ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846 Problematic Ownership Patterns: The Evolution of the Television Distribution Networks in India VIBODH PARTHASARATHI AND ALAM SRINIVAS Vibodh Parthasarathi (ccmgjmi@gmail.com) is an associate professor, Centre for Culture, Media & Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia. Alam Srinivas (alamsrinivas@gmail.com) is an independent investigative journalist. Vol. 54, Issue No. 12, 23 Mar, 2019 The authors would like to thank Anushi Agrawal, Devi Leena Bose, Jai Karan Singh Bhadauriya, and Manjusha Madhu for doing research for the project. TV distribution is riddled with political ownership and the emergence of near-monopolies in the languages, states, and metros’ markets. There are instances of cross-media ownership among the national cable companies. Such information is either deeply embedded, or available in a non-transparent manner. Recently, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) allowed the Reliance Industries Group (RIG), owned by multibillionaire Mukesh Ambani, to acquire majority stakes in the two largest cable distribution MultiService Operators (MSOs), DEN Networks and Hathway Cable (Laghate 2019). This raised the same concerns about TV distribution, that the regulators and policymakers had discussed with regard to the media content business. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s consultation papers and recommendations had cautioned against the growing trends of political ownership, market concentration, and cross-media ownership by large corporate groups in broadcasting and print media (TRAI 2008). The telecom regulator had felt that these trends curbed the diversity of information and, therefore, were not in public interest. With RIG’s proposed twin takeovers, these issues