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There are three conventional ways one can classify programmes on electronic media. One way is to classify them by their format. The second approach is to classify them by their audiences. The third way is by their content. This was true when Doordarshan was a monopoly and stuck to a limited number of formats and audience categories. With the phenomenal explosion in the variety of programmes on commercial television, this issue has become a little less important in a dynamically changing programming scenario.
As we discussed in the radio section, a format is the manner in which the programme content is arranged. For instance, if the content you would like to convey is derived by means of questions and answers from a person of authority, a celebrity, or a news-maker, then you will call it an interview format. However, in popular television, interview programmes can be of many kinds – the personality interview, hard news interview, information seeking interview, investigative interview, adversarial interview, interpretative interview, emotional interview, telephone or remote interview and the vox populi (voice of the people).
If the content is extracted by discussing with an expert group of people with the help of a moderator, then it can be called a discussion format. In television, the discussion format has further evolved into talk shows and audience-based shows. The studio-based audience participates in questioning or sharing experiences with the experts on the show. A moderator conducts the show. Such shows may also include phone-ins from the viewers.
A very big draw on television audience are the game shows and talent hunt shows that invite wide spread participation and hold forth the possibility of becoming a rich and famous instant celebrity.
Outside broadcasts and phone-in programmes are also popular formats on television. Outside broadcasts are broadcasts covering events of public interest that are happening outside the studio or recordings done for a programme of interest to the audience. Sports events are a good example. In addition, there are drama or fiction-based formats like telefilms, teleserials and soaps. Reality based documentary and feature programmes are a major format on television as well. Apart from the talk-based programmes enumerated above, news programmes have developed into a unique format on television.
With the advent and spread of cable industry all over the world in mid-1980s, television went through a process of segmentation both by content and by audience. Today we have dedicated channels catering to specific interests like sports, news, arts and entertainment, fashion, religion etc. So also there are channels that cater to children and young adults etc. While channels like the Doordarshan continue to do programming on the conventional classification of audience segments and content, most other channels have moved on to other strategies of attracting audiences.
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