertisements of skin fairness creams and display disgust at the very existence of these products, we forget that the same products are selling like hot cakes in the Indian market. They actually have better sales than of any bakery products.

So why do we point our fingers at these companies and marketers for promoting these products? Advertisers are simply fulfilling (and fuelling) a latent need (read insecurity) among the great mass of Indian consumers. Who is to blame? I wouldn't blame the advertisers - not one bit. After all, advertisers are supposed to "cash in" on everything, aren't they? I think the real malaise lies elsewhere - in people's minds.

It's easy to point fingers at advertisers, but one must realize that it's the 'aam janta' that has to ultimately rise above this fair skin obsession. The moment that happens, they would have robbed advertisers of a selling proposition, and this kind of advertising will die a natural death.

But as of today IT WORKS! It works, it works, it works! The ads may be pathetic, sick or whatever one might call them. But Indians do have a fair skin fetish - and fairness creams do sell. Maybe the "successful career angle" is a little overdone, but sadly, it sells.

Anyway, India and for that matter, the whole world is wrapped in hypocrisy. Because we all may say that “Hey, I don’t care a damn whether my partner has fair or dusky skin”, then it's people like us who send in those matrimonial applications I mentioned earlier.

Don’t want to believe me?

Have you read a matrimonial column recently?

Indian Fast Food Advertisements May Require Warnings

Ledzius — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:42:46 EDT

If loudmouthed minister for Women and Child development Renuka Chowdhury has her way, she would require fast food ads shown on television to have statutory warnings about the pitfalls of eating such unhealthy food.

I wouldn't have a problem with that in itself, except for the fact that the term "fast food" or "junk food" in India is viewed in a very distorted manner. In almost every press report (including that of brain-dead Times of India), these terms are synonymous with burgers, fried chicken, and French fries (read MNC fast food). Now, I can understand why in the US this would be the case, since many people do consume these particular items in quantities that lead to obesity and heart disease.

But, seriously, what percentage of the Indian population eats at these MNC outlets on a regular basis for these to pose a significant health risk? Maybe 0.1 percent? And why does Renuka think that having these warnings would improve the health of the Indian population at large (even assuming the people who watch the ads heed the advice)?

If we classify French fries as junk food, we should also do the same for the roadside chili bajis, pav bhaji, or even the humble masala dosa, since they are not any more healthy. Tell me, will she now want all dhabas and Udupis to post warnings on their menus for all their fried items? Of course not. It is far easier just to indulge in MNC-bashing, which is probably her real agenda anyway.

And I hope that is her real agenda. For, if not, there could be only one other rationale behind the whole exercise - the lives of the people that can afford eating at McDonalds matter more. Screw the rest of the people lower down the socio-economic ladder who gorge on their onion pakoras at the roadside stall on a daily basis. Those who really matter would be at the KFC downing chicken nuggets.

Either way, it doesn't sound too noble.

Robbed by SMS

enidhi — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 00:25:41 EDT

How often do you send commercial SMSs? I mean messages sent to four digit numbers as shown for the purpose of TV shows, contests, SMS polls etc?

SMS can do wonders, right? At least it is projected so. By sending SMS you can win prizes worth several lakhs to crores, you can decide who will win the Indian Idol title. You can win a date with a superstar; you can get a whole bunch of products and services at your doorstep. You can get your loved ones' name on the screen of a television music channel, you can get a whole lot of information related to astrology, weather, cricket, stock, you name it.

True. But at what cost?

These SMS are not free. They come at a premium price, much higher than the cost of an SMS sent to another mobile number. On average each SMS costs Rs 2 to Rs 7 or more. I’m sure most of the people are aware of this. But people don’t mind; rather they don’t care. Five rupees is no big amount for many mobile users and this is the fundamental concept exploited by those who run SMS-based activities. Tiny drops make a mighty ocean. Even if one lakh people out of several crores of mobile users send a message each, one can make couple of lakh rupees in no time.

Luring people to waste their currency by tempting them to send SMS is another way to stay in business for mobile operators. The money is shared by the network operator, SMS event organizer, and the givernment (as tax). When I lose 5 Rs currency per SMS the actual value is always a bit higher. (For 300Rs talk time if I pay 350 Rs while recharging, the actual cost of Rs 5 talk time is 5.83 paisa). But generally no one cares.

SMS based activities are really convenient and hence have picked up momentum very fast. It all appears so simple and cheap, but the volume of money involved behind the screen is very huge. I’m not saying don’t send such SMSs. After all it’s your mobile, your money, your fun.

Another factor to be noted is, there's nothing you can do after sending out the SMS. There's no guarantee that you'll be informed who won the contest, no guarantee that your vote is counted, nothing you can do if your message doesn't appear on screen.

Let me know what you think of this…

Advertisement & News Breaks On TV Channels In Pakistan

temporal — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:48:07 EDT

Breaking news? Latest news? Updates? And in Urdu: braking noos, taaza khabar, or taaza khabrain, soorkhian?

I don't know if there is a PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) guideline on how many commercial and non-commercial breaks a TV station is allowed per hour. And if they do, how are they enforced.

I don't know if the major players like ARY or GEO have their own internal guidelines.

But...

I am sure of one thing: the engineer, producer or director who inserts these 'breaks' has no idea of the juncture, time, or propriety for these insertions. They display an utter disregard for the hapless viewer.

This affliction is displayed nonchalantly across the board. PTV and other licensees routinely break into Mushy's telecast. Serious deliberations on the 'deal' -- alright, pontifications -- by earnest sounding pundits are rudely interrupted by these irritating breaks on all channels. And the viewer, the one who was glued to to the programme is left wondering what the duck .

What is more disconcerting is that these interruptions bring only news that is seldom newsworthy of a break.

On a nationally aired programme what is the worth of a break informing of a car and truck accident in Ceechawatani in which five of a family, mother, uncle and three children were injured? Go fetch the father please!

What suspense is created when a shouting politician is interrupted in mid sentence, "Nawaz Sharif is a..." with a breaking news that repeats a 17 hours old news item, "There is still no news of the 250 Frontier Constabulary Jawans missing in South Waziristan" and this break is brought to you by Finest Stainless Spoons - -FSS nearest your lips?" And after this irritating break you return to the anchors and guests now laughing. What did we miss? Is Nawaz a joker? Or the ... Khair, janay diji'aye!

We know commercials pay for the station's subsistence. But for how long will these stations and outlets continue to ignore the viewer?

How soon will a budding entrepreneur realize there is a niche for commercial free programming like NPR or PBS? (A mix of public funding plus public subscription service?)

And would anyone know why soorkh, (meaning red) is used in Urdu as soorkhi for the heading which is usually in black and white?